Teacher-Writer Perceptions on the Essence of Writing: Influences, Identity and Habits of Mind to Sustain a Writing Life

This body of work contains three articles that support the need for K-12 teachers to write professionally and personally. The research sought to explore the questions of initial influences to write, essentials to sustain writing and the relationship of teacher-writer development to self authorship. Much of the previous literature produced by scholars, authors and teacher-writers focus on the benefits for students when teachers are confident as writers. Student motivation to write rests on the beliefs of the teacher who provides a model for writing as this shapes student beliefs about themselves as writers. However, there is little research that provides substantial reasons for teachers to write as a benefit for their own professional and personal lives. The following articles present research findings to fill this gap. While few teachers identify themselves as writers or feel confidence in writing themselves, there are teachers that do. These teachers write with their students, blog, and write as a daily practice for educational and personal purposes. Once awakened to the writing life, these teachers become advocates for other teachers to write as well; they promote best practices on social media, provide professional development, participate in writing conferences and write books to motivate teachers to write. When teachers write themselves, they discover a sense of agency in using writing as a tool for both professional and personal growth. Two of the articles for this dissertation are based on qualitative case studies that explored the perceptions of ten K-12 teachers who write. These participants provided supportive data through a series of three interviews, two face-to-face and one through writing. The first study sought to examine the initial influences of each teacher-writer to understand the necessary conditions for teachers to be influenced to write, whether in childhood or as an adult. The second study, more phenomenological in nature, explored the essence of what keeps teacher-writers writing, including habits of mind and tools to develop these habits. The third study, a literature review, compared the relationship of teachers' development as a writer to the phases of self authorship. Each study intertwines as they support one another and contribute to the overall finding that writing, for teachers, is a path to discovering a meaningful and purposeful life. Data analysis revealed that initial influences for teachers to write included positive feedback from teachers or family members, a love of reading, or the early need to express creativity or satisfy curiosity. Teacher-writers with strong writing identities as children or young students received positive feedback that enabled them to continue to grow as writers, while those who were more challenged with the mechanics of writing or had teachers who were product focused, had a lack of self-efficacy in writing. If a negative writing identity was developed early on, revisiting writing histories to reshape their beliefs transformed their identity. Once teachers take steps to develop a writing identity, sustaining their practice is necessary to their growth as writers. Findings also unveiled four main purposes that drive teacher-writers to sustain their writing practices: to discover meaning, connect with others and themselves, as a commitment to learning, and for emotional well-being. Essential habits of mind included living with a sense of awareness, overcoming perfection, development of habits and rituals and ample time for solitude. Participants all described the personal joy writing brought them through discovery writing, creative play in writing and for expression of thoughts and emotions. Through each purpose, writing was a path to being alive in the world and in maintaining an energy that brought fulfillment and personal growth. Literature review findings in the third study describe the relationships of self-authorship and teacher-writer development stories of well-known teacher-writers. These teacher-writers began at an absolute knowledge stage with a limited knowledge of writing until a triggering moment caused cognitive dissonance. These crossroads propelled teachers to write themselves. Through writing, teachers cultivated their internal voice and learned to trust this voice over external authority. In continued writing, confidence and self-efficacy grew not only in writing, but in other areas of their lives. Their writing voice became their internal voice which was previously veiled or suppressed due to social contexts and expectations. Multiple implications are suggested for the integration of writing in teacher education programs. Ongoing practices can be more likely in a university setting as opposed to shorter professional development sessions in K-12 settings. Possibilities include creating safe writing communities in literacy courses and providing authentic purposes for pre-service teachers to write. Advisers who meet with students can model and suggest journaling as a way to explore big questions and to nurture an awareness of their thoughts and the world around them. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.). [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]