The KNIGHTLYnews is an online forum where FWS instructors and other teachers of writing can swap and share ideas for best classroom practice. Weekly posts are designed to help teachers develop lesson plans and writing assignments, and respond to classroom challenges by introducing new teaching tools and sharing emerging pedagogical ideas. Posts also direct readers to program and campus resources that support teaching and learning, and provide opportunities for peer collaboration and mentorship. #teachlikeabear
How can our FWS teaching in Spring 2026 be better? I am probably not the only instructor hoping to revamp my course into a lighter, more stream-lined and meaningful version of what I achieved in during the fall term. For example, I will be removing one text in favor of one that’s more accessible, and I will add more low-stakes student discussions about their writing processes. In my reflecting for future planning, I recall the influential theories of David Bartholomae and Peter Elbow.
Although both scholars were progressive in their time, they offered contrasting approaches to student writing empowerment. Elbow emphasized student voice, freedom, and ownership, often resisting the dominance of academic discourse in first-year writing. Bartholomae, by contrast, argued that true empowerment requires students to confront and engage with academic and institutional discourses, even within their “personal” writing.
The ongoing relevance of the Bartholomae–Elbow debate lies in how it frames questions of ownership and agency in the writing process. Bartholomae’s Teaching Basic Writing stresses that writing instruction must move beyond sentence-level correctness and instead immerse students in the complex work of writing and self-reflection from the beginning. Elbow’s work, particularly Writing Without Teachers and Everyone Can Write, highlights writing as a process of discovery, encouraging discomfort, agency, and a more humanized relationship between teaching and writing. Together, their perspectives continue to inform contemporary approaches to teaching writing.
As someone who has evolved to agree with both Bartholomae and Elbow, probably because I am a writer who makes her living teaching students the process of writing and teaching teachers the process of teaching writing, I always want active engagement with process. I want teachers to think about how they are teaching writing and for student to thinking about their writerly choices. When student writing ends up messy this is fine with me if students are engaged with “real” thinking and writing. In fact, I have evolved to prefer seeing weak drafts and mistakes, creations of imperfection. This is a reassuring part of the process of writing.
Regardless of if you are in camp Bartholomae or camp Elbow as an FWS instructor, the following reminders are helpful:
- Ask yourself: What are my pedagogical process values? How do these align with my WRIT7100 Teaching Writing skills and The Indispensable Reference for Teachers of First Year Writing Seminars: https://knight.as.cornell.edu/indispensable-reference-fws-instructors.
- Ask yourself: Are my writing assignments clear, accessible, and useful for my course and all students? What exact steps will make them happen?
- How can students write stages of assignments and talk about their writing process in class?
- Meet with your Course Leader before the semester starts and be active in your FWS Pedagogy community throughout the semester. We teach better together.
