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Teacher Feature...
Direction for Teachers of Creative Writing
(continued from page 1)
by Dan Lukiv
(Condensed from Lived School Experiences That Encouraged one Person to Become a Creative Writer, a 2002 research study completed as part of the MEd requirements at The University of Northern British Columbia)
Copyright © 2002 by Dan Lukiv. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted in any form or through any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system, without written consent from the author.
Literature Related to the Teaching of Creative Writing
The British Columbia Ministry of Education (hereafter, The Ministry) deems the teaching of creative writing a relevant topic to which it refers repeatedly, either implicitly or explicitly, in three of its curriculum guides (1996a, 1996b, 1996c). For example, The Ministry (1996a) implies relevance when it states, "It is expected that [kindergarten and grade one] students will enhance the precision, clarity, and artistry of their communications by using processes that professional authors...use to appraise and improve their communications" (p. 24), and The Ministry (1996b) explicates relevance when, for grade nine students, it states "students will...create a variety of personal [and] literary...communications, including poems [and] stories" (p. 48).
Publishers of language arts programs, motivated by profit to sell their texts, produce teachers' handbooks that reflect ministry directives. I reviewed seven handbooks used by the school district in which I work that cover language arts programs from grades one to seven (Best, et al., 1998; Bogusat, et al., 1999; Booth, Booth, Phenix, & Swartz, 1991; Jeroski & Dockendorf, 2000; Sterling & Toutant, 1999; Tuinman, Neuman, & Rich, 1988; Tuinman, Neuman, & Rich, 1989). All reflect ministry directives. I also reviewed a variety of Web sites, how-to writing books, and other sources that contain a wealth of direction for students and teachers of creative writing.
In the tradition of hermeneutic phenomenology, my review tries to prompt the reader to wonder about possibilities. If bracketing is a process for "suspending one's various beliefs" (van Manen, 1990, p. 175) or biases, then bracketing in possibilities, a term I coined, is a process--which, in this case, draws on literature related to the teaching of creative writing--that addresses possible participant responses to enlarge the depth and breadth of the reader's wonder over the research question.
Bracketing in Possibilities
I referred to creative writing Web sites, which contain essentially the same sorts of activities as do print materials (see, e.g., About Teens, n.d.; Horner & Khan, n.d.; Love, n.d.a; and Shiney & Shiney, n.d.). In my experience, many teachers look to the myriad number of excellent Web site activities for teaching creative writing. I wondered if Arthur would refer to the kinds of activities found on Web sites.
Some print materials provide very specific examples of creative writing activities (see, e.g., Strom, Ingraham, & Dunnett, 1993). I wondered if Arthur would describe any creative writing activities that were very, very specific as ones that encouraged him to take up creative writing. I wondered if Arthur would refer to assignments similar to the ones in the creative writing course that I wrote (Lukiv, 1997).
Other texts provide a wealth of excellent how-to direction for creative writing students and teachers of creative writing (see, e.g., Bickham, 1996; Block, 1979; Bryant, 1978; Clark, Brohaugh, Woods, Strickland, & Blocksom, 1992; Dessner, 1979; Dickson & Smythe, 1970; Drury, 1991; Fredette, 1988; Hall, 1989; Irwin & Eyerly, 1988; Jones, 1978; Powell, 1973; Roberts, 1981; Seuling, 1991; Wakan, 1993; and Wyndham, 1972). Would Arthur mention excellent how-to direction about how to write as an example of an activity that encouraged him to continue learning the art and craft of writing?
Jerome (1980) and Birney's (1966) rich and deep analyses of what poetry is keeps me rereading their texts. Would Arthur describe rich and deep analyses of creative writing in school as examples of experiences that encouraged him? Hodgins (1993) describes a school experience of being read to by a teacher that encouraged him to become a writer of fiction. I relate to that experience because I had similar ones. Would Arthur describe similar ones too?
Birney (1966), however, suggests school discourages some potential creative writers. I wondered what lived school experiences might have discouraged people from becoming creative writers.
Teachers have motivated students to write in school through publishing adventures (see, e.g., Lamb, 1984; Love, n.d.b; Lukiv, 2001a, Chapter 10; and Lukiv, 2002a). Would Arthur say that classroom publication had motivated him to write and that that experience had encouraged him to further study creative writing?
I have recently learned from Spandel and Stiggins (1997) that "research shows that teachers of writing, if they wish to be effective, must write themselves (Graves, 1983; Murray, 1985; Atwell, 1987)" (p. 170). Was Arthur encouraged through contact with a teacher who was himself or herself a creative writer? Amabile (1985) found poetry written through extrinsic motivation is much less creative than poetry written through intrinsic motivation. I wondered, would Arthur mention activities that had addressed intrinsic motivation (Stipek, 1998) as examples that had encouraged him to take up creative writing?
That question, and other questions and thoughts I have referred to in this subsection, helps me bracket in possibilities. They focus attention on the topic of teaching creative writing, and they help to highlight my research question: What, if any, lived school experiences encouraged the participant to become a creative writer?
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