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Composition Studies

@compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social

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An academic journal dedicated to the range of professional practices associated with rhetoric and composition.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · Jul 31

Turns out, a lot of PhDs—and a lot of care.

Composition Studies 53.1 is now live.

Featuring essays on grading contracts, conference futures, sustainable teaching, and editorial care.

Read it here: compstudiesjournal.com/current-issu...

#cs531 #compositionstudies #rhetcomp #writingstudies

compstudiesjournal.com

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 8d

If we want equitable writing classrooms, we must rethink how and why we regulate behavior — not just what we grade.

🔗 Read Gomes’s full piece: bit.ly/CS53-1
💬 What expectations—spoken or unspoken—shape how students show up in your classroom?

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 8d

He invites us to imagine culturally sustaining pedagogies that:
✨ Center plural literacies
✨ Value diverse linguistic practices
✨ Challenge how schools define ‘good behavior’

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 8d

Gomes argues that these “behavioral” expectations aren’t neutral. They often reflect White, able-bodied, middle-class norms that don’t align with all students’ realities.

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 8d

Contract grading doesn’t just assess writing. It regulates behavior—how students act, participate, and even think about writing.”

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 8d

What are we really grading — writing or behavior?
In Composition Studies 53.1, @mattgomes.bsky.social explores how grading contracts don’t just assess writing, but regulate how students act, participate, and even think about writing.

🔗 Read here: bit.ly/CS53-1

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 14d

Kinkead closes by reflecting on what these preferences mean for teaching and for how we think about writing itself.

So—where do you stand: #TeamPilotG2 or #TeamInkJoy?

🔗 Read the full post here: bit.ly/Zen-Pen-Blog

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 14d

Kinkead’s students overwhelmingly favored analog implements for reasons tied to aesthetics, creativity, nostalgia, and pleasure.

From the Pilot G2’s perfect point to PaperMate InkJoy’s smear-proof flair, students described tools as central to their writerly identity.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 14d

“Pilot G2 or nothing—a hill I’m willing to die on.”

Turns out, even so-called digital natives have strong feelings about analog writing tools.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 14d

New on the FEN blog: Joyce Kinkead’s collaboration with student researchers explores pens, pencils, and even quills in the classroom.

🔗 bit.ly/Zen-Pen-Blog

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

In a moment when “fast” feels like the only tempo higher ed allows, ACT reminds us that slowing down is radical.

🔗 Read the full Course Design: bit.ly/ACT-FYW
💬 How have you built small pauses into your teaching?

The ACT Model in First-Year Writing

by Casie Fedukovich and Brooke Mulhollem

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

The model draws on neuroscience—slowing down helps cultivate relaxed alertness, an “optimal state for learning.”

“Create a decision point… eliminate decision fatigue… use momentum to fight procrastination.”

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

The benefits run deeper than productivity hacks: ACT builds confidence and rewires habits.

“Helping students fight procrastination and decision fatigue and improve the writing process.”

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

Why ACT? Students were rushing through, fragmenting assignments, and “short-circuiting the long writing process.”

“Writing happened quickly, incompletely, and often without regard to expectations.”

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

So, what’s ACT? A one-minute metacognitive routine:

✨ Abide & Assess → pause and notice what’s actually been done
✨ Choose & Concrete → map out the next doable step
✨ Takeaway & Transition → name one insight, breathe, move forward

Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 22d

Teaching first-year writing in 2025 means juggling more than thesis statements. Students are navigating stress spirals, fragmented reading habits, and pandemic aftershocks.

Casie Fedukovich & Brooke Mulhollem offer a reset: the ACT model.

🔗 Read more: bit.ly/ACT-FYW

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

It’s time to reimagine conferences and volunteerism. What would it take to make them more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable?

🔗 Read Giaimo’s full piece in Composition Studies 53.1: bit.ly/42sukt6

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

Giaimo’s storytelling highlights the divide between the “center” and the “periphery.”

“This is what COVID-19, my stint at MLA, and all my service work has made me realize: academic conferences are experienced very differently from those in the center and those on the periphery.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

Actionable ideas emerge: hybrid models, fair pay, shifting to advocacy.

“Since 2020, many academic associations have rethought their conference structure … IWCA rearranged itself into a semi-annual in-person conference. In the off-years, it holds an online conference.”

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

Giaimo reflects on the growing precarity in higher ed: adjunctification, unpaid labor, inequities.

“There is still a center and a periphery but over time these groups have become even more disproportionate and out of balance. The elect are few; the aspiring, many.”

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

In “Reimagining Academic Conferences and Professional Volunteerism in a World of Academic Precarity,” Genie Nicole Giaimo reflects on inequities in higher ed: adjunctification, unpaid labor, and the costs of traditional conferences.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · 29d

How can we rethink academic conferences in a world of growing precarity?

In Composition Studies 53.1, Genie Nicole Giaimo reflects on the inequities of academic labor—and the possibilities for reimagining how we gather.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · Sep 15

LBGCs don’t eliminate risk. They reframe it as part of the learning process.

What might teaching look like if we treated risk not as danger, but as opportunity?

Read Libertz’s full article in Composition Studies 53.1: bit.ly/CS53-1

Current Issue | Spring 2025, 53.1

Editorial Introduction: Charting Our Course Here and Forwardby Jacob Babb and Zachary Beare At a Glance Jaclyn Fiscus-Cannaday New Methodologies for Researching Reflection: Reflection-in-Motion in …

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · Sep 15

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing…
🔹 Some felt less motivated without the push of traditional grades
🔹 Others worried their final product wasn’t “quality” enough

Risk opened doors—but it also raised new questions.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · Sep 15

In a collaborative podcast project, students reported:
🔹 More freedom to experiment with ideas & formats
🔹 Comfort in trying new roles
🔹 Less stress tied to “points” or grades

Risk started to feel like possibility.

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Composition Studies @compstudiesjrnl.bsky.social · Sep 15

So what’s a labor-based grading contract (LBGC)?
🔹 Grades are tied to effort and process
🔹 Less focus on “perfect products”
🔹 More room to experiment

The goal: shift from proving ability to building it.

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