A Discovery of Courage and Vulnerability

This article examines how engaging in connected relationships, characterized by empathy and mutuality, particularly with first-year female students in the composition classroom, empowers females as writers and learners. By conducting a case study of a first-year female student and using Carol Gilligan’s Listening Guide Method, I bring awareness to a female student’s lived experiences in the writing classroom. Throughout the article, I draw from Relational Cultural Theory to argue how a relationally-centered pedagogy can support female writers in the cultivation of courage in their writing practice and in the their efforts to demonstrate their authentic voice in and outside the academy.