Abstract
This article reports the findings of a study focused on understanding and identifying the assumptions that FYC instructors at a diverse junior college in Northern California make about what prior knowledge students bring with them to their first essay assignment. I found that despite sharing institutionally mandated learning objectives for FYC, there is significant variation in the prior rhetorical and cultural knowledge that instructors expect their students to bring into the essay 1 writing assignment. Based on the results of my study, I argue that a new mindset might be needed in order to facilitate prior knowledge based on the ever-growing diversity in the composition classroom.