In recent years, the old connection between ars poetica and ars rhetorica has been reclaimed thanks in large measure to these two editors...In Praise of Pedagogy provides the strongest possible confirmation of the richness that results when we think and write creatively about our lives in the classroom...
—Ken Autrey
In Praise of Pedagogy is unarguably a pedagogical work. Yet you won't find a dry, stuffy line anywhere in it. Front to back, this can't-put-it-down book offers creative writing by teachers about teaching writing. In poems and short fiction, over 60 contributors from high school and college classrooms deal with the myriad moments and matters nearly all English instructors are familiar with.
As Ken Autrey notes in the Foreword, these pieces "offer tributes, capture poignant moments, and recount anecdotes, but they also develop arguments, defend positions, and explain theories." Somewhere in our bones we know that poetry and fiction can serve powerful pedagogical purposes. Here is proof upon proof, and not a line of it pedantic. Editors Bishop and Starkey additionally provide convincing essays on the value of bringing together composition and creative writing pedagogies.
You can read In Praise of Pedagogy, feel enriched by the experience, and put it back on the shelf. There is a far greater chance, though, that you're going to respond to the reading by writing. Recommended for English instructors at secondary and college levels.
