The American Scholar

English 5599 - Creative Writing for Teachers

The focus of this course of study was to think about and consider the use of creative writing as a tool--within and beyond the classroom--for understanding the world in all of its various disciplines: natural sciences, social sciences, business, philosophy, fine arts, and humanities. By being students and practitioners of this art of inquiry, we approached and further developed this method of study. We always tried to write and think with the purpose of discovering new knowledge and explored ideas from at least two points of view, that of the student and that of the facilitator/teacher. Because of the multiple dimensions, this course was necessarily complex, difficult, and often contradictory. (Adapted from the course syllabus)

    Exploration Assignments:
  1. What Workshop Format Works Best?
  2. Biography Of a Classmate
  3. Self-Audit
  4. Uncovering a Draft
  5. Are Places and People Equally Important?
  6. The Fifteen-Sentence Portrait
  7. A Trip To Roasters
  8. Glaukos Lost
  9. Does Oral Storytelling Enhance Writing Ability?
  10. Is There Art In the Natural World?
  11. Spiral As A Metaphor
  12. Is Writing a Means To Self-Discovery?
  13. How Do I Instruct Without Intruding?
  14. Final Portfolio
    Other Musings:
  1. Excerpts From My Journal (during this course)

    Text:
  1. Working Words: The Process of Creative Writing. Florida State University:London, 1992.