ENGLISH 890: STUDIES IN COMPOSITION AND RHETORIC "TEACHING CREATIVE WRITING: THEORIES AND PRACTICES"

Composition Studies, Fall 2003 by Dawes, Kwame, Friend, Christy

Topics: Why study creative writing pedagogy? Writing about and discussion of own relationships to creative writing, teaching of writing, writing theory, and research. Sign up for three response papers.

Readings: Hugo (1-108), Bishop "Crossing the Lines" (Bishop/Ostrom 181197).

WEEK 2 : CRKATIVE WRITINC PROCESSES

Topics: How do creative writers work? Are there identifiable stages in the creative process? Can the findings of creativity research and research on the composing process inform our understanding of creative writing? What teaching strategies help writers to work through these processes?

Readings: Cziksznmihaly i ( 1 -20,51 -107) ; Emig, "Lynn: Portrait of a TwelfthGrade Writer" and "Writing as a Mode of Learning" (P); Sarbo and Moxley, "Creativity Research and Classroom Practice" (Bishop/Ostrom 133-145).

WEEK 3: CAN CREATIVE WRITING be LEARNED? CAN IT be TAUGHT?

Topics: Who can learn to write creatively? What dimensions of creative composition can be taught? What is the role of the creative writing teacher? Readings: Bizarro, "Reading the Creative Writing Course: The Teacher's Many Selves" (Bishop/Ostrom 234-248); Yusef Komunyakaa, "Poetry and Inquiry" (P); Hemley, "Teaching Our Uncertainties" (P); Ezra Pound, "A Retrospect" (P).

WEEK 4 : RESPONDING TO AND EVALUATING CREATIVE WRIUNG

Topics: Writing workshops; benefits and limitations of the workshop model. How should teachers evaluate student writing? How are students affected by criticism? Methods of response and evaluation.

Readings: Elbow, "The Teacherless Writing Class" (P); Camoin, "The Workshop and Its Discontents" (Bishop/Ostrom 3-26); "Building a Community of Trust" (Muller 35-55).

WEEK 5: CREATIVE WRITING AS LITERARY ART

Topics: How does reading influence writing? What should aspiring creative writers read? How important is familiarity with the literary canon? Teaching through imitation and form.

Readings: "Rescuing the Canon" (Muller 69-102); Pound, "Reading ABC" (P); Corbett, "Style" (P).

WEEK 6: CREATIVE WRITING AS THERAPY

Topics: Does creative writing enable writers to work through traumatic or difficult experiences? Should teachers encourage students to write about difficult personal experiences? What approaches help students write about pain and loss? Ethical issues, issues of evaluation.

Readings: DeSalvo, "How Writing Can Help Us Heal" (P); Berman, "Risky Writing" and "Seeing Ourselves Through the Eyes of Others" (P); Domina, "The Body of My Work is Not just a Metaphor" (Bishop/Ostrom 27-34).

WEEK 7: CREATIVE WRITING AS SOCIOPOLITICAL ACTIVITY

Topics: What social, political, and community functions does creative writing serve? Teaching creative writing outside school; model projects.

Readings: Green, "Materializing the Sublime Reader" (P); "Personal and Political Power in Poetry" and "Reaching Inward and Outward Through Poetry" (Muller 157-176, 191-231); Kendig, "Teaching Creative Writing in Prison" (Bishop/Ostrom 158-166).

WEEK 8 NO CLASS, INDIVIDUAL MIDTERM CONFKRKNCRS

Sign up for an individual conference. By the end of this week you should have developed a general plan for your teaching unit and chosen a site.