S171.
How Many?! Proven Strategies for Teaching Large Lecture Creative Writing Classes
Saturday, March 11, 2023
12:10 pm to 1:25 pm
What happens when we bring the creative writing workshop to the large lecture hall? Can a class of 250 students possibly grapple with the nuances of writing fiction, memoir, or poetry? How does a teacher even attempt to create a sense of community, so vital in creative writing spaces, for such a large group? Four writer-teachers discuss how to adapt strategies from the workshop to the lecture hall and share new techniques developed especially to engage students in large enrollment courses.
Participants
John Vigna is the author of Bull Head, Quill & Quire editor’s pick of the year and finalist for the Danuta Gleed Literary Award, and the novel No Man's Land. Named one of ten writers to watch by CBC Books, he's an assistant professor of teaching and pedagogy chair at UBC's School of Creative Writing.
Elaine K. Chang teaches creative writing, critical theory, and film/media and cultural studies at the University of Guelph. She has original feature screenplays in development, and has published poetry and articles in Asian North American culture and politics, among other fields.
Danielle Geller's first book, Dog Flowers, was published in 2021. Her work has appeared in Guernica, The New Yorker, and Brevity. She teaches creative writing at the University of Victoria and is a faculty mentor at the Institute of American Indian Arts.
Bronwen Tate is an assistant professor of teaching in the School of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She is the author of the poetry collection The Silk the Moths Ignore, and her poems and essays appear in Contemporary Literature, The Rumpus, and elsewhere.
