Reimagining Worlds: University Mentors Writing Superhero Stories in a Fifth-Grade Writing Club

Abstract

Crafting imaginative stories can be transformative, offering an alternate view of oneself. When university students wrote alter-ego origin superhero stories and mentored elementary students, they engaged in a range of reflective and authoring practices. These vulnerable acts of being open allowed them to agentively explore their past, present, and imagine a different future. In this qualitative case study, we asked, “What is the nature of vulnerability, agency, and imagination as evidenced in a service-learning composition course?” Undergraduate education majors acted as mentors and wrote alongside fifth graders in an after-school writing club. Rather than tutoring, the mentors focused on recognizing and amplifying the fifth graders’ confidence and talents as writers. During three pre-Writing Club class meetings, three instructors furthered the mentors’ understanding of bias, privilege, and systemic oppression. The instructors’ interactions with university students aligned with a humanist Pedagogy of Vulnerability. Students can continue to learn about systemic inequities through self-reflective and agentive university literacy experiences, including having sustained time and spaces for discussion.