International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
Volume 2, Number 1, January 2008
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Excerpt
Investigating Contemplative Practice in Creative Writing and Education Classes: A Play (of Practice and Theory) in Three Acts
Scene One, The Meeting
Creation comes from an impulse and an urge. November 2006, Washington D.C., ISSOTL pre-conference Carnegie Leadership Program meeting. I sit at one end of a long table in the Washington Hilton Hotel, facing a window that reveals the dome of the nation’s capitol. Patti Owen-Smith leads a meeting of the Cognitive Affective Learning (CAL) Group. We talk definitions, action plans, meeting dates. At the other end sits Maureen Hall. She and I have never met until this meeting. But we slowly connect with each other as the day progresses, a connection developed through an imperceptible filament across the long table as each of us occasionally contributes to the group’s discussion. Later when we discuss this connection, she will recall my comments on feminist theory at the meeting. I will remember Maureen’s reference to Mary Rose O’Reilley, a writer significant to both of us.
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Olivia Archibald
Saint Martin’s University
Lacey, Washington, USA
oarchibald@stmartin.edu
Olivia Archibald [oarchibald@stmartin.edu]
I am a Professor of English at Saint Martin's University, with responsibilities that include chairing the English Department; directing the university's faculty development activities; and teaching courses in writing, literary criticism, literature, and sociolinguistics. I have a Ph.D. in English from the University of Iowa, with specializations in the Art of the Essay and Early Medieval Literature. My research and writing interests include essay theory, creative nonfiction, composition studies, literary theory, and Old English literature. Recent awards include a Presidential Research Fellowship, Fall 2007; and special recognition for my teaching at the university's website. Current projects include co-authoring with Maureen Hall a book on contemplative practices via reflective writing, and editing a collection of student-written essays for a book about the monks at Saint Martin's Abbey.
Maureen Hall
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, USA
mhall@umassd.edu
I have a background in English Education and both an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia. I have over thirteen years of educational experience, including ten years in public K-12 schools. Currently, I am an in my fifth year as an assistant professor in the Education Department at UMass Dartmouth. I am a member of the Leadership Program of the Carnegie Academy for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (CASTL), and my current work is a part of the larger conversation and research on Cognitive-Affective Learning (CAL). My other current research projects focus on cognitive and affective dimensions of preservice teacher education and professional development of teachers, including teaching with technology, service learning, and the integration of contemplative practices to deepen learning.