Creative Writing: Show Don't Tell
Students will learn specific technique for characterization, dialogue, action sequences, and description used in creating engaging stories and other creative writing formats.
Rachel Henry
Average rating:
4.7
Number of reviews:(24)
What's included
4 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks
of teacher support1 year access
to the contentHomework
1-2 hours per week. Students will evaluate other authors for each skill covered and create a piece of writing each week focusing on the skill covered.Assessment
Assessment will be based on a rubric provided by the teacher each week for the respective assignment.Class Experience
US Grade 8 - 11
Students will be taught four specific skills that are essential for creative writing: characterization, dialogue, action writing, and descriptions. Students will learn techniques to help guide their writing in each of these areas by direct instruction and by analyzing how successful authors do it. They will also be able to engage in a teacher-directed writers workshop with their peers and teacher to help fine tune their own writing. The teacher will provide resources to analyze, recorded instruction, instructional activities, group work, and writing prompts as well as specific, intentional feedback to help students improve their skills. Students will focus on each of these skills for one week each and will complete one assignment for each of these skills. Students will answer questions about the mentor texts in order to pinpoint the focus of learning the specific skills for each week. They will complete group activities to study other works of art and generate ideas with each other, such as working together under the teacher's guidance to be able to analyze the mentor texts and understand how the authors use each skill in their writing. Students will be able to share ideas for brainstorming and be guided in the revision process as they help each other polish their final drafts. Students will also submit their assignment each week for teacher feedback which will focus on the specific areas of content and skill for the week. Teacher feedback will point to specific areas of their writing that they have done well or need improvement in order to display full mastery. The format of each week will be as follows: Teacher will give direct instruction on the skill for that week. This will take place via video and teacher-delivered notes. Students will read sample texts and answer questions that help them identify and analyze the skill being taught that week. Students will then be directed to a writing prompt designed to engage them to employ the learned skill for the week. They will submit brainstorm for review, discuss with peers, write a first draft, peer edit and receive teacher feedback on their draft, and work on a final draft by implementing the peer and teacher feedback they received. Students are welcome and encouraged to ask for teacher feedback more than just the one required time. Students will have many opportunities to share their process with each other as well so they can learn from each other as well as from the teacher. Week 1 will focus on characterization. Week 2 will be a focus on dialogue. Week 3 we will learn about action writing, and the final week will focus on creating vivid, clear descriptions.
Learning Goals
Students will improve their ability to create engaging, realistic characters; write lifelike dialogue; incorporate high action sequences into their stories; and draw the reader into the world they create with accurate, relevant descriptions.
Syllabus
4 Lessons
over 4 WeeksLesson 1:
Characterization
This lesson will cover how to write strong characters. We will look at several examples, discuss, and practice writing our own characters. Students will be given several ways to get started on thinking through all of their characters, not just the main ones. Lesson 2:
Dialogue
Students will learn how to write strong dialogue, both from a punctuation and mechanical standpoint as well as from the standpoint of learning how to write convincing and natural sounding dialogue. Students will also work on pacing and incorporating action with dialogue. Lesson 3:
Action Writing
Students will learn how to write action scenes by reading and discussing examples and then being given a chance to try it on their own. Lesson 4:
Descriptive Writing
Students will learn how and when to add strong descriptions to their writing. They will look at examples, discuss, and practice on their own. Other Details
Supply List
Students are highly encouraged to use Google Docs to facilitate sharing and editing for feedback with peers and teacher.
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Joined July, 2020
4.7
24reviews
Teacher expertise and credentials
Indiana Teaching Certificate in Secondary Education
Hello! My name is Mrs. Henry, and I am a licensed secondary English teacher. I have taught 7-12 grade in a traditional classroom setting for the past 9 years. My repertoire of taught classes includes 7th-8th grade Language Arts, Accelerated Language Arts, 9th grade English, and high school creative writing (the curriculum for this class I designed myself!). I have also led a creative writing club as well as a writing lab.
Creative writing and British Literature are subjects I am most passionate about, but I'm in this field because I love all aspects of it: grammar, formal writing, literature, creative writing, and informational text. I would love to teach you about poetry, help you fine tune a story you're working on, lead you through the process of a research paper, deepen your understanding of grammar and semantics, or discuss the fine details of your favorite book. I love helping students through any part of the writing process as well as the rich discussions that come from digging in deep to a story or text.Reviews
Self-Paced Course
$15
weekly or $60 for all content4 pre-recorded lessons
4 weeks of teacher support
Choose your start date
1 year of access to the content
Completed by 13 learners
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Ages: 13-18
