Weaving Words: Personal and Professional Transformation through Writing as Research
Weaving Words raises important questions about the impact of 21st century practices of education upon human creativity and joy in making meaning through writing. It questions how writing is experienced and valued as a process and product of research; as a means for personal and professional learning; and how it is taught and experienced in the classroom and in teacher education. Weaving Words brings together a range of critical perspectives upon writing within global agendas for education and research, and considers the capacity for writing and reflection to disrupt and transform personal and professional understandings.
The parallel traditions of spinning and weaving and the sharing of stories through the spoken and written word shape the structure of this book: its warp is constituted by chapters written by researchers in education; its weft by the poems, plays, short stories and reflections of pre-service teachers. Both researchers and pre-service teachers consider the challenges of becoming writers, and the contradictions they encounter in transferring their understandings of being a writer to the teaching of writing with younger authors, and in conducting research as writing.
Weaving Words engages with emerging debates around what forms of writing are valued and supported within 21st century teaching and research; it demonstrates the power of writing for personal expression, suggesting that writing that is creative opens spaces for making meaning and for constructing the world that are important for practices of education and for research.
Janice K. Jones’ leadership, research and practice of teaching and teacher education is informed by the arts, writing and creativity. A Churchill Fellow with 30 years’ international teaching and management experience in schools and in higher education in the UK, Canada, Korea, Turkey and Australia, Janice is a Senior Lecturer in Arts Education at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Her publications include book chapters, refereed journal articles and conference proceedings.
“Weaving Words is an attention-grabbing book that will definitely stimulate and maybe reshape your thinking as it traverses contemporary philosophies, practices and products of writing for teaching, professional development and research in education. It compliments and furthers the evolving discussion about the position of creative and reflective writing within 21st century epistemologies and practices of research, in education, and most especially within teacher education. While most exemplars are Australia based, the arguments put and challenges raised transcend geographical boundaries. This is a book equally relevant to university academics and postgraduate students in Australia, the UK, the USA and beyond.
“I encourage all educators who read this well-crafted book to embrace the questions and issues raised within Weaving Words, and to maybe rethink the role that writing in all its forms has in your classroom, and how it is represented in teacher education and in research.”
—Nita Temmerman
Melissa Andrews
Ali Black
Erin-Pearl Buchner
Lorrae Charles
Erin Christensen
Melissa Crawford
Claire D'Arcy
Patrick Alan Danaher
Pauline Dobbie
Cameron Feith
Yvonne Findlay
Sophie Fitzgerald
Kim Fox
Julia Grieve
Tommy Ha
Nicole Hargreaves
Roberta (Bobby) Harreveld
Melanie Harris
Robyn Henderson
Jenny Hoang
Nicole Hobson
Leanne Hubbert
Matthew Hunt
Anne Jasman
Natalie Kersnovske
Miyuki Kruse
Renee Lockwood
Donna Moodie
John Mulroney
Joseph Occhino
Kirra O’Brien
Kathleen Parkes
Stephanie Rex
Natalie Romanet
Lesley Saunders
Catherine Somerfield
Nita Temmerman
Benjamin Williams
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