Theory and Practice

Leahy, Anna, editor. Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom: the Authority Project. Multilingual Matters, 2005.

Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom: the Authority Project is a collection of essays from writer-teachers that examines different pedagogical approaches used in creative writing instruction and encourages instructors to consider their authority in the writing classroom and make adjustments to create a more positive experience for students and avoid hindering their creativity. The book opens with the broader questions on the nature of creative writing in academia, then moves into the role of a teacher in CW classes, the design of the classes themselves, and creating positive writing experiences. Each essay discusses a different topic, and when read as a whole, the reader is introduced to a comprehensive variety of topics pertinent to creative writing pedagogy. The book masterfully “unravels and remaps creative writing pedagogy for the 21st century so that concepts of authority can shape both our theoretical approaches and also the meaning and applications of our approaches in our day-to-day decisions as college teachers” (Leahy xvi).
Ultimately, the text argues for a process-based, authority-conscious pedagogy in creative writing classes, in which the teacher's authority manifests itself more in the structure of the course than in the day-to-day critical discussion, in which the students have a larger role. It does a good job of providing compelling evidence of the theoretical manifestations put into practice. It is also well-organized, both in the clean separation of parts and in the specific articles, making for quick and easy reference. While there is not a full, balanced account of the pedagogies it opposes, it presents its own argument with clarity, strong support, and a refreshingly tangible roadmap for application of the pedagogy for other teachers.

Due to the era of publication, gender is foregrounded and some of the gender-based research may now be outdated, interactive technology is not addressed, and the use of writers workshop is assumed.

Part 1 of this text includes five chapters, each of which introduces a common struggle in creative writing classrooms. These struggles include how some students do not enroll in creative writing classes to improve their writing, but to learn how to express themselves; how teachers must work to create a nurturing environment while maintaining authority as a teacher; how creative writing is not something that happens all at once, but instead requires work and revisions; how divisions exist between literature and criticism, composition, and creative writing classes; and how teachers need to use authority-conscious pedagogy when creating creative writing classes. These chapters encourage a look into teaching practices. Carl Vandermeulen, author of chapter 5, says teachers “should investigate where and how things can go wrong in the relationships that enable students to become writers and artists in order to become more capable of preventing or addressing the problems of which our pedagogy is vulnerable” (60). Each chapter explains a misconception and provides ideas for creative writing teachers to use to combat these misconceptions and common mistakes regarding creative writing pedagogy. The main creative writing teaching technique tends to be the workshop method. There are many issues discussed within Part 1 including the belief that workshops fail to improve students’ writing processes because according to Brent Royster, author of chapter 3, “the workshop focuses too much upon the products of the writer, whereas too little is done to nurture the process of the writer” (30). Overall, Part 1 lays the groundwork for a discussion about the role of authority in creative writing classrooms and uses real-world examples as a way to show how too little or too much teacher authority can be detrimental to student progress. Reading this section prompts teachers to examine ways to find a balance of authority and nurturing that allows them to push students to strive to improve as creative writers.

Part 2 of Anna Leahy's book Power and Identity in the Creative Writing Classroom: The Authority Project examines the writing teacher's authority in the classroom, challenges to and perceptions of this authority, and how to flatten hierarchical power structures in the classroom through the teacher not always being the expert and sharing in learning, along with their students. Mary Cantrell points out in her essay "Teaching and Evaluation: Why Bother" that feelings of discomfort with writing instructors' authority stems from several factors, including encouraging students to engage in skepticism, creative writing as a craft but also an art requiring imagination, student writers expect to receive nurturing and support, the challenge of providing objective feedback, the perception that teachers aren't writers, and the significance of grades (66). She concludes that instructors must be clear with students about their grading criteria and communicate that grades are a reflection of how they meet that criteria (75). Audrey Petty's essay, "Who's the Teacher? From Student to Mentor,” explores the path she took to overcome trying to copy her mentors and how she developed her own approach to teaching and prioritized taking time to participate in writing, including in-class writing exercises. Rachel Hall's essay, "Pregnant Muse: Assumptions, Authority and Accessibility", analyzes how the role of mother can change students' perceptions of an instructor, and encourages other instructors to look at how their appearance influences how students respond to them.  The fourth essay, "Dismantling Authority: Teaching What We Do Not Know,” by Katharine Haake, describes how approaching creative writing instruction through topics based seminars, which the teacher is no more authority on than the students, acts to dismantle the instructor's authority and allow genuine curiosity and exploration to take place.  

A couple of the authors argued the importance of creative writing teachers not becoming stagnant in their own writing and finding time for themselves to write. This both establishes their authority and helps instructors to relate better to the students and vice versa by making them active participants engaged in the same writing process as their students.

In Part 3, “Course Design,” Leahy collects four works that investigate grading with portfolios, grading policies,  gendered writing, and the use of community service based writing. The first two essays explore grading in the Creative Writing classroom, asking when and why grades are assigned, examining the authority by which teachers do so.  Wendy Bishop explores early attempts to nail down the effects of effort vs talent in her essay, “Contracts, Radical Revision, Portfolios, and the Risks of Writing.” She follows the morphing of the class from an assignment based curriculum to a portfolio curriculum, noting the growth and increased quality of student writing. In “An ‘A’ for Effort: How Grading Policies Shape Courses”, Suzanne Greenberg continues this look at portfolio based grading, noting that the system of portfolios, largely used by those in composition and rhetoric, was readymade for encouraging active risk taking by writers, thus allowing for the room in which to explore new methods. Her example encourages the use introspective writing as an integral part of the end of semester assessment.  For those in search of a new focus for a Creative Writing curriculum, the last two essays suggest possibilities. Susan Hubbard focuses on combatting the assumption of gendered writing in the essay, “Gender and Authorship: How Assumptions Shape Perception and Pedagogies.” The author builds a case and a curriculum in which writers examine their own concepts of gender in order to grow as writers. In the last essay, Argie Manolis examines the social connections possible in creative writing and illustrates a class based upon writing in and for a community of eldery alzheimer's patients in “Writing the Community: Service Learning in Creative Writing.” The author presents a curriculum that carefully balances student writing and community service that benefits both students and the community in which they serve.

For the teacher of creative writing, Bishop’s essay is the most pragmatic in its examples showcasing portfolio work as a grading process while Greenberg’s research  highlights theory and experts to reinforce such. After highlighting largely standard workshop practices, Leahy examines alternative approaches to a Creative Writing curriculum by presenting two individual approaches with interesting scholarly and social implications, pushing the creative writing classroom from production to art with social and community implications.

Part 4: In the Classroom is one of four within the book, highlighting the role a teacher plays as an authoritative figure and an aid in student writing. The book itself focuses certain aspects of authority in the classroom such as what course design would look like, what is going on in the classroom, the teacher’s role in the class, and overall larger picture ideas. “Part 4: In the Classroom” focuses on classroom components in a successful creative writing course and how that ties into the teacher’s role. The chapter authors highlight important aspects such as how to convey authority, giving feedback, how to avoid issues and dilemmas in instruction, and what components of creative writing are most important for students to focus on. These topics allow the reader to understand how important authority is within the classroom in order for the course to work successfully.

The main argument being made is the advocation for a process-based pedagogy in the classroom, and the idea that the teacher’s level of (and exercising of) authority in CW classes should be reconsidered, giving more weight to students in the roles of evaluation and critique. As Webb puts it, this pedagogy manifests itself in the creative writing classroom by creating an environment in which students are “meaningfully interrogating one’s own and others’ work so that, by recognizing patterns and making deliberate, informed choices for technique, one may produce a lifetime of stories” (180).

This section is useful in providing tangible methods of this pedagogy to try in a classroom, containing a wealth of examples of the teachers’ theories, in addition to how those theories work in practice. The list-structure also allows for easy reference for different teaching situations and issues. While the section’s argument is wide, including examples of the opposite ideology in a negative light, the nature of a book with an agenda is that the argument of the other side of the isle is missing. However, within its role as a book made for an argument, it is thorough, convincing, and tangibly useful to teachers who wish to apply this pedagogy.