Confessional Writing in First Year Composition Classrooms

In this thesis project, I aim to argue that confessional writing in the composition classroom can be a very important and trans-formative tool to produce a well-rounded academic and emotional foundation for students. Specifically sharing and work-shopping my personal work was instrumental in helping me to emotionally work past some of the events I shared. Although this type of sharing is contested, I argue that the benefits make the exercise worth it. I also argue that using confessional writing in the classroom is a great way to prepare students for other types of writing assignments. Having an effective confessional voice is very important throughout a student’s academic writing career and beyond.. Confessional writing can be an effective pedagogical tool when used as a first step in the process of getting students to create a confessional voice. I show how students approach writing more analytically and with more confidence after starting out with an autobiographical framework.