Skiing Indy–1978
|
Richard Kent
Thanks for visiting Writing Athletes. If you have questions or would like to chat, drop me a note using the contact sheet to the left or email me at UMaine: [email protected] Richard Kent University of Maine PS Yes, that's me in the picture to the left roller skiing the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track--my claim to fame as an athlete. |
Biographies
Dr. Richard Kent, Professor Emeritus, University of Maine
–Researcher–
A nationally recognized scholar, teacher, and former coach, Professor Richard Kent's work explores the intersection of writing, learning, and athletic performance, with a particular focus on how reflective writing—through athletic team notebooks and individual athlete journals—advances learning, sharpens mental skills, and strengthens communication within teams. For more than two decades, his university based research has drawn from composition studies, educational psychology, and sport pedagogy to demonstrate how writing helps athletes become thoughtful “students of the game,” capable of analyzing experience, managing pressure, and pursuing continuous improvement.
Dr. Kent is the author or co author of numerous influential books and professional resources, including Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports and A Guide to Creating Student Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6–12, recipient of the International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Scholarship in a Book Award. His scholarship has appeared across education, literacy, and sport publications, and his work has informed coaches, educators, and researchers at the secondary, collegiate, and elite levels in the United States and abroad. He has delivered keynote addresses and refereed presentations for organizations including the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, the Secondary School Writing Centers Association, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard High Performance Centers. He's a recipient of the Research and Creative Achievement Award at the University of Maine, served as Maine Teacher of the Year (1993), and recipient of the $25,000 National Educator Award.
As director of the Maine Writing Project for a decade, Kent led statewide and national initiatives in literacy education, teacher leadership, and public scholarship, securing sustained external funding and building enduring partnerships among universities, schools, and communities. He is the founder and CEO of WritingAthletes, an open access research and resource website that translates university research into practical tools used by coaches, athletes, and educators across sports and disciplines. Throughout his career, Kent has been committed to bridging theory and practice—advocating for writing not simply as a record of experience, but as a powerful cognitive and reflective tool for learning, performance, and personal growth.
–Author–
As an author, Kent's writing life spans scholarship, literature, and public-facing educational work, shaped by a long career in teaching, coaching, and research. Beginning in the late 1970s, he has written across genres—academic books, novels, poetry, edited collections, curricular texts, and essays—united by a sustained interest in learning, reflection, voice, and human development. His earliest published works of fiction and poetry, including the novels Play On! and The Mosquito Test and the poetry collections Entering Weld and Words for a Mountain, reflect a writer attentive to place, community, and the inner lives of people shaped by work, sport, and rural landscapes. These literary roots continue to inform his later nonfiction, where narrative, clarity, and voice remain central.
Alongside his creative writing, Kent has authored a substantial body of influential nonfiction focused on writing, education, and learning. His books Room 109: The Promise of a Portfolio Classroom, Beyond Room 109, and Teaching the Neglected “R” helped shape conversations about student-centered pedagogy and reflective practice. His widely recognized book A Guide to Creating Student Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6–12 received the International Writing Centers Association’s Outstanding Scholarship in a Book Award and remains a foundational text in the field of high school writing centers and the national organization, Secondary School Writing Center Association. Across this work, Kent writes as both scholar and storyteller, grounding research in classroom experience and lived practice rather than abstraction.
Kent is perhaps best known for a distinctive strand of authorship that bridges writing studies and athletics. In Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports, along with The Athlete’s Workbook, Writing Our Games, and numerous sport-specific journals and notebooks, he documents how writing functions as a tool for learning, performance, and self understanding in athletic contexts. His most recent book, a novel titled Sing On, Maine United!, weaves his soccer coaching experiences in England over two decades with his research into the use of team notebooks and journals.
Richard Kent’s many books draw on decades of observation, coaching, and research, and they position writing not as record keeping but as a cognitive practice that helps athletes think, reflect, and grow. This work—further extended through dozens of refereed articles and essays—has reached audiences in education, sport psychology, coaching, and the humanities.
Dr. Kent is the author or co author of numerous influential books and professional resources, including Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports and A Guide to Creating Student Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6–12, recipient of the International Writing Centers Association Outstanding Scholarship in a Book Award. His scholarship has appeared across education, literacy, and sport publications, and his work has informed coaches, educators, and researchers at the secondary, collegiate, and elite levels in the United States and abroad. He has delivered keynote addresses and refereed presentations for organizations including the National Council of Teachers of English, the National Writing Project, the Secondary School Writing Centers Association, and U.S. Ski & Snowboard High Performance Centers. He's a recipient of the Research and Creative Achievement Award at the University of Maine, served as Maine Teacher of the Year (1993), and recipient of the $25,000 National Educator Award.
As director of the Maine Writing Project for a decade, Kent led statewide and national initiatives in literacy education, teacher leadership, and public scholarship, securing sustained external funding and building enduring partnerships among universities, schools, and communities. He is the founder and CEO of WritingAthletes, an open access research and resource website that translates university research into practical tools used by coaches, athletes, and educators across sports and disciplines. Throughout his career, Kent has been committed to bridging theory and practice—advocating for writing not simply as a record of experience, but as a powerful cognitive and reflective tool for learning, performance, and personal growth.
–Author–
As an author, Kent's writing life spans scholarship, literature, and public-facing educational work, shaped by a long career in teaching, coaching, and research. Beginning in the late 1970s, he has written across genres—academic books, novels, poetry, edited collections, curricular texts, and essays—united by a sustained interest in learning, reflection, voice, and human development. His earliest published works of fiction and poetry, including the novels Play On! and The Mosquito Test and the poetry collections Entering Weld and Words for a Mountain, reflect a writer attentive to place, community, and the inner lives of people shaped by work, sport, and rural landscapes. These literary roots continue to inform his later nonfiction, where narrative, clarity, and voice remain central.
Alongside his creative writing, Kent has authored a substantial body of influential nonfiction focused on writing, education, and learning. His books Room 109: The Promise of a Portfolio Classroom, Beyond Room 109, and Teaching the Neglected “R” helped shape conversations about student-centered pedagogy and reflective practice. His widely recognized book A Guide to Creating Student Staffed Writing Centers, Grades 6–12 received the International Writing Centers Association’s Outstanding Scholarship in a Book Award and remains a foundational text in the field of high school writing centers and the national organization, Secondary School Writing Center Association. Across this work, Kent writes as both scholar and storyteller, grounding research in classroom experience and lived practice rather than abstraction.
Kent is perhaps best known for a distinctive strand of authorship that bridges writing studies and athletics. In Writing on the Bus: Using Athletic Team Notebooks and Journals to Advance Learning and Performance in Sports, along with The Athlete’s Workbook, Writing Our Games, and numerous sport-specific journals and notebooks, he documents how writing functions as a tool for learning, performance, and self understanding in athletic contexts. His most recent book, a novel titled Sing On, Maine United!, weaves his soccer coaching experiences in England over two decades with his research into the use of team notebooks and journals.
Richard Kent’s many books draw on decades of observation, coaching, and research, and they position writing not as record keeping but as a cognitive practice that helps athletes think, reflect, and grow. This work—further extended through dozens of refereed articles and essays—has reached audiences in education, sport psychology, coaching, and the humanities.
