Dan Lukiv

Lived School Experiences That Encouraged One Person to Become a Creative Writer-Study I Dan Lukiv

Abstract // In the hermeneutic phenomenological tradition, I explored through interviews this research question: What, if any, experiences in school encouraged one person to become an adult creative writer? The literature and curriculum guides for language arts address how to teach poetry and fiction writing, providing direction for students and teachers. But do creative writing activities in school stand as examples of lived school experiences that encouraged the participant? As a poet, novelist, and short story writer, I naturally have thoughts and beliefs about what activities or events in school encouraged me to become a creative writer; therefore, I attempted prior to the interviews to bracket my biases related to those thoughts and beliefs. I worked closely with the participant and my Supervisory Committee members to analyse emerging themes and to reduce researcher bias. Eight themes emerged from the data about what lived school experiences encouraged the participant. Recommendations based on those themes provide direction for educators. This study could serve as a prototype for further research that explores what, if any, school experiences have encouraged other people to become creative writers.