How I Got Here

Hi, everybody! This is my first blog entry, and, for some reason, I am feeling vaguely nervous. I suppose the prospect of a hundred English teachers reading this entry is a little intimidating. :) ANYway, I started working here at High Point in 2000. During my second year, I was put in the driver's seat of our creative writing program. The veteran teacher who was responsible for teaching the class was retiring, and it was given over to "the new kid." I was extremely nervous about it: How do I grade poetry? How do I even teach it? What authors should I focus on? Should I focus on authors at all, or should I focus more on student-generated writing? What about the semester of prose? Yikes! I was really at a loss. I had never been much of a writer myself (usually only for school projects); I had never even taken a poetry class in college. What was I going to do? (The back-to-school dreams this year were some of the worst I have ever experienced. :)

My first year teaching the class, I was blessed with eighteen of the most wonderful young people a teacher could ask for. They were sensitive, open-minded, patient, interested, quirky, and incredibly talented. Over the course of 180 days, we learned the ropes together. I learned to stretch. I learned to think *way* outside of the box. When I gave an assignment, I would try it myself. When I asked them to read what they had written, I would read what I had written also. I went to the Warren County Poetry Festival. The year after that, I went to the Dodge Poetry Festival. I purchased a ton of books, by authors I had never heard of (who would eventually become trusted friends): Grace Paley, Naomi Shihab Nye, Hafiz, Rumi, Lucille Clifton, Pablo Neruda, and the list goes on.

Now, we average between fifty and sixty students in our creative writing program, which contains both first (creative writing) and second level (creative writing workshop) courses. Many of these students fuel our literary magazine staff and help to facilitate open mic nights and poetry readings, both in school and around the county. I am very proud of my students for embracing the written word and sharing their passion with me and with their peers.

How about you? How did you become a creative writing teacher? Tell me your stories!

Thanks for reading! My next blog topic will be establishing a sense of community in the writing classroom. Stay tuned...