#642. Writing a class novel

Reading/Writing, level: all
Posted Sat Sep 26 10:24:29 PDT 1998 by Anna Mills (anna.mills@btinternet.com).
Durrington High School, Worthing, England
Materials Required: access to pc
Activity Time: six weeks
Concepts Taught: working cooperatively as a group; writing at length

1)The class discuss, then vote on their favourite type/genre of novel.
2)They then all create a charater they would like to write/read about. These are passed around the class and the most promising chosen for the main characters.
3)Storylines are made up, according to 1), by small groups and again, the most promising are chosen.
4)The teacher then works these up into enough chapters for the class to write one each, or more often, one between two. A brief, one or two sentence outline of the whole story, chapter by chapter is issued to each pair.
5)After each chapter is written, you can either appoint an editor to check through for discrepancies or do it yourself
6)Each pair types up their chapter in an agreed format, a cover is designed, it's all sent to resources to be printed, and the kids just love it.