Creative Writing:

Changing the Course for 2013-2014

Please take the time to write out your responses to these ideas to help improve the course.

FEEDBACK for Creative Writing:

·         Keep most things the same, with a few exceptions.

·         Keep policies lax, giving up a little focus for a lot less stress (Sunrise tardies are often out of a student’s control)

·         Time to write is sacred in our busy schedules. No other classes at Buckley are like Creative Writing.

·         More reading aloud (but not when students aren’t ready yet)

·         More feedback from the teacher, an occasional private meeting to discuss writing style and which areas to work on.

·         Free choice of genres (except at the beginning of the year)

·         Quarter 1: short warm up every day gets students writing with something similar to share and builds up work stamina as well as a safe community. Daily five-minute warm-up writing exercise (like six word memoirs)

·         Occasionally take a break from large projects and write poems, or six word memoirs, and bring everyone together for a day or two. Structured assignments helped push me more as a writer. More “out of the box” assignments to learn writing styles and patterns

·         More guest speakers from inside and outside the Buckley community. Change up the pace occasionally (Dr. Totland, visiting poet)

·         Deadline to turn in work in progress every Friday

The Questions:

What, in your opinion, should stay exactly the same? Which might be tweaked a little?

·         Free choice of genres

·         Little organized activity; lots of time to write

·         Few grades

·         Lax policies on sunrise tardiness

·         Lots of quiet time to think

·         Lax policies for doing work for other classes

·         High degree of trust of students

Respond to the following ideas or proposed changes:

Pick those items you think will enhance the class and those you think will not.

·         More accountability of arrival time

·         More feedback on writing from the teacher

·         More feedback on writing from the class or a partner

·         More publishing of works on websites and in print

·         More focusing in first semester of trying different genres:

o   Poetry,

§  spoken word,

§  haiku

§  six word memoir

§  Lost Photo poems

o   Short stories

o   (creative) Nonfiction

o   Plays

o   Screenplays

·         Guest speakers, like the spoken words poet and Dr. Totland

·         Units of study in first semester

·         More study of technique:

o   How to characterize

o   How to visualize and describe setting

o   Rising conflict leading to climax of the plot

o   Sentence variety

o   How to use telling details

o   Short Exercises to master various fiction techniques

o   Software to help writers

·         Five minute warm ups at the start of every class