Uncertainty and Praxis in the Creative Writing Classroom

According to music pedagogue Randall Allsup (2003: 157), praxis is “not simply the capacity to imagine alternative scenarios, but is instead the slow burning fuse of possibility and action.” This paper will examine the role of uncertainty and praxis in the creative writing classroom, paying particular attention to the role of prose workshopping. First, it will offer an overview of praxis and then it will argue that, when successful, creative writing pedagogy offers praxis: that is, students learn to imagine their writing in different ways through workshopping (possibility) and to enact those changes through the rewriting process (action). Then, it will explore practical ways of addressing authority in the workshop arena as well as the importance of supplementary readings. (Allsup, Randall Everett. 2003. ‘Praxis and the Possible: Thoughts on the Writings of Maxine Greene and Paulo Freire’ Philosophy of Music Education Review 11.2: 157-169).