Toward a Re-Emergence of James Moffett's Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy

Toward a Re-Emergence of James Moffett's Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy is an edited collection comprised of thirteen original chapters and two vital reprints of Moffett’s work that have been out of print for more than thirty years. All of the contributions in this volume are dedicated to pushing forward Moffett’s prescient ideas into the contemporary contexts of teaching, learning, and the language arts which inform current discussions of holistic education.

The volume offers scholars, educational professionals, teachers, and graduate students of writing studies, rhetoric, composition, and English education a practical guide to understanding the theory, methodology, and praxis of James Moffett. This text is perfect for scholars at all levels who are focused on language learning, writing and composition, and mindfulness and spirituality in teaching and learning or teacher educators seeking inventive approaches to literacy learning which account for holistic conceptions of development and the theory and history of composition.

The volume begins with an in-depth introduction to Moffett’s work for those new to Moffett studies and offers readers the tools to deepen or begin the study of Moffett’s ideas as well as resources for continuing that work beyond this volume.

"No history of the National Writing Project, or of English Language Arts teaching more generally, would be complete without a rich engagement with the work and ideas of James Moffett. Written during the tumultuous 1960’s, Moffett’s central books, Teaching the Universe of Discourse and A Student-Centered Language Arts Curriculum, sparked a paradigm shift in how the profession came to understand the purpose and substance of teaching language and literacy. As current teachers grapple with another tumultuous time, Toward a Re-Emergence of James Moffett’s Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy is a book that will help them (re)discover the nurturing and humanistic underpinnings of their calling."

—Elyse Eidman-Aadahl, Executive Director, National Writing Project

"This collection re-introduces a profoundly influential but largely forgotten voice in English education—especially writing instruction—to a generation that feels his influence in the very intellectual air we breathe, too often without knowing his name. James Moffett was at the molten center of political controversies over language, schooling, and censorship a generation ago that still inflame school board meetings and legislative battles today. Yet he was also a pioneer and prophet of the mindfulness turn in education and the broader culture that is powerfully alive in ways that he advanced from mid-career until his untimely death in 1996. The essays here (including his own, ‘Writing, Inner Speech, and Meditation’) reintroduce and reinterpret him for us at a time when his voice of courage, comfort, and composure are urgently needed."

—David R. Russell, Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University