The Importance of [Non]Identification

Abstract

Emily Aguilar and Taylor Marty discuss how their combined teaching strategies transformed an international, ESL, Latinx, and first-generation college student’s experience in the first-year writing classroom. Not only did their teaching strategies contribute to a sense of belonging for their student and immense academic growth from the student, but they also demonstrated the importance of teaching by listening, with and without a need for understanding and identifying with a student’s background.