Weaving Words

Book excerpt: 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.