Creative Composition : Inspiration and Techniques for Writing Instruction

For decades theorists have opined that the lines between creative writing and composition need to be lifted, yet little has been written about the pedagogical methods that allow a cohesive approach between the disciplines. This book brings together contemporary authors and well-respected creative writing instructors and theorists to explore ways creativity in composition may be encouraged in student writers. The question in this anthology is not ‘Can writing be taught?’ but ‘How can we inspire students to embrace the creative process no matter what they write?’ This book offers multiple strategies to merge the best practices of teaching writing, regardless of the genre. Contents Contributors Foreword Introduction 1. On Essaying 2. Eat Your Spinach! Why a Blend of Personal and Academic Discourses Matter 3. Writing by Creation, with Response, in Experience 4. Give it a Taste: Serving Creative Writing in Small Doses 5. Wiggling Between the Forms: A Cross-Genre Approach to Writing 6. Writing to Discover: Creative Nonfiction and Writing Across the Curriculum 7. Creative Writing’s Five Stages of Development: The Mind of the Creative Writer in the Composition Classroom 8. Sought-After Sophistications: Crafting a Curatorial Stance in the Creative Writing and Composition Classrooms 9. Audience Resurrected: Restoring Motive and Purpose to Creative Writing 10. Lending the Muse a Hand: Expanding the Role of Social Constructivism and Collaborative Writing in Creative Writing Pedagogies 11. Grammar and Creativity in Composition: An Unexpected Nexus 12. Invention in Creative Writing: Explorations of the Self and the Social in Creative Genres 13. Teaching the Exploratory Essay as Pedagogy, Process and Project 14. Beyond Argumentation: Toulmin’s Model as a Dialogic, Processual Heuristic 15. Leave it to the Imagination: Service Learning as Part of an Undergraduate Creative Writing Curriculum 16. Show, Don’t Tell: Using Graphic Narratives to Teach Descriptive Writing 17. A First-Timer’s Approach to Teaching in a Non-Traditional Setting 18. In It for the Long Haul: The Pedagogy of Perseverance Index