Creative Writing
**Please note that our curricula are under constant review and may be adjusted to suit the needs of our students. These changes may take place more quickly than can be reflected on this site at a given moment in time. We will update periodically.
Creative Writing, Grades 9-12:
Creative Writing is a 10-week (1 term) English elective in which students will create writing portfolios in a workshop atmosphere. Students will collaborate both online and in person, perform pieces in small groups and in front of the class, and publish a substantial number of works in an on-line portfolio and, hopefully, the school's literary magazine. The culminating activity (final exam) for the course is a "Book Release Event" in which our newly published authors will perform a number of their works in front of the class and discuss their writing process and style. The goal is to introduce them--and include them--in the community of writers that is thriving in the real world. To that end, most of the authors we will read in class are currently publishing authors, many of whom live in the surrounding communities or the region. Whether they are first-time or experienced writers, students will be encouraged to go beyond what they ever thought they could accomplish. By the end of the term, they will have surprised others---and themselves.
Enduring Understandings:
Students are a part of the community of writers that is thriving in the real world.
Creative expression is something everyone is capable of accomplishing given the right circumstances.
Writing is a way to understand ourselves and the world.
We are all capable of way more than we thought just yesterday.
Unit 1: The Power of the Word
Unit 2: Freewrites/Powerwrites
Unit 3: Questions of Memory
Unit 4: Poetry of Place/Taking Inventory/THINGS
Unit 5: Drafting
Unit 6: Rooting out Sentimentality and Teen Angst
Unit 7: The Workshop--Revision/Line Breaks/Peer Editing
Unit 8: How to Read Aloud
Unit 9: Character Creation/Fiction Writing
Unit 10: Pastiche/Ekphrasis
Unit 11: Presentation/Performance
Unit 12: Living Authors/Your place in the community of writers
*note: the order of these units is fluid and many units are repeated
Grading Weights:
Portfolio 50%
Participation/Presentation/Postings 50%