Lived School Experiences That Encouraged One Person to Become a Creative Writer:
Study II of VI
  Dan Lukiv

I conducted conversational interviews with a successful Canadian poet who has had several poetry collections published by major Canadian houses and, as would be expected, many poems published in literary journals. I call him Thomas to protect his anonymity, and I interviewed him about what, if any, lived school experiences had encouraged him to become a creative writer.

I speak of school experiences in terms of elementary and high school as opposed to college and university. I speak of the creative writer as one who engages in what I call creative writing: the entertaining, thought-provoking expression of emotions, ideas, and thoughts. Indeed, school experiences had existed that had encouraged the participant to become a creative writer, and the exploratory nature of this study sought to describe, in the hermeneutic phenomenological sense, themes that emerged from those experiences.

My original study reviewed a variety of curriculum guides, Web sites, teachers' handbooks, and other sources that contain direction for students and teachers of creative writing. In the literature review of the next section, I consider my original study and what school experiences encouraged its participant, Arthur (pseudonym). That study stands as the first-born hermeneutic phenomenological study in existence, that I am aware of, that explores my research question: What, if any, experiences in school encouraged one person to become an adult creative writer? The study defines itself under the umbrella of qualitative, subjectivist research based on a single research question.    full text >>>

Visioning Strategy and School Effectiveness: A New Paradigm View
  Linda M. Mckay and Glenn W. Rideout

This paper examines the relationship between the visioning strategy of secondary schools in south-western Ontario and the success of those schools in providing new paradigm effectiveness outcomes, based on the perception of senior students in those schools. The term 'visioning strategy' refers to the process of formulating and implementing a school vision. Visioning strategy is primarily concerned with the processes, not the value or substance of the vision itself. A visioning strategy can be top down, bottom up, inclusive (many stakeholders' visions) or exclusive (principals' vision only), and so on. 'New paradigm' school effectiveness focuses on people, participative leadership, innovative work style, strong client orientation, and a mind-set that seeks optimum performance of the full range of capacities resident in individuals. The open, inclusive, synthesizing nature of this approach to school effectiveness is seen by many educators as more likely to impact more students as their traditional and non-traditional intelligences are valued.

The primary purpose of the paper is to examine the relationship between the school's visioning strategy and the effectiveness of the school, as indicated by senior students, and to explore the question of whether schools with a stronger visioning strategy are rated as more effective by their students. A secondary purpose is to examine whether there is a significant difference in the effective ratings of schools of three different categories (Public, Catholic, Private) of schools.   full text >>>

Internet Chat Language: A Contact Zone in the Composition Classroom
  Seema Mukhi

"sup"
"nm. u?"
"jest chillen"
"me 2… im lazy as hell!!!... neway gtg…work 2 do J"
"kewl ttyl"
"l8r"

This is a typical quick greeting and conversation among college freshmen who have been instant messaging, or "IMing," their friends for four or more years. Instant messaging has become an integral means of communication between high school and college students over the last few years, and instant message software has a language, set of rules, and etiquette of its own. As writing teachers, we tell our students that writing is important because it is a tool for communication and expression, but we fail to recognize that they already successfully communicate through writing. These students communicate more through writing, using instant messenger software and Internet chatting, than they communicate in any other way. High school and college students use instant messaging to make plans, to keep their friends informed about where they are, to set up dates and talk to members of the opposite sex, to have serious political, social, or personal discussions, to express themselves and their opinions, and to keep in touch with old friends. Why, then, do we assume that students do not recognize the value of written communication?    full text >>>