Steven Kleinman doesn’t want his students to focus on success or failure. He wants them to “do, do, do.” In his fall English elective, Creative Nonfiction, he is working to create an environment where students can explore the topics most important to them through written “attempts” that “don’t have to be successful every time.” For Steven, learning is about “throwing yourself in and seeing where you go.”

A writer himself, Steven strives to write about “people who are left out of history books, and whose stories are important no matter how small their lives seem from the outside.” He draws inspiration from language which, when manipulated in the right way, can impact an audience and elicit a powerful response. 

Steven’s love for writing began at a young age. As a child, his mother, a teacher in the Upper Darby School District, bought him books of blank pages which he filled with his own stories. He describes his mother as being able to “relate to all people, younger and older” and having created “the coolest projects” for her students “where you didn’t even realize you were learning.” Like his mother, Steven makes learning into an experience that transcends classrooms and textbooks, urging his students to think critically, explore what they care about, and spy on others when necessary.

While passionate about his Creative Nonfiction class, Steven is a very busy guy. On top of working at Friends Select part-time, he teaches composition at Drexel University and poetry at the University of the Arts, is a published poet, and still finds time for some woodworking and gardening.