bio
Mark Pomeroy grew up in northeast Portland. He has received an Oregon Literary Fellowship for fiction and a residency at Caldera, and his stories, poems, and essays have appeared in Open Spaces Quarterly, The Wordstock 10, The Oregonian, the Waco Tribune-Herald, and What Teaching Means: Stories from America’s Classrooms (Rogue Faculty Press, April 2012). A former classroom teacher, he holds an MA in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and lives with his family in northeast Portland, where he’s at work on a novel.
 
artist’s statement
For the past 17 years I’ve worked in a wide range of Oregon schools, both as a middle school Language Arts teacher and as a writing workshop instructor. I’ve received an MA in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University, an Oregon Literary Fellowship for fiction, and a residency at Caldera Arts, and my work has appeared in publications such as Open Spaces Quarterly, The Wordstock 10, The Oregonian, and What Teaching Means. Having traveled in 50-some countries around the world, I also try to bring a sense of cultural awareness to each classroom residency.
 
I believe in the importance of practice. Building stories, poems, and essays brick by brick, working out the writing muscles all the while. In the classroom, I like to break down writing projects into engaging, fun, useful, and confidence-building exercises, while also making sure students feel connected to (and passionate about) what they’re writing.
 
In my workshops we tackle activities that not only help build skills within each of the six Oregon Writing Traits, but also push us to write in fresh, compelling ways.
 
further info
- download PDF of Mark’s Sample Lesson Plan