Proceedings of the 8th World Conference on Future of Education
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Bridging The Gap: Enhancing Pre-Service Teachers’ Confidence in Creative Writing for The Classroom
Tereza Parizkova
ABSTRACT:
Creative writing enjoys considerable popularity, yet it has not firmly established itself within the primary and secondary Czech curricula and remains largely a leisure activity. In efforts to integrate creative writing into primary school language arts classes, a recurring challenge emerges: teachers often lack confidence in their own writing and creative abilities. International research suggests, however, that teachers need personal experience with literary writing to effectively teach writing to their students. A pivotal 2010 study by Denise N. Morgan at Kent State University, Preservice Teachers as Writers, demonstrated that semester-long writing courses significantly boost future teachers’ confidence in both writing and teaching. Emulating Morgan’s research model, the Faculty of Education at Palacký University Olomouc conducted a modified study with future teachers (n=67), focusing on writing and its impact on their self-perception as writers and educators. A significant difference in this study was that the students developed texts intended for child readers, not adults. The narrative analysis in qualitative research, conducted before, during, and after the creative writing course, utilizes students’ diaries, interviews, and questionnaires to examine their concerns and past experiences. These insights lead to suggestions for preparing pre-service teachers for their future roles and transforming established attitudes. This conference paper examines the seminar’s impact on pre-service teachers’ self-perception as authors and the insights they carry forward into their future teaching practice.
keywords: creative writing, imaginative education, lower secondary school, pre-service teachers training, writing education