Those of us who teach academic writing already know that whether we are working with high school students or graduate students, many of the students enrolled in our classes say that they do not like to write—in any language. This knowledge that students are not particularly interested in our courses certainly raises the question of how we can design our courses to be more engaging. While this question is indeed important, perhaps we should also be asking what it is about writing and writing courses that generates this dislike. How might this be related to the students' prior writing experiences and perceptions of themselves as writers? How does this writing "baggage" that students carry into our classrooms affect how we teach? Along with these questions, it is also worth considering the knowledge, assumptions and our own writing "baggage" that contributes to our writing pedagogy. By identifying what instructors and students alike bring to a writing course, we are more likely to create an environment where both can succeed. In this workshop we will explore whether and how to tap into students' prior knowledge and experiences to inform our writing pedagogy. We will also reflect on how to help students to write better not for the sake of writing classes, but for the myriad of other purposes for writing. We will also consider how our assumptions about student writers, our approaches to writing course design and responding to students' texts might sometimes be at odds with our knowledge of best practices in teaching writing.
