subject: Larry Johannessen's Focused on the Teaching of Writing [print this page] In my first few years of teaching in seemingly impossible conditions, Larry listened to me work through problems that, looking back on it, must have seemed simple to him . . . always with honest encouragement and humility letting me knows that he had been there too.
He helped me, and others, turn frustrations into triumphs. He encouraged me to talk about working with at-risk youth, and set up my first "presentation" at Lyons in front of a few teachers. It was a panel presentation where he took the lead and, like the fabulous teacher that he was, provided the model. It was in front of teachers he knew, a forgiving audience that he had groomed. What an empowering experience that was for me, a young teacher who felt passionately about my career choice, but humbled by how painfully difficult it can be.
He continued to encourage a group of us to present at NCTE, then eventually to develop a workshop. Larry and Betsy were the people that we sought out ahead of time to work through our anxiety and the first ones we wanted to see when it was over. They coached us through it all. I do not think that it is an exaggeration to say that I might not be teaching today if it were not for Larry. I know that I would not be enjoying it as much or doing it as well. I am profoundly grateful for having known him.
Beyond the individual examples, one can see in the body of Larry Johannessen's scholarship his keen interest in the preparation of teachers of English and his commitment to revealing to others the critical challenges in the experience of new teachers and the kind of induction and mentoring support that would help beginners.
His contributions are evident in the column that he produced for English Journal and in NCTE's Supporting Beginning English Teachers, for which the Conference on English Education awarded him the Richard A. Meade Award for significant contribution to research about the development of English language arts teachers.
Larry Johannessen's other areas of scholarship focused on the teaching of writing. His publications for NCTE included the influential Designing and Sequencing Pre-writing Activities and two editions of Writing About Literature. At the time of his death, Larry was finishing a book titled The Dynamics of Writing Instruction, soon to be published by Heine-mann. He also continued to study the effects that the Vietnam War had on the men and women who served, and on the friends and family who in their own way shared the experience.
Larry's NCTE publication Illumination Rounds: Teaching the Literature of the Vietnam War provides teachers with guidance in studying a selected body of literature about the Vietnam War but also supports teachers in their effort to engage students in studying the nature and effects of war in general.
Larry had begun a project to collect oral histories from the family members of Vietnam War veterans so that they could tell the story of the effects the war experience had on their lives while a loved one served, or when the vet struggled to adjust and cope on return home. This important project was in its initial phase and will never be completed.
Larry Johannessen's Focused on the Teaching of Writing
