A summer camp–length mash-up of my popular Let's End the World! and Let's Rebuild the World! classes, Let's End & Rebuild the World! (Summer Camp) provides students with an opportunity to work collaboratively and independently to create, destroy, and then rebuild a fictional world. Working from prompts and with specific guidelines, students will write about their world as it approaches its untimely end, as the apocalypse unfolds, and in the aftermath of their fictional doomsday. Once their worlds have ended, we will rebuild from the ashes, giving humanity (or whatever species come after it) another shot at a glorious future. 

Students may choose any apocalypse they can imagine, from meteors hurtling from space to a zombie plague to collapses of technology that doesn't yet exist. After their end-of-days has played out, they can recreate their world into any post-apocalyptic future they can imagine, as blatantly bleak as The Maze Runner or as subtly sinister as The Giver. Their future world may even be a true utopia, where humans live in balance with nature, technology, and each other. 

We will work during class time in short writing "sprints" (8-15 minutes writing segments) with a break for discussion in between each sprint. Students may write in any genre, from serious to silly, and will receive constructive feedback from the teacher and their peers. While our world enders/builders are welcome to work on their writing projects at home after class, this is not required. Let's End & Rebuild the World! (Summer Camp) is a low-stress, high-energy way to engage students in the thrill of creative writing! 

Class 1: Creation – Students work together during class time to create their world. We will collaborate on a primer for our world, that explains the current state of nations, the environment, technology, nature, and more! After class, I will type this up for students to reference throughout the week. 

Class 2: Crisis – Every end has a beginning, and students prepare their world for its end with in-class writing. What signs does the world have that it is about to end? Students will learn about foreshadowing. 

Class 3: Climax – The end isn't near; it's here! Class time focuses on the apocalyptic event itself, with lots of attention paid to active wording and great details. Expect lots of loud booms and laughter as we power through the dramatic end of life as we know it. 

Class 4: Turning Point – The apocalypse has come to a close, but that doesn't mean humanity has. Where will we go from here as a species? What strange, new world will arise without the limitations of the old world to constrain us? Writing will focus on laying the groundwork for the future. 

Class 5: What's Next? – Now that a new society has been established, what is life like for the people living there? How do you recognize a dystopia or utopia? We look at the future beyond our future with our writing. Will this new world make the same mistakes as our old, destroyed world? Or will we do it better this time? 

Students who would prefer a four-week focus on just the apocalyptic setting are welcome to join me in Let's End the World! while students who are interested in a four-week class focusing on the post-apocalyptic phase may enjoy Let's Rebuild the World! This summer camp is designed to give students a sampling of both classes.