Creative Writing and Me (Upper Middle School)

There are many ways for students to learn and understand the writing process. I believe in doing, not just speaking. As students begin to write, and express themselves, they will discover methods that work best for them. During class, students will use a computer, pencil/pen and paper. 

General Class plan:
1. Class will begin with a 5 minute uninterrupted writing session where each student will spend time jotting down words and ideas. They won't need to focus on spelling or grammar initially but will later circle back to it. During the five minutes, students can write about whatever they want. 
2. Once the three to five minutes are finished, I will then teach a 10-15 minute lesson based on the topic that will essentially lead to more free writing time within the confines of the topic. For example: If the lesson is about paragraph structure, the next free writing time will focus solely on writing good strong paragraphs. 
3. After the guided lesson, students will be given time to write.  Once they have completed their writing for the 2nd time, they will have a few minutes to share their writing. Depending on how many students are in the class, this could take up to 15 minutes. 
4. During the last 5-10 minutes of each class, the students will be asked to summarize what was covered in the lesson and then will be given homework to complete for the following time we will meet. 

Work Month Breakdown
(Each week will begin as described in the general class plan)

During Week 1  : Students will work on Organizing their writing by focusing on graphic organizers and outlining their writing. There will be many writing samples they will produce in order to turn them into organization visuals. Week one is focused on organization.
During Week 2 : Students will work on creating strong paragraphs. (Topic sentences, Supporting details and tied conclusions with cliff hangers. ) Students will produce more than five pieces of writing (in separated paragraph form along with essays). Week two will focus on strong paragraphs and what paragraphs require. 
During Week 3 : Students will work on writing 3-5 paragraph essays. They will produce about 5 short essays (1-2 during class) and will be asked to create the others for homework. 
During Week 4 : Students will work on editing their work. Looking for Strong Topic sentences, supporting details with a tied conclusion that has a cliff hanger. Each piece of writing needs to have a form of plan or graphic organizer to begin. They will be expected to bring their homework and classwork from the previous week to class. We will also take a few minutes at the beginning of class to review what we have learned throughout the 4 weeks. They will get homework during the last week.