My pedagogical approach is concentrated on creating a community-centered classroom so that students feel comfortable sharing their ideas. The three main focuses in my creative writing workshops are generation, reflection, and revision.

My lesson plans are organized around generative writing and reflection prompts so students are prepared for discussion because they’ve laid out their thoughts before speaking. These free-writing activities encourage students to produce creative material and personal reflections in a short span of time—before their inner critic stops the flow of ideas.

I also encourage contemplative reading of texts in class, adopting a model from Mary Rose O’Reilley and David G. Haskell [1]. In this practice, I guide students through a brief breathing exercise to relax their minds. One student then reads the chosen text aloud while everyone listens. After a minute of silence, each student shares a word or short phrase in response to the text, which I write on the board. After another minute of silence, I use that feedback to springboard into a general discussion about reactions to the text and how the writer’s choices influenced those reactions. This technique allows students to bring an awareness to their thoughts and strengthen their connection to the poetic text that’s being examined.

As both a professional writer and editor, I deeply believe in the process of revision—combining the use of self-directed Writer’s Memos and workshop critique for major creative writing exercises—because it transforms creative writing from draft to craft. At the end of the semester students submit a process portfolio, which contains revisions of several major projects. This culminating portfolio is introduced with a cover letter, where students reflect on their strengths and weaknesses as writers and provide justification for the choices in their work. I believe these approaches emphasize that writing is a continuous process and that our best work as writers is borne out of revision.

[1] Barbezat, Daniel P. and Mirabai Bush. “Contemplative Approaches to Reading and Writing.” Contemplative Practices in Higher Education. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons, 2014.