Gaining Community and Confidence
Author: Rachel Sweningson | Major: English Education | Semester: Fall 2023
As a student finishing her undergraduate degree in English Education with a Rhetoric & Composition minor, I, Rachel Sweningson, have seen the importance of student engagement in the learning process. Without engagement, students coast through their classes; curriculum only remains in their memory as long as it takes to earn the needed grades—if that long. For my undergraduate honors thesis, “More than Creativity: the Benefits of Engaging Students Through Creative Writing,” I conducted a literature review of the English Journal’s column “Teaching Creative Writing,” and analyzed how well creative writing involves students despite its rare inclusion in the English Language Arts (ELA) classroom. Though the thesis remains in-progress, the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) gave me the opportunity to present my progress on this research at their NCTE Annual Convention in Columbus, Ohio, and therefore participate in the rich, inspirational professional development provided by this premier annual event that educators rarely get to experience.
Careers in public education can often feel isolating and disheartening. In tumultuous state legislatures and increasingly fraught classroom environments, more voices turn toward the teaching’s anxieties than its rewarding elements. However, at NCTE 2023, I was one of thousands of attendees, and there was palpable excitement about our profession. Though we came from all walks of life, we were a national community, and hearing from diverse perspectives taught me that our public education system has a lot more fight left in it.
Along with this sense of community, NCTE 2023 also had meaningful keynote speakers, teaching resources, and innumerable sessions to help propel my professional development as a preservice teacher. One of my favorite keynote lectures was given by Dr. Angus Fletcher, a Yale alumnus who is using neuroscience to discover how the human brain is driven by creativity, emotions, and stories. This lecture captured so much of what I aim to communicate with my thesis “More Than Creativity: The Benefits of Engaging Students Through Creative Writing,” and it was affirming to hear how Dr. Fletcher’s research backed up these internally-understood ideas with peer-reviewed science. Though my research centers itself as a literature review over a specific journal column, “Teaching Creative Writing,” I look forward to further reading Dr. Fletcher’s writing and being able to incorporate his evidence into my thesis’s analysis.
Similarly, this conference furthered my research through the opportunity to meet and gain insight from the editors of “Teaching Creative Writing.” Before NCTE 2023, these editors were simply names to me, but by complete coincidence, I ran into both Dr. Crag Hill from Oklahoma University and Dr. Wendy R. Williams from Arizona State University during the weekend. Along with sharing some insights about the column during these encounters, we traded contact information, and they welcomed further questions as I continue my research next semester. As I go out into the workforce, I appreciate the opportunity to grow my personal connections with experts in the field of English Education since teaching will centralize my available network to a more local community.
My presentation of “More than Creativity” was scheduled during the last day of the conference, and it was an enriching way to bookend my time at NCTE 2023. Though it was nerve-wracking to share my research with experts and peers through a series of roundtable sessions, the experience resulted in meaningful discussions and practice presenting to strangers. During the feedback portion, I received the most interest in the examples I shared of creative writing assignments and further strategies for implementation, so I understand the importance of emphasizing these resources in my final thesis.
Going forward, I am excited to use what I have learned in my teaching pedagogy next year, and I am hopeful that I will get to attend NCTE’s annual conference again someday. The Honors College Conference Grant provided me with an opportunity not available to many teachers, and I am thankful that I was able to witness English education’s national community firsthand. In the face of tension and uncertainty, we remain vibrant, hopeful, and passionate. As I finish my research and my degree, I will hold onto that truth and credit it to NCTE 2023.