Creative Writing for Liberation

Unit #2: How Seeing Others Speak their Truth can Help me Speak Mine

Unit Rationale:

Unit 1 of Creative Writing for Liberation will focus on the whole class novel Go Tell it on the Mountain by James Baldwin, where we will have examined tacit queer voice, and how sometimes what is not said is the loudest voice in a text. Unit #2 will be based around small book groups where we read a text in small groups examining 4 elements of craft identified by Felicia Rose Chavez in The Anti-racist Writing Workshop: How to Decolonize the Creative Writing Classroom of “voice, imagery, characterization and arrangement [flow]” (120). The end goal of this unit is for students to craft a piece of creative writing in which they explore their social identities.

Students will complete a survey to help place them in a small book club, where they will read that text to explore an identity. This could be an identity they hold, or an identity they want to understand better. It could also be both. Than as a community, we will explore the 4 craft elements and identity together. In addition to supplementary material, we will craft a collective lexicon to help us study, examine, and reflect on identity as an ever changing facet of life. We will also engage in writer’s workshops and writing exercises to help us build stamina, confidence, and an authentic voice. Penny Kittle in Write with Them states, “quick writing is supposed to be unformed, messy thinking; and out of this freedom, good writing grows” (31). Additionally, the workshops will be structured in 3 distinct parts of writing, editing, and revision, as to help “participants learn to assess—and—accept their writing in phases” (Chavez 87-88). This space to write, play, and begin to separate self judgement and criticism. This allows us creativity to grow, and will allow us to experiment and confidently build our voices in conversation.

We will have smaller workshops built into this unit that will allow us to create together, and focus in on the identity centered writing piece. Exercises built into this unit are meant to build confidence, work through a recursive writing process, and better understand ourselves in acts of community creation. At the end of this unit, we will have a day to celebrate each identity centered writing piece. This celebration is a celebration of vulnerability, exploration, risk, bravery, and community.

Cover illustration: "Home" by Trudi-Ann Hemans.

Unit #2: How Seeing Others Speak their Truth can Help me Speak Mine

Unit Calendar

Unit #2 is a 4 week unit. Weeks 1 - 3 will focus on establishing a routine, workshops, and community building. The final week of this unit, Week 4, will be entirely dedicated to workshopping, revising, and polishing the identity centered writing piece. Lesson plans and materials are included here for days 5-12. Day 8-10 will be a smaller intensive project where we will work in partnerships to create complex characters using Dungeons & Dragons (D&D). On Day 10, we will share out and celebrate each other's characters. The goal of this unit is to empower each other to take risks, build confidence, and develop our skills as creative writers.

CWL Unit 2 Calendar

Small Book Clubs

For this unit, we will be in small book clubs. Each book club will have a focus on exploring an identity. The book clubs will be grouped based on the identities that each student selects as being what they want to study. Additionally, this handout also provides a summary, some info about the author, and key identities in that text. This handout will help narrow down top 3 choices, and this is also a flexible list. For example, Picture Us in the Light by Kelly Loy Gilbert explores Danny's relationship with his parents who are immigrants to the United States. There might be interest in reading a text that features a protagonist who is an immigrant, or might be undocumented. In that case, Lobizona by Romina Garber could be switched out for Picture Us in the Light. The goal of this book club is to come together in a small partnership that allows for collaborative exploration of identity.

Book Club Book Handout FD

Lesson Plans

Days 5 - 12 have lesson plans and accompanying materials. Days 8 - 10 each have a lesson plan for their own day, but share the same materials as that is the character workshop using the D&D character sheet.

LP Day #5

Day #5 Lesson Plan

LP Day #6

Day #6 Lesson Plan

LP Day #7

Day #7 Lesson Plan

LP Day #8

Day #8 Lesson Plan

LP Day #9

Day #9 Lesson Plan

LP Day #10

Day #10 Lesson Plan

LP Day #11

Day #11 Lesson Plan

LP Day #12

Day #12 Lesson Plan

Materials

Days 5 - 12 have lesson plans and accompanying materials. For ease of navigation, each day has a section for accompanying materials, and Days 8 -10 (the D&D character workshop) are in a separate section to provide an overview of that mini-project and writing workshop.

Day #5

Day 5 Slides

Slides

Day #5 Prompt.pdf

Writing Prompts

Day 5 Graphic Organizer.pdf

Handouts

Supplementary Materials

Day #6

Day 6 Slides

Slides

Day #6 Prompt.pdf

Writing Prompts

Day 6 Graphic Organizer.pdf

Handouts

Day #6 Activity

Supplementary Materials

Day #7

Day #7 Activity

Handouts

Day 7 Slides

Slides

Supplementary Materials

Day #11

Exit Ticket Day #11.pdf

Handouts

Day 11 Slides

Slides

Day 11 Reading.pdf

Supplementary Materials

Day #12

Day 12 Slides

Slides

Writing Prompts

Day #12 Handouts.pdf

Handouts

Supplementary Materials

Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) Character Workshop

Days 8, 9, and 10 we will use the format from D&D to create authentic characters. Day 8 & 9 will primarily be spent with in class time to work and craft these characters in partnerships. We will also explore cultural appropriation versus cultural appreciation, and how we can craft authentic characters that empower not only ourselves, but each other. We will examine the craft element of characterization, and explore how creating complex character backstories based on modified parameters can help us create interesting and realistic characters. We will work in partnerships because there is a lot to tackle on these character sheets. The character sheets have also been modified in addition to some of the background material (this is called homebrewing) due to the original source material owned by Wizards of the Coast being incredibly racist. Day 10 we will have time to finish up these characters, and then we will share them out with the rest of the class. This will be a small celebration of our creativity, and the goal of this activity is to help us think about how we can pull from different formats and genres to engage in collaborative story telling and character creation.

D&D Assignment Instructions

Project Instructions

Character Sheets

D&D Background Packet

Background Information Packet

Day 8 & 9 Slides

Slides

Identity Centered Writing Project

This unit will build to the identity centered writing project where we will focus in on exploration of our identities. There is no set genre for this piece; it is a flexible and creative exploration of the self. We will either write a character driven piece of fiction, personal memoir, poems, exploratory creative nonfiction, or a page of a graphic novel. There is also the option to propose a different container; the genre is just that--a container. The point is authentic, creative, and empowered exploration of ourselves and those we share identities with.

Project Overview CWL

Project Instructions & Overview

CWL Student Reflection

Student Reflection

Social Justice & Rubrics Rationale

CWL Rubric

CCSS Standards Based Rubric

CWL Social Justice Rubric

Social Justice Rubric Model

Facilitating for Liberation:

Additional Resources and Materials

This unit deals heavily with social identity, community, and exploration of self. Entering and fostering a creative space that is liberating needs to build off of community voices that already exist. As we move through this creative exploration of self in writing, these are some materials we will return to. These materials offer a guidance for restorative justice when harm is done, norms for creating a responsive and brave space, and questions we can return to throughout this course. Although these are not built into one particular day, building a responsive, joyful, and vulnerable collective is just as important as any technical craft writing we will study. This is a living and breathing document that will grow with us as we find more resources to guide us in community.

Social Justice Facilitation Resources