This article shares strategies that educators can use to assist students in meeting the challenges of academic writing more effectively. In order to foreground an understanding of struggling writers, the text begins with a brief review of composition theory and history related to basic writers and identity. It goes on to examine classroom practices that help challenge negative writer identity, especially in relation to formal academic discourses. The authors contend that writer self-awareness provides students with a better understanding of the writing process, additional tools with which to attempt writing assignments, and greater confidence to move through the multiple literacy tasks of the academy and beyond. By inviting students to examine their beliefs about writing and writer identity, these activities are useful in any classroom, across disciplines, in which high-stakes writing is used. (Contains 2 figures.)