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Creative Writing

TITLE:  Creative writing

GRADE:  4 – 8

MATERIALS/TIME REQUIRED:  paper and pencil; 20 minutes

PROVIDE FOR INCLUSION – A You Question, Energizer, or Linking Strategy:  Have students each write a conclusion for this sentence:  Last night I heard a strange noise coming from my yard; I opened the door and saw…

Ask student to turn to someone sitting near them and share what they wrote; then invite some full group sharing and you will have lots of different examples.

IDENTIFY THE OBJECTIVES:

Content Standard: Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate, and appreciate texts, (in this case, one another’s writing).

Collaborative:  work together on tasks, making responsible decision, solving problems creatively

Personal:  Develop inclusion and identity

IDENTIFY THE STRATEGY:  Creative Storytelling.

Instead of verbally telling a creative story, have students, in pairs or triads, work together creatively to develop a written story.  Begin by brainstorming some possible good story starters.  Then tell students you are going to say “go” and they are each to start writing their own story.  When you say “stop”, they must stop wherever they are, even if it is in the middle of a word or sentence!  Then they will switch with their partner or pass to the right if in a triad.  They should read what has been written so far and then continue the story.  REVIEW AGREEMENTS!  It is totally OK to change the story or put in a twist, but think creatively and make sense, while respecting the original author!  Repeat the start=stop=switch sequence at least six times, then take some time for the original authors to read what has happened to their stories and invite some sharing – some will be quite clever!  I recommend allowing at least one to two minutes for each writing segment.

REFLECTION:

Content:  How was this a challenge?  What skills did you use in writing (adjectives, literary devices, etc.)

Collaborative/social:  How well did you respect others’ writing?  Were you respected?  How did you solve problems creatively?

Personal:  What did you like about this writing exercise?  What could we do to make it better?  How should we change it, if we do it again?  How did you feel reading your [final] story?

PROVIDE AN OPPORTUNITY FOR APPRECIATION:  Invite statements (this can happen as stories are being read).

AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT:  Have students edit their stories, punctuation, spelling, inserting paragraphs, etc.  Then have them turn in or place in their portfolio.

LEARNING COMPONENTS

►Group Development Process (Influence)

►Cognitive Theory

Multiple Intelligences

Cooperative Learning

►Constructivism

Reflective Practice

Authentic Assessment

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