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Jazz up your curriculum with Creative Writing Slide 2 Creative writing What makes writing creative? How is that different from other writing? Slide 3 What are the types (genres)? Poetry Memoir (using anecdotes from your life) Fiction A. Short Story B. Novel Drama A. One-act or three-act B. Screen plays Slide 4 Are you a poet? Slide 5 Lets try writing poetry Can you do that? Have you ever written poetry? You will do it now. What do you need? Pen and paper Add imagination. Slide 6 Start with Haiku Who Am I? In a pouch I grow, On a southern continent -- Strange creatures I know. Slide 7 Whats the form Poetry has forms; The sonnet has 14 lines, carefully rhymed. Haiku doesnt have to be rhymed but it has a certain amount of syllables Slide 8 I am first with five Then seven in the middle Five again to end. Slide 9 More haiku Who am I Green and speckled legs, Hop on logs and lily pads Splash in cool water. Who am I? Write a haiku about a certain animal but don't mention the animal's name Slide 10 Many hairy legs I crawl fast around my space People dont like me. Slide 11 Who am I I have four strong legs. Hairy or fuzzy my skin I like to bark too. Slide 12 Now: Pair Sharing Many ways to do this. Think/Write/Pair/Share Think/Pair/Share/Write/Share again. Slide 13 Pair with someone and share your haiku. Did you use the right amount of syllables? Count them. That is the form. Slide 14 Other haiku Beaches Sand scatters the beach Rough waves crash on the seashore Deep water shimmers Snowflakes Snowflakes are our friends They descend when winter comes. Making white blankets Slide 15 Write another haiku Using any idea or topic Peace, friends, Joy, et cetera Slide 16 Share again Slide 17 Poetry is easy Lets try an even easier poetry form: Acrostic poems: Sun, you are bright and shiny Under the sky so blue Nothing is brighter than you. Slide 18 How to write an acrostic Choose any word: your name, or anything you want to describe, like the sun poem. Choose any word: Use the letters in the topic word to begin each line. All lines of the poem must relate to or describe the topic word. Slide 19 Using a name I want to be S ilent when others are talking A bsolutely active in my life L ove is what I hope for all A lways looking to help M agnetic in my dealing with others. Slide 20 Now Its your turn You write one Slide 21 Share your acrostic poem Slide 22 Please find a way for Everyone to get along A C E Slide 23 Pair share again Poems easy to write? Now we are all poets. Slide 24 Now what? Slide 25 Play and Write You dont quit playing because you get old. You get old because you quit playing. Slide 26 A Motivating Creative Activity Get in groups of 4-5. We will give you objects and cards. As a group, create a story, using the objects; plan that each group member will say something. Dont write. Tell this story to another group, holding up the objects as they play their parts in the story. Slide 27 If this were a real class, I would break up your groups and have each student write the story individually they could change any details and even big parts, but stick to the main story. Slide 28 GRADING OR NON-GRADING I cant ask them to write often because it is too hard to grade all those papers. Does a soccer coach grade every move that a player makes? Writing is a skill and it needs practice, practice, practice. Slide 29 Why non-graded? An ungraded exercise is valuable: It lets students communicate their thoughts without fear of judgment of any kind. It says to them that their MESSAGE has value. Slide 30 The assignment does matter Look for topics that they can care about. Slide 31 Topics for Writing What is the most exciting career? The most boring? What do you want to do as a career? Why?Describe a good friend. Write about your main interest: fishing, soccer players, art, the sea, the souk, business, camels, the season you like the best and why. Agriculture? Slide 32 Error Correction Give many many short assignments for them to increase their fluency. Without the fear of being graded, they will write more. Again: Use topics that they are interested in. Use short papers often, even daily and have them share with a partner. If they really want to, they can give it to you Slide 33 You dont have to Mark every comma or misspelling they make. They will learn through practice. On a page-long paper, mark one particular error, like Verb forms or sentence structure. THEN make a positive comment at the bottom. Dont be negative that will silence their will to write. Slide 34 Shocking idea You dont have to read every paper. Just so someone reads it. Peer Reading Pair/share. Slide 35 Any Questions myrtis101@mac.com Slide 36 Wallet Talk/Write A popular activity almost like a warm up. Look in your wallet/hand bag Find something that has meaning for you. Anything Slide 37 Now I will model . I choose . Now I will write about it. Slide 38 Slide 39 Write, then read Discuss with partner What did you learn from this exercise? Slide 40 The end Myrtis Mixon San Francisco, California, USA myrtis101@mac.com Riomediagroup.com/blanche35now Slide 41 Slide 42 Why use goals? Helps motivate learning Keeps the learner on task Helps the learner see the reason for a task. List one long-term and one short term goal, on your worksheet. Count off to have a partner. Now: share your goals with a partner. Slide 43 Back to Writing What types of writing do we ask students to do? What do you ask your students to do? Share with your partner. Slide 44 What does research say? Students studying English as a foreign language spend less than 5% of their time on writing of any kind. A high percentage (as much as 90%) do no writing in English (except for fill-in-the-blanks). Slide 45 Goals What is your goal for this session? My Goals: To share 15 strategies to motivate Ss to write. To learn more strategies from you. To energize you into wanting to let them write. Slide 46 What Types of Writing Foursomes: pair up with another pair. Discuss: WRITE: 1. What kind of writing did you do when you studied English? 2. What kind of writing do you ask your students to do? Slide 47 What types of writing do I teach? Slide 48 Journal Writing What is that? Self-talk? Can be about what you read Can be about what you think Can be about any subject Journal writing can be creative. Slide 49 Now you journal Write about what you think about writing, what you think about your having to write, about having your students write. Will it be difficult to do this? What will the problems be. This is all about your thinking Keep going. This is free writing but with a focus. Slide 50 Summary Writing When do we summarize? What do we summarize? Is it a simple skill? Slide 51 When do you use summaries? When is the last time you were asked to summarize something? What did you do last night? Have you seen any good films or TV shows lately? What was it about? Have you read any good books lately? Tell me about it. How did you make that? How did you do that? Slide 52 Essay Writing Do your students write essays? What is an essay? A short composition on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author. An essay does need support for the opinion. Support can be examples, details, statistics Slide 53 Research Writing When are we expected to do this? Why do we research anything? Do you ask your students to do any research? What do they research? Can you make it more interesting? Slide 54 What else? Is there another type of writing that we havent mentioned? CREATIVE WRITING Slide 55 Lets compare: How are they different? Journal Writing (self talk) When is this creative? Summary Writing (telling any story; summing up) Essay Writing (persuasion about a subject, idea) Research Writing (supporting our ideas) Creative Writing ??? Slide 56 Types of Creative Writing What kinds of creative writing have you written? What kinds of creative writing have you asked students to do. Share with a partner or in a foursome Slide 57 Reading and Writing are linked 1. You have to read what you write 2. Also, often, we want someone to read what we write. Do we learn how to write better by reading what others write? Slide 58 So? We know what it is But how to get started? Think/observe then free write? Or, choose a model to imitate? Slide 59 Non-Stop Writing A reading. Read and then answer: WHAT DO YOU THINK? (for one minute) NOW: NON-STOP WRITE You write on a topic without stopping, similar to free writing. In class, non-graded, timed writing on an assigned topic---without stopping. Use think-three rule: support the statement with at least three reasons, all explained in narrative form Why do a writing assignment that is non-graded? Slide 60 Writeback Associated with Nonstop Writing Student could write a letter to the author of a reading or to some other person connected with the reading past, present or future, real or fictional. (Write-back to the author of a story, poem, non-fiction piece) Nonstop Writing gives students practice in timed writing. Slide 61 Observation or Remembering Memoir or Anecdote Read an example: An Occasion at the Bus Station Slide 62 Can you think of a time when you learned something from an occasion? For example: A time when you were wrong about something? A time when you were not kind. A time when you saw someone being kind to someone who was different? A time when you changed when confronted by circumstances. A time when someone taught you about sharing? Slide 63 HOW TO DO IT? MEMOIR Anecdote Choose a focus or start with an observation A. Brainstorm (alone or with partner) B. Spider gram C. Freewrite D. Share E. Freewrite again Slide 64 Anecdote, memoir, short story? How is this anecdote different from a short short story? An anecdote (memoir) is usually true but it isnt that different from some stories. Slide 65 WRITING FICTION ELEMENTS OF FICTION Character Plot Point of View Description Dialog Setting/Pacing Voice LOOK at these elements in relation to the anecdote. Slide 66 A Simple Reading Slide 67 In language teaching What comes first? Listening? Speaking? Reading? Writing? So, one would think that you have to listen, speak, and read before you can write? Is this true? Slide 68 Your writing Read what you wrote to your partner. Who goes first? The person with the brightest clothes? The longest hair? The shortest person? The older person? The person who travelled farther to get here? The person closer to the front door? Slide 69 Acrostics Another easy type of poetry. Slide 70 Thank You Myrtis101@mac.com Riomediagroup.com/blanche35now