Course Description. Writing is a craft and, like any craft, discipline and practice help writers become more skilled, more versatile and more confident in their abilities. In Creative Writing we will rigorously explore how language becomes art, and hopefully we will all develop a stronger sense of how to write with passion, poise and precision.
In this class we will do many writing assignments that focus on basic skills, concepts and genres. We will write poems, short stories, narrative essays and pieces that blur the lines between genres. My hope is that we will accomplish two main goals in this class: 1) Nurturing your talents as a writer and 2) providing you with many concrete skills--a big bag of tricks, in other words--so that you can make your writing stronger and more appealing to readers. Finally, to get a stronger sense of how the pros apply their skills, we will read published poems, short stories and essays.
Expectations. Almost every day we will write and share our work. Since writers share their efforts with varying degrees of comfort, I expect that everyone will always respect the writer, the work and the process.
Honors Participants. You will read and write more for this class. You will complete weekly journals on Classroom. These will most like be one-page single-spaced critiques, analyses, personal responses, rants or something that shows you are a sentient being curious about the world. I will provide you with prompts and you will be responsible for the writing.
Grading. I believe that smaller assignments are practice for larger ones, so I often count homework for a small percentage of the grade and weight projects and larger assessments more. With our hybrid schedule, my system is a little harder to maintain because we are doing fewer larger assignments. Therefore, I will weight a number of smaller assignments more throughout the semester, and I will tell you ahead of time "to make sure you do a good job, because this one counts more." Typically, my grades are weighted as follows. Daily Homework 10%, Engagement 15%, Projects and Larger Assessments 75%.
Communication. Students and parents may contact me most effectively by e-mail:
Books I Often Refer To: The Art and Craft of Fiction: A Writer's Guide by Michael Kardos. Dreyer's English: An Utterly Correct Guide to Clarity and Style by Benjamin Dreyer. (for editors of all forms of writing.)