23rd Annual New Jersey Writing Alliance Conference

Engaging Gen Z

Thursday, May 22, 2025

Rowan University

The annual NJWA conference focuses on the pedagogical, institutional, and economic issues that we face as teachers of high school and college writing, presenting a unique opportunity for dialogue and collaboration. This year’s conference explores some of the issues at last year’s conference on Gaining Ground After Learning Loss — apathy, anxiety, and learning loss — by reconsidering how we engage students on their own generational terms. Whether we call them Gen Z, iGen, Zoomers, or Centennials, students born between 1996-2012 grew up in a specific world: one that is diverse, fluid, screen-based, physically-bounded, and steeped in anxiety.

WI-FI and SOCIAL MEDIA

8:30-9:30 AM

REGISTRATION & LIGHT BREAKFAST

BUSINESS HALL HUB

9:30-9:45 AM

WELCOME & OPENING REMARKS

BUSINESS HALL 104

Jason Luther (Rowan University), NJWA President

SESSION 1: 10:00 AM - 11:00 AM

1. Engaging Gen Z with Creative Activism                                               Business Hall 101

Karen Deaver (The College of New Jersey)

In this talk about how to engage Gen Z students with creative activism, I will share three assignments from my first year seminar that delve into the strategies that artists and non-artists have successfully deployed to resist social injustice for hundreds of years. Assignments are designed to meaningfully engage students inside the classroom and  inspire them to enact what they learn outside of it.         

2. Empowering Educators: Ethical AI Use, Best Practices, and Classroom           Business Hall 103

Tips & Tricks                                                                      

Catherin Gibbons & Kathleen Bially (Gateway Regional High School)

This interactive workshop will provide educators with a practical framework for integrating generative AI into their classrooms while maintaining ethical and responsible use. Participants will explore AI guidelines, ethical considerations, and hands-on strategies for using AI to enhance student learning without compromising critical thinking and creativity. Attendees will leave with actionable strategies and best practices for effectively incorporating AI into their teaching.

3. Using the Multigenre "Thesis-Seeking" Essay and Labor-Based Grading         Business Hall 221

to Drive Student and Teacher Engagement in the Age of Generative A.I.

Merit O’Hare (Westfield High School & Teachers College, Columbia University)

This session will explore the "thesis-seeking" multi-genre essay as a tool to increase student engagement with counternarratives through its emphasis on embodiment and personal experience, as well as a way to encourage students to contextualize their experiences (and those of the characters) through research. It will also address labor-based grading as one evaluative practice that changes teacher affect from "critical evaluator" to "collaborator/appreciator” and incentivizes authentic student learning.

SESSION 2: 11:15 AM -12:15 PM

1. Throw Out the Gradebook: How the Learning Record Empowers                   Business Hall 101

Instructors and Students                                      

Melissa Adamo, Benjamin Delloiacono, Christine Giancatarino (Montclair State University)

In this workshop, we will discuss the value in throwing out the traditional gradebook for The Learning Record and how it led to instructional design practices that focused on experiential assignments, reflective writing, and even experimental AI exercises. We will also use elements of The Learning Record in the session to open up a dialogue about how this un-grading practice benefits not only gen-z students but ourselves by reducing the stress and anxiety around grading and learning loss.

2. Recognizing Executive Function's Impact on Learning about Writing                  Business Hall 103                         

Lynn Reid (Fairleigh Dickinson University)

This interactive workshop will address approaches to challenging student behaviors in a writing course. The presenter will discuss the impacts of executive function on learning and will provide trauma-informed strategies for supporting students with complex social, emotional, and educational needs.

3. Igniting Dynamic Interactions in Our Classrooms                                                      Business Hall 201         Amy Hughes (Manchester Regional High School)

This workshop offers activities to empathetically encourage students to immerse themselves in a collaborative classroom environment. From games to group work, the goal is getting students comfortable with sharing their ideas face-to-face. Students will Think, Pair, Share in ways that tap into their interests and social media trends. From creating TikToks to writing on desks to indoor snowball fights, the activities are guaranteed to get even the most reluctant learner participating enthusiastically.

4. Socially Conscious Design: Engaging Gen Z through Art and Activism           Business Hall 221

Dayna Arcurio & Henry Margenau  (Montclair State University)

A 1-hour hands-on workshop that explores art and design as activism. We explore the role and application of design in posters, murals, photography, and pop culture to tap Gen Z's passion for activism by challenging students to engage in writing and composition practices for social change. We offer scaffolded lessons, multimodal projects (with student samples), and rubrics that reflect real-world issues and movements like climate change, BLM, and MMIWG.

12:15 PM -1:15 PM

LUNCH

BUSINESS HALL HUB

✦ Are you interested in hosting NJWA in 2026? Find NJWA Officers and Committee Members at lunch for an informal conversation about possibilities! ✦

SESSION 3: 1:30 PM -2:30 PM

1. NJ ELA Supervisor Roundtable: Writing Trends                                             Business Hall 101    

Brent Rivers, Kara Douma, Keith Dennison, Brendan McIsaac (Sparta Township Public Schools)

This roundtable will support K-12 ELA leaders who wish to share current perspectives, challenges, and solutions in writing instruction. Our group has evolved from an online support group to a robust network of ELA supervisors throughout the state. Join us for a relaxed discussion about the patterns and trends that we find in supporting young writers.

2. Realistic, Usable ADHD Writing Strategies                                                     Business Hall 103

Jake Noonan (The Neurodiversity Collective)

ADHD Writing Strategies explores what the writing process is like for those of us with ADHD. The presentation offers several personally utilized-and-studied techniques to assist students with ADHD who may be struggling with writing. At the same time, learn about how these techniques can broaden accessibility for all types of learners!

3. Let Everyone Come Out to Write: Using the history of                                   Business Hall 201        

The Village Voice in college writing classes                                  

Jenn Peck (Independent Scholar)

This session’s content uses the history of The Village Voice to build a college writing class that motivates writers. The content and recommendations that will be shared grew out of the strong belief that in order for students to be motivated to become strong writers, it is necessary for student writers to have readers other than just their professors.

4. It Takes a Smörgåsbord                                                                          Business Hall 221                 

Kathleen Mueller  (Central Regional High School)

So much of keeping students engaged is a matter of choice - their choices and our choices. This session is really just about some of the ways that one teacher makes instructional choices to create a class that is fun, surprising (but not too surprising), student-driven, and still engages students in thinking and talking and writing about literature.

2:30 PM-3:00 PM

BUSINESS HALL HUB

Distribution of Professional Development Certificates

​Chat with NJWA officers

NJWA Officers and Committee Members