Creative Writing Lesson Plans

Journals: The purposes of journals are to 1) warm up at the beginning of the period and get our writing minds in gear; 2) to record important notes from the class reading; and 3) to record ideas, impressions, and descriptions you have for writing.

Wednesday, August 31, 2011 – FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

1. Journal: Describe the “gunky” stuff that gets caught in the drain (bathroom or kitchen sink). Don’t use any forms of the words “disgusting” or “gross.”

2. Read: “Working Like a Writer” (pp. 2-4) in Creative Writer’s Handbook by Jason & Lefcowitz

· Take notes while reading; what advice speaks to you? What “a-ha” moments do you have?

3. Read Response: Why are you taking creative writing? How will you make this course meaningful to you?

· Length: minimum 2 paragraphs

· Due tomorrow (Draft in writer’s notebook and final typed or neatly handwritten in blue or black ink on a separate paper)

Thursday. September 1, 2011

Journal: Dictionary Dive – Find 5 adjectives that you can use in your writing to create specific images.
Read: “Language is your Medium” (p. 55) – notes on accuracy and precision
Writing Exercise #2 (p. 54)
Assignment: Details to Create a Picture (handout) – Due tomorrow

Thursday, September 2, 2011

1. Warm Up: Create a much more interesting version of this sentence: The dog barked.

2. Mini-Lesson: Concreteness (pp. 56-57 in Creative writers Handbook)

3. Exercise: concreteness p. 57

4. Assignment: My Favorite Place

SHOW the reader your favorite place using details such as sensory description, specific word choice (accuracy, precision, concreteness), and figurative language
25 pts for final draft (do prewriting and drafting in journal; final typed)
focus on language that “shows”
do not make it a list of details; create a picture
do not start with “My favorite place is…”
final due Friday, September 9

“A word is not the same with one writer as with another. One tears it from his guts.

The other pulls it out of his overcoat pocket.”

~ Charles Peguy

Monday, September 5, 2011 – Labor Day (No School)

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

1. Warm Up: Describe something (not someone) that is very ugly. Create a vividly ugly image with words.

2. Review syllabus – returned signed tomorrow (Creative Writing syllabus.htm)

3. Review:

· Simile

· Metaphor

· Analogy (p. 73 in Creative Writers Handbook)

4. Writers Workshop: My Favorite Place (draft due Friday) – Include at least one simile, one metaphor, and one analogy

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

1. Warm Up Assignment: On the handout, follow the directions and edit the writing for excessive wordiness. (5 points)

2. Writers Workshop: “My Favorite Place” descriptive writing

· Work on your draft

· Focus on SHOWING

· Include a simile, a metaphor, and an analogy

Thursday, September 8, 2011

1. Writing Short Stories (Writing Incredibility Short Plays, Poems, Stories by Norton & Gretton)

2. Activity #1 (p. 203)

Take the idea from the poem and write a paragraph from the perspective of the cat, Johnny Green, Tommy Trout, or the cat’s owner. Have a single unifying idea, a conflict that leads to a climax that resolves it, one main character and no more than 3 minor characters, a setting, and a view of life.
Needs to be less than 100 words
Needs to be three paragraphs

Friday, September 9, 2011

1. Student handbook review

Re-fresh policy and procedures knowledge
Student signature= the information has been reviewed

2. Peer Review – My Favorite Place

Review the procedure for providing positive and helpful feedback (Peer Review.htm)

Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.

~ Anton Chekhov

Monday, September 12, 2011

1. Warm Up: Describe someone who looks bored. Don’t use any forms of yawned, or stared or sighed.

2. Readers’ Workshop: Peer Review using the procedure on the handout

3. Assignments:

Revised “Favorite Place” due Thursday
“Cat in the Well” due tomorrow (draft in journal only)

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

1. Warm Up: Dictionary Dive – Find 5 verbs of action that you can use in your writing to create specific images.

2. Assignment Review: Editing exercise (from 9/7)

What was the unifying theme/idea?
What details added to the theme?
What details were unnecessary?

3. Assignment Review: “Cat in the Well”

Is there a unifying theme? What point is the character trying to make?
Is there a distinct perspective from one character only?

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

1. Warm Up: As a writer for a clothing catalog, you must describe a sweater that is brown, beige, red-orange, and purple. Describe the sweater, but use new, two-word descriptions for each color. (Catalogs rarely describe something as black, for example. They are more likely to say ebony ink or midnight oil.)

2. Lesson: “The Sketch” (pp. 213- 217, Writing Incredibility Short Plays, Poems, Stories by Norton & Gretton)

Unity to create a specific effect (you need to know your effect before you write)
Specific details to create a single overall impression
Verbs of action

3. Analysis of “The Octopus” – questions 1 & 2 (5 points total)

Thursday, September 15, 2011

1. Warm Up: Create an impression of a person, real or imaginary, by describing only the person’s hands. Use only three sentences.

2. Finish: “The Sketch” reading (pp. 217- 218)

3. Assignment: Describe a small object (to be drawn from the Jar o’ Fate), so as to produce a unified effect.

4. Hand in: Revised clean copy of “My Favorite Place” (teacher edit)

5. Writing Workshop:

· Cat in the Well – due tomorrow for Readers’ Workshop

· Object Sketch – due tomorrow for peer edit

ü Limited to one “to be” verb (use vivid verbs)

ü Determine the impression you want to create before you write

ü Adjectives and verbs work towards the impression

ü Create both a subjective and objective meaning

ü 6+ sentences

Friday, September 16, 2011 – HALF DAY (periods 1, 2, 3 only)

1. Warm Up: Verb Variety handout

2. Readers’ Workshop: Cat in the Well (hand in today)

Read Object Sketch to group
Read Cat in the Well to group

3. Hand in Cat in the Well

Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.

~ William Wordsworth

Monday, September 19, 2011

1. Hand in: Cat in the Well

2. Writers’ Workshop

a. NEW ASSIGNMENT (p. 219, #5) – draft due Thursday

b. Object Sketch – final due Wednesday

c. Favorite place – final due tomorrow

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

1. Warm Up: Chris walks into the room. By describing only the reactions of the others in the room, let us know something about him.

2. Grades: Writers’ Workshop is for silent writing; talking will cause you to lose points.

3. Favorite Place: Those who received drafts yesterday, turn in final copy. Those who haven’t received their draft back will have a day to finish it when the do have it returned to them.

4. Library: book check out (Good writers are good readers.)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

1. Warm up: Write a paragraph with a unifying idea that contains twenty different words that contain double vowels. Examples of double vowel words: peep, poodle, tweet.

2. Writers’ Workshop: Short, Short Story (1,000 words or less)

Brainstorm a problem (internal and external); this creates your unifying idea
Brainstorm traits for a believable character
Focus on 1 main character with 1-3 minor characters whose purpose is to reveal characteristics or advance the plot
Limit the setting or settings for unity
Order the events chronologically
Keep the time span of the story short
Create an outline

Thursday, September 22, 2011

1. Warm Up: Who-What- Where game

2. Share: Read emotion/scene sketch to group. Get feedback.

3. Writers’ Workshop: Work short story

Friday, September 23, 2011

1. Play Scattergories

2. Homework: Final copy emotion/scene sketch due Monday

I'm not a very good writer, but I'm an excellent rewriter.

~ James Michener

Monday, September 26, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write the beginning of a story in which an amusement park character is afraid of people.

2. Hand in scene//emotion sketch

3. Writers’ Workshop: Work on short story

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

1. Warm Up: Create a conversation that uses some form of the following words: whine, bellyache, complain, moan, and criticize.

2. Dialogue: how to punctuate

3. Writers’ Workshop: Short Story draft due tomorrow

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

1. Dictionary Dive: Find 5 adjectives that you can use to describe a character. Go beyond simple descriptors; choose new ones to you.

2. Peer Edit: short story

a. Read story out loud, giving your group a “problem” to focus on that you need help with

b. Peer “compliments” and “suggestions”

c. Exchange peer papers for another edit

Thursday, September 29, 2011

1. Warm Up: Go back to the “Dictionary Dive” from 9/13 and choose one verb from your list. Then personify that verb. Use the word as the character’s name and create a scene that shows the meaning of the verb through the character’s actions.

2. Purpose of Reading: teacher example of what you should look for while reading

3. Silent reading

4. Assignment: find a passage or a description from your reading today to share with the class tomorrow.

Friday, September 30, 2011

1. Warm Up: Classical Music Muse (Teacher plays selections of music while students write a story. The story mood and action will change as the music changes.)

2. Workshop:

Writing – work on revising short story – DUE TUESDAY
Reading – personal reading

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

~ Nathaniel Hawthorne

Monday, October 3, 2011

1. Warm Up: Create a character named “Pat.” Who is Pat? How old is Pat? Who does Pat live with? What disappoints Pat? What recently made Pat unhappy? What does Pat like to do on a Sunday afternoon? Using what you know about Pat so far, describe Pat’s meeting with someone else about something, somewhere.

2. Characterization: read pp. 221-228, Writing Incredibility Short Plays, Poems, Stories by Norton & Gretton

3. Take notes on basic techniques of characterization (p. 228)

4. Handout: Examples of “values” for characterization

5. Homework: Draft of short story due tomorrow

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write a paragraph incorporating at least ten onomatopoetic words (words that sound like what they mean).

2. Read: “The Quiet Man” p. 225, Writing Incredibility Short Plays, Poems, Stories by Norton & Gretton

3. Assignment: Character Sketch

Choose a picture that gives you a distinct impression of a person
In your journal, start jotting down ideas that will shape your character (do not merely describe the photo)
Use the values handouts and the basic techniques for characterization to develop your character
Then write your character sketch

4. Hand in: Short Story

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Writers Workshop: Character Sketch

Thursday, October 6, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write 10 people and food similes. In other words, compare people to food. Make sure your comparison is very clear. Example: Franco was about as assertive as a wilted piece of lettuce.

2. Writers Workshop: Character Sketch – rough draft due tomorrow for peer editing

3. Read when finished with your draft.

Friday, October 7, 2011

1. Warm Up: Avoiding Sentence Fragments (handout)

2. Share warm up (news articles)

3. Review requirements of character sketch. Answer questions about character sketch; clear up misconceptions and misunderstanding. – DUE MONDAY

I was working on the proof of one of my poems all the morning, and took out a comma.

In the afternoon I put it back again.

~ Oscar Wilde

Monday, October 10, 2011

1. Warm Up: Create your own fairy godmother. What does she look like? What does she have to offer? Explain how she helps you. Describe her personality.

2. Editing of character sketch (use handout to edit)

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

1. Warm Up: Choose a name randomly from the phone book. Create a character based on the sound of this name. Reveal something about the character by describing him or her going into a restaurant for dinner.

2. Work on character sketch – due tomorrow

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write three different sentences, each using the word crumpled. Create an entirely different image with each sentence.

2. Reading: Share a descriptive passage from your reading at 8:55am

Thursday, October 13, 2011

1. No warm up

2. Journal Work:

Make a list of events and incidents in your life that stand out in your memory
List values that you feel strongly about; that define your life

3. Writer’s Workshop

Friday, October 14, 2011 – NO SCHOOL

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.

Scott Adams

Monday, October 17, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write a paragraph that starts with the following sentence: The grass smells red.

2. Choose a picture from “Do You Doodle” Halloween

3. Writer’s Workshop: Values Editorial – Due Wednesday

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

1. Warm Up: Describe the experience of eating your favorite food.

2. Discussion: values

3. Writer’s Workshop: Values Editorial – due tomorrow to read aloud

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

1. Student Share: Values editorial

2. Reading

3. Share a passage from your novel that you enjoyed and explain why.

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them,

to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment.

Hart Crane

Monday, October 24, 2011

1. Warm Up: Many people think vomit is an ugly word. Write a paragraph using 10 words you think are ugly.

2. Writers’ Workshop: Work on suspense story.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

1. Watch: Alfred Hitchcock Presents: The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

2. Assignment: Record techniques used to create anticipation/suspense in the film

3. Discussion: Share the techniques used and discuss how these techniques can be used in your suspense story.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

1. Warm Up: Mac is a person who loves himself. He loves himself very, very, very much. Show how much Mac thinks of himself by describing some of his actions, in one paragraph. Describe only his actions, not his thoughts.

2. Work on outline of suspense story

3. Reading

Thursday, October 27, 2011

1. Reading

Friday, October 28, 2011

1. Presentations of Value Editorial

2. Writers’ Workshop: Suspense Story – Due Monday to read

Easy reading is damn hard writing.

Nathaniel Hawthorne

Monday, October 31, 2011

Readers’ Workshop: Read suspense stories

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Reader’s Workshop: Read suspense stories

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Reading

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Reader’s Workshop: Read suspense story

Friday, November 4, 2011

1. Last day to read suspense story

2. Reading/homework period

I'd rather be caught holding up a bank than stealing so much as a two-word phrase from another writer.

Jack Smith

Monday, November 7, 2011

1. Warm Up: You know what an “orfinbellydorper” is. Most people don’t. Explain to them what to do with one.

2. Start poetry

a. Read some poems

b. Brainstorm topic

c. Terms (alliteration, metaphors)

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

1. Warm Up: Songs for little children leave a lot to be desired. For example, “Rock-a-Bye Baby” has a baby falling out of a tree. Write a more cheerful and wholesome song for children, using a nursery song tune.

2. Read: “Poetry: private and public” (pp. 101-106)

3. Activity #5 (p. 107)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Reading

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Poetry reading (students read a variety and poetry from classroom selection and share poems that interest them)

Friday, November 11, 2011 – VETERANS DAY (no school)

One must be drenched in words, literally soaked in them,

to have the right ones form themselves into the proper pattern at the right moment.

~ Hart Crane

Monday, November 14, 2011

1. Make Ups: Read “values editorial” if you did not read yet

2. Hand back “short stories” and “character sketches”

3. Assignment: Short Story final draft DUE FRIDAY

4. Mini-lesson: Pantoum (a Malaysian form of poetry. The format of the poem is as follows:

· 4 stanzas

· line pattern is 1234, 2546, 5768, 7183

· rhyme scheme is abab, bcbc, cdcd, dada

· one subjects unifies the poem

5. In class assignment: Write a pantoum

6. Share

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

1. Mini Lesson: Couplets – a two-lined stanza that rhymes

2. Warm Up: Write a poem composed of four stanzas.

3. Share

4. Assignment: In groups of 2-3, write a holiday story in the form of poetry. Lines must rhyme. Audience is Kindergarten – 2^nd grade. Story must include pictures.

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

1. Personal reading

Thursday, November 17, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write a grue, which is a short humorous, gruesome poem, not to be taken literally. Generally it is four lines long and uses a rhyme scheme of abab or aabb.

2. Share

3. Present examples of children’s holiday stories (pictures, rhymes, story subjects)

4. Group Planning: Create a plot outline before beginning to write.

Friday, November 18, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write a limerick (keep it clean)

2. Share

3. Writers’ Workshop: In groups, create a plot outline for your holiday children’s rhyming story. Once you have created a workable plot outline, begin a storyboard. This storyboard is your rough draft and is a necessary step before moving on to the final product. The storyboard must be checked off with Mrs. Gozart before you begin your final copy.

4. Homework: Revise and rewrite your short story. DUE TUESDAY

Writing is no trouble: you just jot down ideas as they occur to you.

The jotting is simplicity itself—it is the occurring which is difficult.

~ Stephen Leacock

Monday, November 21, 2011

1. Warm Up: Write a tongue twister

2. Share

4. Homework: Revise and rewrite your short story. DUE TUESDAY

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

1. No warm up

2. Hand in: Short Story

Wednesday, November 23 –Friday, November 24, 2011 – THANKSGIVING BREAK

A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.

~ Thomas Mann

Monday, November 28, 2011

1. Warm Up: Triolet (an 8-line poem where lines 1, 4, and 7 are repeated and lines 2 and 8 are repeated. The rhyme scheme is abaaabab.

2. Journal Checks – starting the week of Monday, December 12

3. Storytime: Share an example of a children’s holiday book

4. Writers’ Workshop: Work on storyboard – DUE WEDNESDAY

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

1. Warm Up: Diamante poem (see handout for format and examples)

2. Writers’ Workshop: Work on storyboard – DUE TOMORROW

NOTE: Bring book for reading tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

1. Hand in: Children’s Book Storyboard

2. Reading Day

Thursday, December 1, 2011

1. Class Edit:

a. Show stories under the document camera.

b. What was done well?

c. What elements of short story are missing?

d. Problems with rhyme scheme and meter.

e. Suggestions to “fill in” and direct story.

2. Permission Forms for Elementary School Story Reading (Monday, December 12 – Friday, December 16)

3. Writers’ Workshop: Type up rhymes in separate stanzas as they will appear on the pages.

Friday, December 2, 2011

Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story – DUE Friday, December 9, 2011

One should be able to return to the first sentence of a novel and find the resonances of the entire work.

~ Gloria Naylor

Monday, December 5, 2011

Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story – DUE Friday, December 9, 2011

· Teacher needs to see 2^nd draft before goes to book form

· Book pages must retain 8-1/2 x 11 size (landscape or portrait orientation)

· Book will need to be bound with a cover (teacher will show how)

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story

· Teacher work with groups to revise

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story

· Teacher work with groups to revise

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story

· Students should be working on artwork today

· Demonstration of book binding

Friday, December 9, 2011

1. Writer’s Workshop – children’s holiday story

· Finish pictures and binding

2. Story due today

Fiction is a pack of lies that masquerades as truth. Don't risk spoiling your carefully crafted lies with too much truth

—or with too little.

~ Randy Ingermanson

Monday, December 11 – Friday, December 16, 2011

Field Trip to Elementary School classrooms all week to read children’s stories

Christmas Break

Saturday, December 17, 2011 – Tuesday, January 3, 1012

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.

~ Benjamin Franklin

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

1. Warm Up: Brainstorm personal experiences; any experience that jump to your mind, but they must be your experiences.

2. Introduce Multigenre Personal Narrative assignment (review project together, answer questions, clarify requirements, show examples)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

1. Return graded children’s holiday books

2. Revisions to Narrative Project: 5 narratives instead of 10

3. Due Dates:

a. Narrative 1 – January 9

b. Narrative 2 – January12

c. Narrative 3 – January17

d. Narrative 4 – January 20

e. Narrative 5 – January 24

4. Examples – teacher example of hospital incident report, 2 student examples, and resource binder of genre definitions and formatting

5. Writers’ Workshop – work on narrative 1

Thursday, January 5, 2012

1. Warm Up: Write three sentences, each using the word “crumpled.” Create an entirely different image with each sentence.

2. Writers’ Workshop: Personal Narrative

Friday, January 6, 2012

1. Warm Up: Allegorical names generally give a hint about who a character is. Herman Pocketprotector might be a nerd, for example. Invent two characters with allegorical names. Then write a conversation between them. What they say should reflect the personality suggested by their name.

2. Writers’ Workshop: You should have completed at least a rough draft of your personal narrative. Have class mates edit and make suggestions for improvement.

Write your first draft with your heart. Re-write with your head.

~ From the movie Finding Forrester

Monday, January 9, 2012

1. Warm Up: Update the story of Cinderella. These days she wouldn’t be sweeping cinders. What would she be doing? Create an outline of how you would retell the story for modern children in modern times.

2. Fairy Tale lesson

3. Assignment: DUE JANUARY 19

a. Write your own original fairy tale. OR

b. Take an existing fairy tale and modernize it. OR

c. Write a “whatever-happened to” story, updating readers about what happened to one of the characters of a fairy tale since the end of the original fairy tale.

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

1. Research: Fairy Tale examples (see back counter)

2. Assignment: DUE JANUARY 19

a. Write your own original fairy tale. OR

b. Take an existing fairy tale and modernize it. OR

c. Write a “whatever-happened to” story, updating readers about what happened to one of the characters of a fairy tale since the end of the original fairy tale. OR

d. Tweak an existing fairy tale by changing the setting, characters, and/or perspective

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

1. Writers’ Workshop:

a. Work on Personal Narrative #2 – Due tomorrow

b. Work on fairy tale – Due Thursday, January 19

Thursday, January 12, 2012

1. Hand in: Personal Narrative 2

2. Writers’ Workshop:

a. Work on Personal Narrative #3 – Due Tuesday, January 17

b. Work on fairy tale – Due Thursday, January 19

Friday, January 13, 2012

1. Writers’ Workshop:

a. Work on Personal Narrative #3 – Due Tuesday, January 17

b. Work on fairy tale – Due Thursday, January 19

A hero knows it takes hard work and a long time to get published;

a fool thinks it should happen immediately,

because he thinks he’s a hero already.

~ James Scott Bell The Art of War for Writers

Monday, January 16, 2012 – MLK Jr. Day (No School)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012 – Snow Day (No School)

Wednesday, January 18, 2012 – Snow Day (No School)

Thursday, January 19, 2012

1. Hand in: Personal Narrative 4

2. Writers’ Workshop:

a. Work on Personal Narrative #4 – Due Friday, January 20

b. Work on fairy tale – Revised Due Date: Friday, January 20

Friday, January 20, 2012

1. Hand in: Personal Narrative 4

2. Writers’ Workshop:

a. Work on Personal Narrative #3 – Due Tuesday, January 24

b. Organize warm up journal –Due Tuesday, January 24 (must have all warm ups)

One should be able to return to the first sentence of a novel and find the resonances of the entire work.

~ Gloria Naylor

Monday, January 23, 2012

1. Writers’ Workshop:

c. Work on Personal Narrative #5 – Due Tuesday, January 24

d. Organize warm up journal –Due Wednesday, January 25 (must have all warm ups)

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

1. Hand in: Personal Narrative #5

2. Work on: warm up journal – Due tomorrow

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

1. Hand in journals

2. Watch movie

Thursday, January 26, 2012 – Last Day of 1^st Semester

1. Watch movie

Friday, January 27, 2012 – NO SCHOOL