Building Confidence and a Writing Identity with AI-Assisted Affirmations

Field Notes on AI

PlayLab: Affirmations for Writers

On the first day of each semester, I ask my first-year college writing students a simple question: "How many of you are writers?" Almost no one raises their hand. I feign shock and check my notes—isn't this a writing class?

What follows is always revealing. We discuss what they think makes someone a "writer": Someone who loves writing. Someone who gets paid to write. Published authors. People who are "naturally good" at it. Then I ask who has written a text message today. An email. A quiz response. I make the case that everyone's a writer. Because writers write.

I even do a silly "magic trick," raising my hands and making magical sounds as I pronounce the whole class writers. "Did everyone feel the change?" I ask. "Even in the back row?" It's playful, but it gets at something fundamental about the power of self-perception and affirmation. This calls to mind Stuart Smalley from SNL in the 90s, with his famous quote: "I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!" While Smalley's approach was comedic, the underlying principle is sound: how we talk to ourselves shapes how we see ourselves

Current Exploration

Many students enter writing courses carrying deeply engrained doubts about their abilities. Early in the semester, the goal isn't just teaching skills—it's helping students believe they have something valuable to say. AI tools like ChatGPT could support this process by offering personalized, judgment-free feedback and encouragement tailored to their specific concerns.

Recent research supports this approach. In their article, "Effectiveness of Self-Affirmation Interventions in Educational Settings: A Meta-Analysis," Escobar-Soler et al. (2024) explain that self-affirmation creates lasting benefits through a cycle of positive reinforcement and identity reframing. Each successful affirmation encourages further self-affirming behaviors, creating what they call a "recursive" pattern of growth.

The power of self-affirmation lies in making these affirmations personal and meaningful rather than generic—and this is where AI's ability to generate responses tailored to each student's doubts and circumstances could be particularly powerful. Instead of offering one-size-fits-all encouragement, AI can help craft affirmations that directly address each student's unique concerns about their writing identity.

A Possible Activity

Here's an exercise I'd like to try, designed to help students reframe their relationship with writing:

1. Step One: Share Concerns

   • Ask students to privately reflect on and write down their concerns or fears about themselves as writers. Examples might include:

     • "I don't think I'm good at organizing my ideas."

     • "I've never felt like I had a unique voice."

     • "I'm afraid of failing."

2. Step Two: Collaborate with AI

   • Students input these concerns into an AI tool, using a prompt like:

     • "Here are some concerns I have about myself as a writer: [insert concerns]. Can you suggest affirmations to help me reframe these concerns?"

   • The AI generates affirmations directly addressing their worries. For example:

     • Concern: "I'm bad at organizing my ideas."

     • Affirmation: "I can organize my ideas step by step, and writing is a process I can improve with practice."

3. Step Three: Refine and Reflect

   • Students review the AI-generated affirmations and rewrite them in their own words, choosing ones that feel meaningful or creating new ones that resonate.

4. Step Four: Rewriting the Narrative

   • Using these affirmations as inspiration, students write a short reflective piece about how they'd like to grow as writers this semester.

5. Step Five: Sharing the Positive

   • If students feel comfortable, they share their affirmations or reflective pieces with the class, creating a supportive and encouraging community.

Why This Matters

This activity combines self-reflection with AI's ability to generate ideas quickly and nonjudgmentally. By turning concerns into affirmations, students begin to see their challenges as opportunities for growth rather than barriers to success. As the research suggests, this recursive process of identifying concerns, creating affirmations, and putting them into practice can create lasting changes in how students see themselves as writers.

Interestingly, students might be more willing to share their writing anxieties with AI than with instructors or peers. A recent report from Common Sense Media, Hopelab, and the Center for Digital Thriving (2024) found that teenagers often turn to AI for conversations about identity and self-expression, finding comfort in its non-judgmental nature. However, as information scientist Beck Tench warns, we need to be thoughtful about how students share personal information with AI systems.

Room for Skepticism

Some students might feel uneasy about using AI in such a personal process, and that's okay. It's important to frame AI as a tool, not a solution. Students who prefer not to use AI could create affirmations collaboratively with peers or brainstorm them independently.

Closing Insight

Rebuilding confidence in writing starts with recognizing and reframing the stories we tell ourselves. AI can't replace the hard work of reflection, but it can offer students a nudge toward seeing themselves as capable, evolving writers.

Your Turn

What approaches have you used to help students reframe their self-perceptions as writers? How might AI contribute—or not—to this process?

Try This Activity: An Invitation to Faculty

I've created a Canvas activity that you can use with your own students. But first, I encourage you to experience it yourself as a participant. Here's why:

Why Try It Yourself?

1. Experience the Student Perspective

   • Feel what it's like to share writing insecurities

   • See how AI responds to different types of concerns

   • Gauge the emotional impact of the exercise

2. Customize for Your Context

   • Consider how to adapt it for your specific courses

   • Think about additional examples relevant to your students

   • Plan how to support students who might be AI-hesitant

How to Access the Activity

You have a few options:

1. Full Canvas Activity

   • Find "Reframing Writing Insecurities: A Self-Discovery Exercise" in Canvas Commons

   • Import it into your course

   • Review and modify as needed

2. Quick Start Options

   • Try the PlayLab App I built (updated 3-20-2025)

   • Copy and paste the Writing Coach Affirmation prompt from Google Docs.

     • Try it yourself in ChatGPT or your preferred AI tool

   • Use this experience to decide if you'd like to implement the full activity

Share Your Experience

If you use this activity, I'd love to hear:

• How did it work for you personally?

• What modifications did you make for your context?

• How did students respond?

• What suggestions do you have for improvement?

You can share your experiences in the comments below,

Remember: This is an experiment in progress. Your insights and experiences will help shape how we can use AI to support student confidence in writing.

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A note about the process: These field notes represent my current thinking about AI's potential role in building student confidence. They are not definitive conclusions but rather starting points for exploration and discussion.