A common solution for wide-spread genAI use in writing courses is to incorporate tools like track changes and version histories. Ideally, these tools help students chart their writing process while working on an assignment. In practice, these tools can reinforce ideas of writing as complete and “perfectable” products with tracking changes acting as “proof” that students’ writing is their own. In this presentation, the speaker will share his development of an assignment sequence that encourages students to embrace the mess of the writing process. In this sequence, students color-code and annotate a “Writer’s Version” of their drafts as they iterate and tinker with their compositions. Students are not assessed on their final products but rather the critical reflections they perform with the assistance of these “messy drafts” that make explicit the writing process behind their projects.
