Our thesis is more finely tuned to Thomas Merton (1915-68) the writer, more specifically, the poet/artist/writer and thinker. These are the components of the "Merton" voice. Merton senses the quality of innocence as the "sine qua non" of the poet or writer's vocation: "His art depends on an ingrained innocence which he would lose in business, in…

From September 2008 to July 2009, the author traded academic robes for the Army Combat Uniform issued to US Navy personnel deploying to Afghanistan. Along with using the ceramic and Kevlar body armor he learned to don at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, he metaphorically defended himself from the disruption to his personal and professional life that…

Three English teachers share their ideas on how their work as a writer helped them as a teacher. One teacher has found that the desire for meaningful response to her own writing has led her to evaluate her students similarly. A second teacher discusses how personal experience translates into teaching how to convey rejection in a useful and tactful…

Provides background on poet, fiction writer, and teacher Alan Ziegler. (FL)

I invite and encourage students to take risks in their writing, to engage innovatively with a wide range of genre, to push limits in order to explore creatively how language and discourse are never ossified, but always organic, how language use is integrally and inextricably connected to identity, knowledge, subjectivity, and living. Informed by…

Describes a two-day residence in a fifth- and sixth-grade classroom of poet Arnold Adoff. Presents his interaction with five students as they struggle with their poetry writing. (HTH)

A naturalistic-design study compared the practices of "writer-teachers" (expert practitioners) who employ methods rooted in experience with traditional "teacher writers." Eight subjects were chosen from a group of 23 writers who teach below the college level. One quarter of classroom observation and taping produced an in-depth study of two expert…

Noting that despite the homogenizing influence of the mass media, the United States remains a land of regions, this focused journal issue celebrates regionalism (especially Kentucky regionalism) by exploring its implications for the teaching of English and language arts. The articles and their authors are as follows: (1) "Literacy and…