"Bridge the Gap" with Community: Approaches for Community Building for First-Year Writing Across Two- and Four-Year Colleges

This project examines instructional approaches to community building in first-year writing classes to understand how a sense of belonging may benefit two- and four-year college students. I explore scholarship concerned with methods for building community in writing classrooms, fostering community on nonresidential campuses, and quantifying students’ senses of belongingness in the classroom. I also analyze interviews with five community college writing instructors to gain perspective on the impact of community building in first-year composition classes on nonresidential campuses. Finally, I highlight successes and challenges of community building in my own experience teaching two sections of first-year writing at UVA, raising considerations and questions about the potential benefits of creating a sense of belonging in the writing classroom.