So I am finally posting in the Teaching of Writing Blog. The reasons for my absence thus far have been 1. half forgetting the existence of the blog and 2. we got off to a very late start (but mostly #2). So having only held two classes so far, I feel that even though we are a good month into the semester, I am not a complete failure for taking this long to post...
Anyway. I am teaching the same kids this semester as I did last time, two groups of VERY bright 6th graders. I was thrilled to have the chance to work with the same kids because I had already done all the work of getting them hooked on the program (they were just as excited to come back as I was), and I had also had a chance to see their work/assess their skill level, which was a big factor in choosing assignments and planning my lessons. Last semester we went over concepts like plot and character development and did a few projects (some small, some large), but we spent the most time on the ghost stories (for Halloween) and on another project where they chose the topic/genre. I was blown away by what they submitted (everything from an entire notebook filled with a single story to a short piece about Dr. Suess characters who live in a box and are trying to get a paycheck from their boss, the Cat in the Hat), but I was posed with a challenge this time around: where to go now?
I decided, when we finally got a chance to hold our first class, that since they had had an opportunity to write stories on a topic I provided and also on a topic of their own choice, I would give them something in between: I went into the first day of the second semester planning to assign a project where they could choose their own topic/voice, but they had to use a defined structure. They could choose between writing a story through diary entries or through letters between two or more people and/or creatures (with emphasis on the creatures... I completely encourage their desire to write from the POV of fleas/paperclips/Dr. Suess characters/Freddy Krueger sp?, etc).
But when they came into class two weeks ago, they were way ahead of me. A group of students in the second class informed me that they had spent their lunch period brainstorming ideas for their new stories, and they wanted to write the "confessions of a video game addict," among other diary-based ideas (this before I even shared my plan to do diaries/letters).
Perfect! Write away, I told them.
So they got started, some working alone and others (by request) in groups. I actually thought it would add a new dimension to the writing experience if they worked in groups... personally I hate having to compromise with other people about how I will write my story, but I'm glad they wanted to. I just asked that each person do at least one letter/diary entry on their own and put their name on it, so I could be sure that everyone had contributed to the content.
The project was a big hit. During the second week they continued/finished their first pieces. These included letters back and forth between the serial killers Freddy and Jason (from Nightmare on Elm Street and Halloween movies), the video game addict piece, and other crazy-creative ideas. I can't wait to read all of them... I'll post some of the highlights next time (but I promise not to post any names this time, even if I am singing their praises :) ).
Finally, I asked each of the students to come up with some cover art for their diaries/letters (either by making it look like an authentic diary in which someone/something confided its deepest, darkest secrets, or by just illustrating the cover with images related to the story). My plan for the next week or two is to collect all of the cover art and make color copies for each student (as well as copies of each of the stories), then bring in some materials to make their own anthologies (since the anthologies never really happened last semester). That way, everyone could have a bound edition with all of the diary covers encasing all of the stories, which they can keep as their first "published" piece and can show off to their parents, etc. As always, any student that does not want to share their work does not have to, and if they don't want their story/art in the anthology that's completely ok. I just ask that each student submit a copy to me so that I can give some comments back to them, but their work will remain unread by other students.
And there you have it: my update on the semester thus far (though it has only been two weeks in which the class actually met so you can expect more rapid development in future). Hopefully all will go well with my plans for this anthology... I don't expect any trouble as far as submissions/content go because all of these kids are very talented writers and always do their assignments (many taking extra time to do them outside of class as well), but in terms of the whole binding thing in class... we'll just have to see.
Oh, and I think I'm going to ask each class to come up with a name for themselves (like a team name), which I'll use to design a cover for the whole diary collection/anthology... suggestions would be appreciated.
Showing posts with label SJ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SJ. Show all posts
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Weeks 6, 7 and 8
Okay, you may be wondering why there are three weeks worth of info in this one post, but weeks 6 and 7 were not incredibly eventful... a lot of class time was allotted to working on their new pieces. This week (week 8) my class was canceled by Frankie (feel better!). Anyway, here's a recap of weeks 6 and 7:
On week 6, the kids came in and were excited to start the second project. I told them that this time they could write on a genre/topic of their choosing-- my only request was that they take some extra time to think about character development. This was because a lot of their ghost stories were very creative, but the characters were a little flat (I guess there's a lot going on in ghost stories what with all the vampires and psycho clowns, so there's less room for character development, but I wanted it to be addressed in the second project). I told them that rich, round characters were the aim of this project, though they could choose the topic and setting for those characters themselves.
To give them a head start on this, I gave them a list of questions to ask themselves about their characters. I put these on the board and gave them the option of answering these questions as a brainstorming exercise or, if they felt they had enough of a handle on the concept, just starting their own brainstorm or starting their story. I always like to lecture them a little bit about a lesson and give them a practice exercise, but I don't make it mandatory, because if they already have their ideas worked out I encourage them to work freely.
Here are some of the "Ten Questions for Creating Characters":
1. Where does your character live?
2. Where is your character from originally?
3. What is your character called (I explained that names are important and they say a lot... a character named "Smelly McGarbage" better not be a compulsive cleaner unless you want the story to be ironic)
4. What kind of childhood did he/she have? (Because, I told them, a character who was raised in a pig pen with wolves and sheep will behave differently than someone raised in a normal house)
5. ...
Anyway, the kids came up with some great ideas. I had mentioned "The Cat in the Hat" as an example of a good story that works because of creative characters... the book really wouldn't be about much if the Cat was boring, not well developed, etc. One girl got the idea from this to write a novel about Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from the book)... they were some little creatures that tagged along with the Cat. Only in her story, they're child slaves to the Cat and they're on a mission to get a paycheck out of him. No joke. I also met individually with each student to make sure they have an idea in mind, and for those who were stumped I helped them generate some ideas by asking them things like, "what's your favorite song? Why do you like it? What lesson does the song teach, and how could you make a character who lives by that lesson or needs to learn it?" (this resulted, in one case, in a story about a flea who lives on the back of a very hairy man and is too afraid to go out and live somewhere else, a change that is forced when the man shaves his back)
They spent the rest of week 6 working on those stories. Then on week 7 I handed out their prizes for the scary stories (I settled on personalized creative writing journals... I found packs of 10 for cheap on a teacher supply website). They each got a different award for those stories, but the prize for the best story from the second batch will be bigger because there will only be one winner per class (I have a prize in mind but I'm not sure yet). The rest of that class was also spent writing, though I talked a bit about revisions and told them that Week 8 would be spent on a full revision workshop (looking at the copies of their stories I gave back), which would give them a chance to consider changes on their first project while I took home their new drafts and gave feedback on the new projects. This will be pushed to next week, and hopefully by then they'll have a good chunk of writing ready for me to look over.
On week 6, the kids came in and were excited to start the second project. I told them that this time they could write on a genre/topic of their choosing-- my only request was that they take some extra time to think about character development. This was because a lot of their ghost stories were very creative, but the characters were a little flat (I guess there's a lot going on in ghost stories what with all the vampires and psycho clowns, so there's less room for character development, but I wanted it to be addressed in the second project). I told them that rich, round characters were the aim of this project, though they could choose the topic and setting for those characters themselves.
To give them a head start on this, I gave them a list of questions to ask themselves about their characters. I put these on the board and gave them the option of answering these questions as a brainstorming exercise or, if they felt they had enough of a handle on the concept, just starting their own brainstorm or starting their story. I always like to lecture them a little bit about a lesson and give them a practice exercise, but I don't make it mandatory, because if they already have their ideas worked out I encourage them to work freely.
Here are some of the "Ten Questions for Creating Characters":
1. Where does your character live?
2. Where is your character from originally?
3. What is your character called (I explained that names are important and they say a lot... a character named "Smelly McGarbage" better not be a compulsive cleaner unless you want the story to be ironic)
4. What kind of childhood did he/she have? (Because, I told them, a character who was raised in a pig pen with wolves and sheep will behave differently than someone raised in a normal house)
5. ...
Anyway, the kids came up with some great ideas. I had mentioned "The Cat in the Hat" as an example of a good story that works because of creative characters... the book really wouldn't be about much if the Cat was boring, not well developed, etc. One girl got the idea from this to write a novel about Thing 1 and Thing 2 (from the book)... they were some little creatures that tagged along with the Cat. Only in her story, they're child slaves to the Cat and they're on a mission to get a paycheck out of him. No joke. I also met individually with each student to make sure they have an idea in mind, and for those who were stumped I helped them generate some ideas by asking them things like, "what's your favorite song? Why do you like it? What lesson does the song teach, and how could you make a character who lives by that lesson or needs to learn it?" (this resulted, in one case, in a story about a flea who lives on the back of a very hairy man and is too afraid to go out and live somewhere else, a change that is forced when the man shaves his back)
They spent the rest of week 6 working on those stories. Then on week 7 I handed out their prizes for the scary stories (I settled on personalized creative writing journals... I found packs of 10 for cheap on a teacher supply website). They each got a different award for those stories, but the prize for the best story from the second batch will be bigger because there will only be one winner per class (I have a prize in mind but I'm not sure yet). The rest of that class was also spent writing, though I talked a bit about revisions and told them that Week 8 would be spent on a full revision workshop (looking at the copies of their stories I gave back), which would give them a chance to consider changes on their first project while I took home their new drafts and gave feedback on the new projects. This will be pushed to next week, and hopefully by then they'll have a good chunk of writing ready for me to look over.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Week 5
I know, I know, it's week 6 now, but I wanted to read the majority of the scary stories that my kids handed in before reporting back on the progress of the course.
I was definitely floored by their talent, but more so by their enthusiasm. Many of them volunteered to read their stories at the Halloween party (during which I gave them entirely too much candy and chocolate fudge cake, a realization I came to when one adorable student told me in an abnormally high pitched and jittery voice, "I'm so hyper right now I have a science test next period hahahah funny right can I have more Reeses?") Nevertheless I was really happy to see that they are all (ok, 90% of them are) really passionate about their creative writing. Really, this is the greatest thing I could accomplish as a teacher in this course and I feel like my purpose in being there is really being fulfilled; I'm getting them as excited about writing as I was when I was that age, at times furiously writing down ideas as they came to me, eager to share my work, and enthusiastic about assignments to the point where I didn't really view them as homework anymore (I told all my kids that they don't have to work on the stories at home if they don't feel like it, but 95% of them did work on them at home, many of them typing the stories up for me). The bottom line is, yes, a lot of these kids are exceptional writers, both in the morning class and the afternoon (Ingenuity) class, but more importantly at least in my eyes, their pieces are heavy on creativity and they're loving writing, which is what I want for them in this course.
A good example of this came from one of the students in the morning class... I hadn't read any of her work before this because she didn't turn in the optional first assignment (those fairy tales were really just a warm-up so I told the kids they didn't have to submit them if they didn't want to), but she was eager to read her scary story in class during the party. Not only is she a great writer-- great sense of humor in her work, nice handle on how to build suspense and just all around smart about how to construct a good story, but I could really tell she was having fun writing this. Here's a little taste from her scary story, "Stay Away From The Fair":
Then I saw him. The psycho clown.
"Hey there, you're in quite a predicament aren't you?" He asked. I said nothing. "Aw, lets be friendly, shall we?" He said. He appeared right next to me.
"I could help you out, you know," he said. "You see these creatures and ghouls? They're real, my friend."
"I'm not your friend."
"Now, now, now. Don't be that way; your worst enemy could be your best friend. But then again your best friend could be your worst enemy. Which makes them your best friend again. Which makes them your worst enemy, which..." He looked at me. "Complicated, isn't it? Well enough chat, let's get this over with." He grew fangs that went below his chin.
(That student's name is Megan Artis)
I got lots of stories that also incorporated the things that matter most to kids that age... I found it funny that another post in the blog mentioned kids who talked about pizza and skateboarding in their poetry; as I have 2 boys and 14 girls in total for my two classes, most of the stories have some elements of popular crowd, nerds, jocks, etc. It's funny how they'll insert these social classifications into even a ghost story; in one student's piece the evil witch/villain was actually an "uber-popular" and "uber-mean" girl at school, aided by her father, who is the principal of the school.
Finally, there were those students who were brilliant with language. One student in the morning class gave me this:
He flicked a glance at the sky, which was a deepening blue-violet. The full moon gleamed above the woods and he shivered slightly, even with the pleasant autumn mildness.
He crossed the bridge, hesitantly testing each board with his foot... Once he reached the other side of the bridge he saw Mandy there, awaiting him. Her in those beaten-up white sneakers, Band-aids adorning her legs every few inches.
(That's from Breea Wallace-Holland)
And those are supposed to be the REMEDIAL kids??
I haven't finished reading all the stories (and awarding prizes for them), but I'll post some more thoughts once I do. In the meantime, what are some good prizes for kids? I was thinking of getting them some cool writing journals or something but I welcome other (inexpensive) ideas. My friend Chris didn't like my idea to get them a book (I was thinking "Ender's Game"); he informed me that "if my teacher had given me a book as a prize when I was a kid I would have probably hit her with it." So suggestions are welcome.
I can't wait to see what the kids come up with for their second project, which is to come up with their own ideas/genres for a story (each student will meet with me individually to discuss it). I'll post a bit on that once my classes meets tomorrow morning.
Oh, and question-- I know these finished stories are supposed to appear in an anthology; is there a page limit? Cuz I've got some writers who need limits imposed if you don't want to read a lot, hehe.
I was definitely floored by their talent, but more so by their enthusiasm. Many of them volunteered to read their stories at the Halloween party (during which I gave them entirely too much candy and chocolate fudge cake, a realization I came to when one adorable student told me in an abnormally high pitched and jittery voice, "I'm so hyper right now I have a science test next period hahahah funny right can I have more Reeses?") Nevertheless I was really happy to see that they are all (ok, 90% of them are) really passionate about their creative writing. Really, this is the greatest thing I could accomplish as a teacher in this course and I feel like my purpose in being there is really being fulfilled; I'm getting them as excited about writing as I was when I was that age, at times furiously writing down ideas as they came to me, eager to share my work, and enthusiastic about assignments to the point where I didn't really view them as homework anymore (I told all my kids that they don't have to work on the stories at home if they don't feel like it, but 95% of them did work on them at home, many of them typing the stories up for me). The bottom line is, yes, a lot of these kids are exceptional writers, both in the morning class and the afternoon (Ingenuity) class, but more importantly at least in my eyes, their pieces are heavy on creativity and they're loving writing, which is what I want for them in this course.
A good example of this came from one of the students in the morning class... I hadn't read any of her work before this because she didn't turn in the optional first assignment (those fairy tales were really just a warm-up so I told the kids they didn't have to submit them if they didn't want to), but she was eager to read her scary story in class during the party. Not only is she a great writer-- great sense of humor in her work, nice handle on how to build suspense and just all around smart about how to construct a good story, but I could really tell she was having fun writing this. Here's a little taste from her scary story, "Stay Away From The Fair":
Then I saw him. The psycho clown.
"Hey there, you're in quite a predicament aren't you?" He asked. I said nothing. "Aw, lets be friendly, shall we?" He said. He appeared right next to me.
"I could help you out, you know," he said. "You see these creatures and ghouls? They're real, my friend."
"I'm not your friend."
"Now, now, now. Don't be that way; your worst enemy could be your best friend. But then again your best friend could be your worst enemy. Which makes them your best friend again. Which makes them your worst enemy, which..." He looked at me. "Complicated, isn't it? Well enough chat, let's get this over with." He grew fangs that went below his chin.
(That student's name is Megan Artis)
I got lots of stories that also incorporated the things that matter most to kids that age... I found it funny that another post in the blog mentioned kids who talked about pizza and skateboarding in their poetry; as I have 2 boys and 14 girls in total for my two classes, most of the stories have some elements of popular crowd, nerds, jocks, etc. It's funny how they'll insert these social classifications into even a ghost story; in one student's piece the evil witch/villain was actually an "uber-popular" and "uber-mean" girl at school, aided by her father, who is the principal of the school.
Finally, there were those students who were brilliant with language. One student in the morning class gave me this:
He flicked a glance at the sky, which was a deepening blue-violet. The full moon gleamed above the woods and he shivered slightly, even with the pleasant autumn mildness.
He crossed the bridge, hesitantly testing each board with his foot... Once he reached the other side of the bridge he saw Mandy there, awaiting him. Her in those beaten-up white sneakers, Band-aids adorning her legs every few inches.
(That's from Breea Wallace-Holland)
And those are supposed to be the REMEDIAL kids??
I haven't finished reading all the stories (and awarding prizes for them), but I'll post some more thoughts once I do. In the meantime, what are some good prizes for kids? I was thinking of getting them some cool writing journals or something but I welcome other (inexpensive) ideas. My friend Chris didn't like my idea to get them a book (I was thinking "Ender's Game"); he informed me that "if my teacher had given me a book as a prize when I was a kid I would have probably hit her with it." So suggestions are welcome.
I can't wait to see what the kids come up with for their second project, which is to come up with their own ideas/genres for a story (each student will meet with me individually to discuss it). I'll post a bit on that once my classes meets tomorrow morning.
Oh, and question-- I know these finished stories are supposed to appear in an anthology; is there a page limit? Cuz I've got some writers who need limits imposed if you don't want to read a lot, hehe.
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