Book Description

Expressive writing is life-based writing that focuses on authentic expression of lived experience, with resultant insight, growth and skill-building. Research shows that expressive writing can help in the development of emotional intelligence, better choice-making, and healthy coping skills. In this remarkable collection, 11 experts from education and community service join to offer compelling guidance on applied practice. You’ll discover a model for a poetry group for youth at risk; how to help students develop inner resources through metaphor; a “photovoice” project to help at-risk students stay in school; how storytelling develops emotional intelligence in primary school children; a method that helps teachers become more confident writers; how expressive writing can help teachers manage stress and avoid burn-out; expressive writing as change agent for communities; the benefits and limitations of writing programs in prisons and jails; hip-hop as “the pen of the people”; finding a writing group; writing with others; the ethics and standards of practice for expressive writing in the classroom and community; guidance for all levels of learners: Primary, teens, college-age, adult; professional development, personal growth. Whether you are a teacher, a counselor, a facilitator, or a writer you’ll find this volume an invaluable and innovative resource for expressive writing in the classroom and in the community.