Researchers have largely ignored students' creative works as a source of insight into their everyday experiences. This study is a hermeneutic analysis of 23 works written by talented writers on the topic of academics. The findings include depictions of students as detached from their teachers and their curriculum. In these stories and poems,…

Discusses the historical pedagogical controversy between advocates of the personal, expressive functions of school-based creative writing and defenders of its utilitarian functions. Concludes that the merits of creative written expression must be defended during the current "back to basics" movement because of its therapeutic, functional, and…

Fifty-one very bright adolescents participated in a productive-thinking program and a challenging course in either creative writing or the social sciences. The program produced significant gains in verbal intelligence scores. The productive-thinking program also significantly raised scores on measures of creativity. (Author/GDC)

Describes using drama to provide constant scaffolding as children learn to write stories. The 5-week process begins with collaboratively setting the stage, proceeds with scaffolding for reviewing the elements of stories (punctuation, the sequence of events, characterization, the plot problem and solution), and concludes with independent projects…