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No Boring Teachers Allowed: Fictional Short Story Free Write & Share
John Lowthian
Average rating:4.9Number of reviews:(38)
In this creative fictional short story writing class, I offer a theme & writing helpers for young writers to use while they write independently during the week; we then share & discuss our creative story in a friendly & jubilant setting.
Class experience
US Grade 4 - 6
This is a rather simple class that offers tremendous learning opportunities. Each week I throw out a theme to inspire young writers (see the schedule below for examples). I include some writing helpers, such as graphic organizers, transition words, word banks, and other nuggets that I locate for the chosen theme. Your young writer then writes independently, with friends or relatives during the week. We then meet in class to share and discuss each story in a friendly, jubilant environment....
I obtained a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education from the Metropolitan State University of Denver in 2002 and an Educational Technology master’s degree from the University of Northern Colorado in 2010. I spent over 20 years in the upper elementary classroom and specialized in teaching language arts for ten years. I also have ten years of private tutoring experience and have tutored online since 2020. I specialize and enjoy digging deep into and discussing a good book with a group of young learners and building upon the reading/writing connection. I work with students from ages 8-13 (upper elementary to middle school skill level).
Homework Offered
-Students are expected to write (the story does not have to be completed) a short fictional story during the week and be prepared to share on Zoom during the class.1 - 2 hours per week outside of class
Assessments Offered
Grades Offered
-Students are encouraged to create their story using a format easily accessible for screen sharing (Google Docs). They may handwrite their story and choose to read aloud or screen share images of the story.
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Jubilant Tutoring strives to offer a safe, friendly, encouraging, growth-bound environment for all learners during reading groups. My teaching strategy is facilitating the group, leaving most of the discussion to the young learners and letting them take the wheel often. Sharing ideas, thoughts, and questions is highly encouraged, and piggybacking off others is often met with applause. I have practiced literacy and writing groups in the upper elementary school classroom for over 20 years and have mastered facilitating an enjoyable, fun, engaging, and educational learning group where positive attitudes rule and friendly smiles are abundant. * While authors can write romance, war, and horror genres, the content should remain under age 12 appropriate. Writing involving violent acts, aggression, sexual language, or other adult-themed literacy components is strongly prohibited. Guardians should read submitted stories to meet these requirements and keep Outschool and the class safe environment for everyone. I will do my best to provide this environment by monitoring Zoom's screen-sharing abilities and audio functions but rely on guardians to contribute to the safety of the class.
-YouTube videos may be used for writing prompts
Average rating:4.9Number of reviews:(38)
Welcome to my class! Spring 2023 is the time for new challenges, and after spending over 20 years in the classroom, I am excited to begin my journey with Outschool. After graduating high school, I decided I wanted to do something in life that...
Group Class
$10
weekly1x per week
45 min
Completed by 7 learners
Live video meetings
Ages: 9-12
3-6 learners per class
