Students often enter community college with little proficiency in writing. The authors of this paper share a series of writing assignments designed to help students develop writing and critical thinking abilities throughout their community college experience. The first is a series of relatively low-stakes exercises aimed at helping beginning learners develop fundamental writing skills. The second is a structured formal writing assignment that provides support and revision opportunity, and requires the application of theory to real people. The final exercise is a series of formal and informal assignments combined with the attendant in-class discussions, which allow for the development of increasingly advanced writing and critical thinking skills. As a whole, this interdisciplinary approach engages students at different points in their skill development, and is sensitive to their needs at that point in time.