Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric Jan 2020 Open Access

Writing for Advocacy: DREAMers, Agency, and Meaningful Community Engaged Writing

Jeffrey Gross ; Alison A. Lukowski

Abstract

This profile examines “Writing for Advocacy,” a pair of Spring 2018 courses designed around community engagement and project-based learning. Supported by a grant from Conexión Américas and the Tennessee Educational Equity Coalition (TEEC), Christian Brothers University (CBU), a regional leader for educating undocumented students, provided a fertile space for a course that leveraged student voices to lobby the Tennessee General Assembly for in-state tuition for undocumented students at Tennessee public universities. Responding to the political moment of uncertainty surrounding DACA and immigration policy, we designed a course focused on meaningful projects designed for public dissemination and presentation, and our group-based learning approach allowed us to meet both institutional learning outcomes for effective writing and research, as well as softer outcomes for socializing and professionalizing first-generation and DACA students. This course offers a model for other community-engaged writing courses to support student efficacy and student persistence.

Journal
Reflections: A Journal of Community-Engaged Writing and Rhetoric
Published
2020-01-01
DOI
10.59236/rjv19i2pp130-140
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Topics
writing pedagogy service learning race and writing
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References (11) · 2 in this index

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Show all 11 →
  1. Ledesma (2017)
    Diary of a Reluctant Dreamer: Undocumented Vignettes from a Pre-American Life
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