Dr. John Ryan Hrebik is a writing professor, lyric poet, and drummer/musician. He holds a Ph.D. in Composition and Rhetoric from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, as well as an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Chatham University. In addition to writing poetry, Johnny has taught composition at the university level for over ten years. His emancipatory teaching style encourages students to use their own inimitable experiences to shape and construct new knowledge when crafting both creative and academic texts. It is his innovative music-based approach to teaching first-year writers that makes his classroom such a unique learning environment. In particular, Johnny uses songwriting as a model for college-level writing in order to position his students within a familiar atmosphere.