Offers advice to younger writers. Defines poetry as a loving power, visiting writers along its way. Rejects idea that a poet is a creative writer, and states that poets need no imagination. Proposes a writer should disregard mind in favor of mindfulness. (PM)

Depicts how any word chosen by chance can function as a magical word to exhume fields of memory and excite imagination. Details several word games of invention for children (such as the "fantastic binomial," using creative errors, and "Little Red Riding Hood in a Helicopter") that juxtapose normally unrelated words and that can…

Discusses how the eloquent "I" cultivates a deepened self-dialogue and offers students an epistemological and rhetorical discipline. Reconfigures Mikhail Bakhtin's ethics of "otherness" and his dialogic-prompted way of knowing. Discusses looking for the eloquent "I" in the writing classroom. (SG)

Advocates encouraging children to write about what they know best--the rich fantasy worlds they create in play. (Author)

Argues that the absence of the arts in testing programs contributes to their marginalization. Considers the role of imaginative potential in determining what is important in schools. Considers what the arts have to do with literacy, that is, with the standard conceptions of reading and writing. Discusses transforming brains to minds, the arts as…

Attempts to bring composition studies into a more thoroughgoing discussion of the place of visual literacy in the writing classroom. Argues that throughout the history of writing instruction in the United States the terms of debate typical in discussions of visual literacy and the teaching of writing have limited the kinds of assignments educators…

Reviews briefly how imagery is integral to knowing and thinking, and how perception and reason do indeed reside under the same blanket. Details two college writing assignments that require writers to engage in "imaginal processes" in proportion to their verbal process. (SR)

We are presently witnessing a renewed interest in the aesthetics of philosopher and educator John Dewey. And it would seem that this interest marks a significant intellectual reorientation and not simply a passing fad. The publications Educational Theory, Studies in Philosophy and Education, The Journal of Aesthetic Education, The Journal of…

Discusses the experiences of students as they try to turn pictures in their head into poetry. Describes how the poetry of popular music can provide stimulus for student poetry. (HTH)

Creative drama can be used productively in the classroom by allowing students to dream and to put these ideas down on paper. Guided imagery is a way of accomplishing this. Guided imagery is when the creative drama teacher guides students on a journey through the imagination. It can be used as a prereading and prewriting exercise. Listening and…

Many practitioners in the writing field tend to think of research skills as logical, analytical, abstracting abilities, not as personal, expressive or imaginative. Even many contemporary literary and composition theorists believe that theory must be divorced from everyday life. According to Richard Rorty, in many intellectual circles, the more…

The most powerful and profound thoughts known to humankind are the result of freedom to write whatever it is that the soul must purge; whatever a person is thinking that troubles him or her; anything that hinders his or her ability to be in that particular moment of living. On the first day of class, one writing instructor tells her students that…

Takes issue with the assumed antithesis of processes of the irrational (imagination and creativity) and those of the rational (reasoning and argumentation). Argues that numerous philosophers suggest richer ways of imagining the processes of argumentation. Explores various classroom practices that enable teachers to weave the creative and critical…

Reports of one poet's efforts in elementary classrooms to counteract the misconception of the syllabic nature of haiku. (RL)

Argues that, as the world becomes increasingly less human and more technocratic, staying in contact with whatever is humane requires conscious effort. Suggests the use of poetry writing assignments as a means of preserving children's inventiveness and imagination. Provides examples of poems written by schoolchildren. (SG)