Permission to fly: Creating classroom environments of imaginative (im)possibilities

Current research suggests that nurturing teachers' creativity can improve their practice as teachers of writing. A number of Teacher Education interventions have focused on the provision of creativity and creative writing courses for teachers with the view that such experiential learning will e...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:English in education 2014-06, Vol.48 (2), p.164-183
Main Author: Mendelowitz, Belinda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Creative Teaching
Creative Writing
Creativity
Elementary School Teachers
English Teachers
Foreign Countries
History
Teacher Competencies
Teaching Methods
Writing Instruction
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Current research suggests that nurturing teachers' creativity can improve their practice as teachers of writing. A number of Teacher Education interventions have focused on the provision of creativity and creative writing courses for teachers with the view that such experiential learning will enable teachers to become more effective writing teachers (Grainger et al. 2005; Cremin and Myhill 2012). However, the results have been tentative and more research is needed to establish a stronger link (Andrews 2008; Whitney 2008). In this article Belinda Mendelowitz argues that there are a range of other interrelated variables and relationships that need to be given attention in order to gain a more holistic understanding of the challenges of teaching creative writing. Specifically, she argues that key elements that create or limit creative writing in the English classroom include the teachers' school writing histories, conceptualisations of imagination, classroom discourses and pedagogy. This article explores the detailed interactions between teachers' conceptualisations and enactments of creative writing pedagogy. Mendelowitz develops this argument through the presentation and analysis of case studies of two senior primary (Grade 7) English teachers in Gauteng schools, South Africa: Fiona and Debby. The case study documents each teacher's school writing history, conceptualisation of imagination and imaginative writing, use of classroom discourses and pedagogy. The implications of these two case studies for creating classrooms of imaginative possibilities are then considered.
ISSN:0425-0494
1754-8845
DOI:10.1111/eie.12041