There has been a remarkable surge of interest in creativity in a wide variety of disciplines in recent years. Taken in aggregate, this body of work now theorizes creativity as a--foundational aspect of human cognition and intelligence. If we theorize creativity as a highly sophisticated and valuable form of cognition, it must also then be regarded…

In spite of views that children's writing development is in large part a linguistic complex process involved in their engagement within and across social activities in and out of school, the literature is scant on the wide range of semiotic resources that children may draw on to animate their poetry writing and performances. Drawing from a case…

It is important to find the means by which struggling writers can find success in the English Language Arts. For students struggling with reading and writing, the visual arts may be a way of accessing and expressing their ideas and ultimately opening up a world of creative possibilities. This article explores drawing and painting as a pre-writing…

This paper discusses, from a personal point of view, the process of writing a poem, from inception through revision to the final product. The intention is instructional for any person who wishes to explore the nature of creative, directed expression in language. Because it is a personal account, however, it is idiosyncratic in nature and possibly…

What first graders chose to put in their journals when given no direct suggestions for topics was studied during the 1985-86 school year in a suburban Birmingham, Alabama, classroom. Journal writing was scheduled for 30 minutes daily throughout the school year, but not all children chose to write every day. At the end of the year, all of the…

This article describes one poet/teacher's program to explore and cultivate student creativity, intuition, and imagination through a series of visual, verbal, and psychological exercises. Visualization, free-writing, association, variations on other poets' work, and memory mapping are among the creativity exercises employed prior to actual writing…

Describes one creative writing teacher's use of an owl as a focal point for writing activities and how the writing activities aided the students' personal and creative development. Provides samples of student writing. (ARH)