Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing

Description

Blending resources from creative writing studies, sociolinguistics, and writing and composition studies, this series of essays offers a formula for important changes within creative writing instruction, probing how it might be more inclusive and accessible for marginalized student-authors. Aimed at graduate student instructors as the future of teaching, and other teacher-practitioners of the subject, this book uses anticolonial, feminist, and antiracist methodologies to explore the 21st-century professional, institutional, and theoretical concerns surrounding creative writing practices in North American higher education. At the forefront of this vital resource is Micah McCrary's exploration of the ways creative writing pedagogy and theory can be adapted for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) and non-native English student-authors who often inhabit minoritized and marginalized positions within colleges and universities. Applying as a frame the notion of cultural dexterity as it is taught to medical professionals to allow them to engage effectively with patients from all backgrounds, ethnics groups and with all sensitivities, Teaching Cultural Dexterity in Creative Writing examines why and how creative writing instruction needs to be urgently renegotiated. In this essential text for all creative writing instructors, McCray provides all the tools necessary to take positive action with discussions of potential readings, writing prompts and sample course materials. Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Contents Tables Acknowledgments Beyond Belonging: An Introduction Calls for Change Parallel Practice(s) Overview Casting a Wide(r) Net Chapter 1: Difficult Dialogues: Toward a Trauma-Informed Creative Writing Workshop Fishes Out of Water: (Normative) Workshops as Traumatizing Spaces GSI Resources Praxis Conclusions Writing Prompts Chapter 2: Writing Lives at the Roundtable: Toward Teaching Students-as-Authors Authorial Lives and Constructions Idea and Identity: The Whole Picture GSI Resources Praxis Conclusions Writing Prompts Chapter 3: Why Bother in English? On Creative Writing’s Translingual Potential (Classroom) Acts of Reclamation Breaking (out of) English: The Languages of Our Souls Breaking (out of) English: Meaning-Making, Literature, and Deafness Breaking (out of) English: Workshopping China GSI Resources Praxis Conclusions Writing Prompts Chapter 4: Before and Beyond Genre: Critically Considering Craft in the Nonfiction Classroom Our People, Ourselves GSI Resources Praxis Conclusions Writing Prompts Chapter 5: Beyond Genesis: A Transcultural Exigency for Research in Creative Writing In the Room, On the Scene GSI Resources Praxis Conclusions Writing Prompts Chapter 6: Toward Critical Concepts in the Nonfiction Classroom: Some Reflections on Course Designs Course Description: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Course Description: Studies in Creative Nonfiction Institutional Context Scholarly Rationale Reflection Conclusions Chapter 7: Where We’ve Been, Where We’re Going: Considerations and Continuations Appendix A: Sample Syllabus—Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Course Description: Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Prerequisite/Corequisite Audience Credits Learning Objectives Required Texts/Supplies Course Requirements and Expectations Homework and In-Class Activities Workshop Groups Grade Breakdown Appendix B: Sample Schedule—Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Appendix C: Sample Trajectory—Introduction to Creative Nonfiction Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Week 15 Appendix D: Sample Syllabus—Studies in Creative Nonfiction Course Description: Studies in Creative Nonfiction Prerequisite/Corequisite Audience Credits Learning Objectives Required Texts/Supplies Course Requirements and Expectations Homework and In-Class Activities Workshop Groups Grade Breakdown Appendix E: Sample Schedule—Studies in Creative Nonfiction Appendix F: Sample Trajectory—Studies in Creative Nonfiction Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Week 7 Week 8 Week 9 Week 10 Week 11 Week 12 Week 13 Week 14 Appendix G: Sample Project—Flash Nonfiction Description Criteria Overview Appendix H: Sample Project—Researched Nonfiction or Literary Translation Description Option #1: Researched Literary Nonfiction Prompts below: Option #2: Literary Translation (plus commentary essay) Instructions for Option #1 Instructions for Option #2 Criteria Overview Appendix I: Sample Project—Identity Notebook Description Criteria Overview Appendix J: Sample Project—Revision for Targeted Publication + Exam Questions Part 1: Revision for Targeted Publication Publication List Part 2: Responses to Exam Questions Criteria Overview Index