The Legacy of James Moffett: His Shaping Influence on Writing Studies, English Education, and the Teaching of English

The Legacy of James Moffett is a valuable resource designed for classroom teachers, graduate students, scholars, and curriculum specialists in English, English education, and writing studies. It serves as a practical guide, delving into Moffett’s theory, methodology, and educational practices. By documenting Moffett’s significant impact on the teaching of English and on modern thought about the purpose and future of education, this volume offers a profound exploration of his influence on the field. Through a blend of Moffett’s own writings, foundational scholarly works, and new research specifically curated for this book, readers are treated to a fresh and insightful reconsideration of Moffett’s life and his lasting imprint on the educational landscape.

This volume provides a holistic view of Moffett’s legacy, encouraging a reevaluation of his contributions to the field and inspiring new insights into the evolving realm of English teaching and curriculum development.

Sheridan Blau is a professor of practice in the teaching of English and former director of the English education program at Teachers College, Columbia University. He is also emeritus professor of English and education at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where for thirty years he directed the South Coast Writing Project and Literature Institute for Teachers. He is a former president of the National Council of Teachers of English (1997-1998). In 2007 he was awarded the NCTE Distinguished Service Award for leadership in the profession of English, contributions to teaching, and exemplary writing. In 2012 he was named Rhetorician of the Year by the Young Rhetoricians Conference in recognition of his career-long contributions to the teaching of writing through his professional development work and his own research and publications. He has published extensively in the areas of seventeenth-century literature, the teaching of composition and literature, professional development for teachers, and the ethics and politics of literacy. His book The Literature Workshop: Teaching Texts and Their Readers (2003), was selected by the Conference on English Education as winner of the Richard A. Meade Award for outstanding research in English education.

Jonathan M. Marine is a writing teacher and doctoral candidate in the Writing and Rhetoric program at George Mason University, where his research focuses on writing engagement, graffiti rhetorics, and the pedagogy and theory of James Moffett. He is the reviews editor for Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy as well as an associate editor for Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments and the WAC Clearinghouse’s Perspectives on Writing book series. He has published extensively on Moffett, including a master bibliography of Moffett’s work (https: //wac.colostate.edu/books/landmarks/moffett/bib/) and Toward a Re-emergence of James Moffett’s Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy. A two-time winner of NCTE’s James Moffett Award, he was recently named the incoming editor of the Journal for the Assembly of Expanded Perspectives on Learning.

Paul M. Rogers is an associate professor of writing studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he also received his doctorate in education. He is the former director of the Northern Virginia Writing Project, a cofounder and former chair of the International Society for the Advancement of Writing Research, and the coeditor of eight scholarly volumes of international research on writing, including International Models of Changemaker Education (2022). A recipient of the K. Patricia Cross Award for leadership in higher education and the Janet Emig Award for research in English education, Rogers’s research focuses on longitudinal studies of writing development from early schooling through professional life, the history of English education, the role of feedback in learning to write, writing engagement, and the role of writing in fostering social progress. For more than twenty years he has taught a wide variety of undergraduate and graduate courses, including academic writing, qualitative research methods, professional and technical communication, and social entrepreneurship.

Kathleen (Buchan) Kelly has been an educator for more than twenty-five years in public and independent school settings. She has taught at the middle school, high school, college, and graduate school levels on the East and West Coasts. Along the way, she has earned two master’s degrees and a doctorate. Kathleen is the author of several articles and has coedited another book on James Moffett, Toward a Re-emergence of James Moffett’s Mindful, Spiritual, and Student-Centered Pedagogy. She currently teaches English at a small independent school in Southern California. The subject of her current book project is Sheridan Blau.