Writing elective

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Reading Teachers Chatboard

Writing elective

by Cyndi

Apr 29, 2012

I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even begin?

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Sara On 4/29/12, Cyndi wrote: > I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing > elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to > 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even > begin?

These days you don't really need materials - the Internet and your school library can likely provide you with everything y...See More

May 1, 2012

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KK I love Sara's idea of setting up the class as a writing studio with specializations.

I agree that the Internet has a wealth of material--if it would make you feel more comfortable, you could look for one or two books full of writing prompts--there are many to choose from, whether from educational publishers or those targeted more toward ad...See MoreI love Sara's idea of setting up the class as a writing studio with specializations.

I agree that the Internet has a wealth of material--if it would make you feel more comfortable, you could look for one or two books full of writing prompts--there are many to choose from, whether from educational publishers or those targeted more toward adults in the references/writing section at the bookstore.

It's probably a good idea to build in a reading component to the course, so you can provide plenty of models of different writing styles and genres, and give the students time to analyze and discuss them. While you probably want to give them as much time as possible to write and discuss their own work, the study of other writers is a gateway to new voices, as well as less personal (so it's easier for students to be objective and honest about their responses to the work). You can start with your own selections, and then invite students to bring in powerful writing samples they find. I should clarify--I don't necessarily mean reading entire novels, but excerpts or chapters from longer works.

You could structure the course by introducing and practicing different genres in short exercises, sharing/discussing those, and then give students time to develop longer pieces based on their individual choices. You could also build the course around big-picture themes, like honor, power, rebellion, beauty, and so forth, and select examples from each of those themes to share with students. Within this structure, students could approach shorter writing assignments from different angles--what is beauty? What are the advantages and risks of power? These pieces could take the form of many different genres.

This would be so much fun to teach!

On 5/01/12, Sara wrote: > On 4/29/12, Cyndi wrote: >> I was just informed that I'll be teaching a new writing >> elective next year, but have NO materials. It's open to >> 10th - 12th grade. Any suggestions as to where to even >> begin? > > > These days you don't really need materials - the Internet and > your school library can likely provide you with everything you > need. This sounds like a dream class to me - you'll be > teaching kids who've chosen a writing elective. > > You can treat it like a writing studio - let them 'major' - do > they want to write biographies, poetry, plays, essays, short > stories? Or you could do one of each of those and then engage > that genre in the kids' own writing. > > Use your favorite things that you think are palatable to high > schoolers. Likely they'll favor creative writing. > > You can also 'cadge' a course from dozens of Internet sites - > lots of teachers post their course outlines. Punch it in > google and you could peruse them and for hours. >

May 2, 2012

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