James Shivers is a learning enthusiast, poet, and artist.
After working in a non-profit in Switzerland for over 10 years, he returned to the States as a Visiting Fellow in America Studies at Yale University to focus on 20th Century avant-garde poetry and poetics. During his five years there he taught a poetry class at the New Haven Arts High School. The staff and the students left a lasting impression. And with much consideration he transitioned to secondary education. Earning his qualifications through Connecticut’s ARC program, he began his career in West Hartford Public Schools in the Department of English, teaching 9-12 grades.
After 11 wonderful years in West Hartford, he moved to the CREC school system in Hartford. He current teaches at Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts where he is chair of the English Department and director of the Writing Center. Since 2010 he has taught 1007 Multimodal Composition through UCONN’s Early College Program. He also teaches Creative Writing and co-teaches Studio Arts, Idea to Image, and Game Design Narrative.
While in West Hartford he began teaching Advance Composition for Prospective Secondary Teachers the University of Connecticut. He has also taught a similar course at University of Hartford and worked as adjunct teaching composition in the English Department at Quinnipiac. From 2013-2024 he was one the lead teachers for the Yale Center of British Art’s Summer Institute focusing on visual literacy and theory for the classroom. He has regularly presented his work on visual literacy and multimodal composition at conferences. His work has appeared in creative and academic publications as well as in the New York Times, NPR, and the BBC.
At the end of the day he loves teaching, seeing students flourish, and being in the classroom to facilitate project based inquiries.
