Creative Writing in the Composition Classroom

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Desiree Kannel Eng. 575 Dr. Cauthen May 12, 2016

Annotated Bibliography Creative Writing in the Composition Classroom

Preface: As a creative writer and a future instructor of college composition, I am interested in exploring research that explores the boundaries and differences between these two genres. I have every intention of incorporating a creative writing element into my composition courses. While I possess personal evidence that proves the effectiveness of this strategy, having confirmation and theories from leaders in the field will be helpful in presenting my case to department chairs and deans who fail to accept, or have not heard of, this pedagogical practice.

Danielewicz, Jane. “Personal Genres, Public Voices”. College Composition and Communication 59.3 (2008): 420–450. The author advocates for specific writing courses that focus on personal writing – autobiographies, biographies, autoethnography. Personal genres such as these encourages and develops students voice, specifically, their public voice which is defined as “writing that conveys the writer’s authority within a community and ensures a place of participation.” Danielewicz cautions readers that public voice is not the same as “authentic voice.” I believe she makes this distinction to distance herself from the dreaded expressivists, although I feel the distinction is unnecessary. Overall, it appeared that students began to embrace and recognize the power of their voices in workshop. Peer review in groups and one-on-one critiques helped students recognize the power of their individual voices by receiving immediate feedback on drafts. Students made connections, shared ideas, and learned from each other. They also witnessed firsthand how their voices, their stories, affect others, a primary goal of using the public voice. The author does not offer specific suggestions on how to conduct workshops, for example, how much teacher intervention or front-loading is necessary to achieve positive results, so I expect a bit of trial and error when implementing this practice. But, from reading her student’s final responses, it seems like she was successful in getting students to feel empowered and confident in their writing voice. 2

Ghoshal, S. (2013). My terminal degree is better than yours: A brief examination of the creative writer as contingent faculty. College Composition and Communication, 65(1), A9- A13. The author spends a good deal of time remarking on how unfair she feels the academic world is towards her “measly” MFA – a terminal degree as she reminds us, several times. But Ghoshal brings up an excellent point: why the disparity? For myself, this short essay was eye-opening and prepared me for possible prejudices I may encounter. Ghosal puts the onus on her MFA colleagues to change the minds of the academic elites. We need to publish, present, repeat she states. And teach so well, “that we go home at night knowing that our attempts to make our students better writers have not been in vain” (A12). In the end, that is all that matters, isn’t it.

Hesse, Douglas. “The Place of Creative Writing in Composition Studies”. College Composition and Communication 62.1 (2010): 31–52. Douglas Hesse was the 2009 chair of the CCC. This essay attempts to answer the question: What does creative writing have to offer the composition course? The answer, as I understand it to be, is that the act of writing (of communicating) is natural and that we write to “share, to learn, and to feel.” At the risk of sounding the expressionist alarm, the creative writing genre is a form that allows and encourages these outcomes. Writing this way leads to greater empowerment and agency—beliefs that all good writers need. Students come to understand (and believe) that what they have to say has meaning and, more importantly, can change and influence others. Erasing the boundaries between creative writing and composition, instructors could move from one to the next and teach students the power of adding logos to their writing, serving the dual purpose of moving away from strict expressionism and creating sound arguments based on critical thinking and research.

Kalamaras, George. “Interrogating the Boundaries of Discourse in a Creative Writing Class: Politicizing the Parameters of the Permissible”. College Composition and Communication 51.1 (1999): 77–82. Kalamaras’s stance deals with altering the creative writing course to not fit the composition course, but rather to support it by introducing a concept called “social-epistemic creative writing.” This type of writing moves away from idea of strict individualism found in creative writing and instead uses writing assignments that encourage creative writing students to use their analytical skills (as oppose to intuitive skills utilized during the creative writing process). Writing responses—both teacher to student and student to student—is one way to encourage social-epistemic discourse. Instructors would need to model both close readings and critiques that touched on social issues. Kalamaras, who quotes Wendy Bishop, implores creative writing teachers to “blur the boundaries” between creative writing and functional writing (composition). Although I was searching for articles that looked at the debate from the composition side of the argument, I agree with the suggestions put forth. I would add that it would be just as important to point out to creative writing students when they do stray away from complete creative writing into a more analytical (academic) form. Pointing out to students when they stray from one genre Kannel/3 to the next could be very empowering and take away some of the fear associated with strict academic writing.

Styslinger, Mary E.. “Multigenre-multigendered Research Papers”. The English Journal 95.4 (2006): 53–57. Web... This essay argues for the use of multi-genre writing in high school seniors’ research papers. The assignment was to “write a multi-genre research paper that represented their thinking through class readings and conversations about gender” (54). Styslinger was concerned that restricting her students to the conventional research paper form and genre, her students’ voice would be silenced or shackled. Reviewing the results, it seems like her experiment worked. Her students’ essays were insightful, personal, and reflected higher levels of thinking. This latter result was through having to think about and experiment with different ways to present their ideas and learning. What is missing from her report were the research aspects of the assignment. Overall, this essay focused on the possible benefits students gain from incorporating poetry, dialogue, satire, double-voice, and other multi-genre forms into their writing. The belief that this open style method increases critical thinking skills, rather than hindering them, is a result I’ve read elsewhere.

Wirtz, Jason. “Creating Possibilities: Embedding Research into Creative Writing”. The English Journal 95.4 (2006): 23–27. Students will “[W]rite a short story that embeds their research to enhance the narrative.” Before implementing this activity in his classroom, Wirtz looked into the history of the research paper and found that genres are choices writers should be encouraged to make, rather than constraints. While “form” is necessary in some situations, “invention” or play should be allowed and encouraged. His embedded research paper is an example of playing with the genre. At first read the ideas seem novel, fun, and a great way to excite students about the dreaded research paper. However, Wirtz does assign a “mini-research paper” that strictly adheres to the genre; afterwards students are let loose to create the story. He’s still playing it safe.