*Please Note: there are two versions of this class. One that meets four times a week for one week, and one that meets once a week for four weeks. Private sections for siblings and friends available upon request.

Join me as I travel the world and write as I do. Let's just enjoy ourselves writing for a bit.  We'll spend each day doing a different writing exercise.  These exercises are fun and engaging for anyone that enjoys writing.  Sure, it is creative writing, but it develops so much more.  Students will get to spend time writing and then share their work with each other.

Being able to tell a good story is an art form.  And good stories always have a lesson and deeper meaning.  Good stories make an argument.  The skills needed to tell a good story are the same skills needed to write a good essay. In this course, students will work to master the English language through a variety of creative writing tasks and literary exercises designed to improve writing fluency and diction. These skills will not only improve students’ creative writing and ability to tell stories, but will also directly relate and translate to formal writing skills.  Students will learn how to structure stories, master the use of imagery, understand and incorporate figurative language, establish theme and thesis, support their arguments with evidence, and perhaps most importantly, find their own voice.

This course gives the illusion of being just for fun, and that is part of its strength.  Students are set free to write, unrestricted by grammar rules and writing conventions.  Students enjoy these writing tasks and therefore are engaged in completing them.  Because they are fun and nonrestrictive, students often don’t see the educational value, but it is always there.  One of the best ways to become a better writer is to write more, and this course is designed to do just that.  
Daily structure: The first 20-30 minutes of class will be spent doing a variety of short writing exercises and sharing and discussing our writing. We will the work on a longer, guided writing piece, spending about 30 minutes to write. This will be followed by students sharing part of what they wrote during that time. Please note, that sometimes writing and discussion may go beyond our scheduled end-time. Students are not required to stay longer, and are free to leave as scheduled; however, for those wishing to spend a little more time writing and discussing, they are free to do so if they choose.

Lesson 1
-MADEs, Take a walk
-Jungian Forest

Lesson 2
-MADEs, Making lists, “Honest Poem," 
-Impromptu Story 1: Words and phrases
		
Lesson 3
-MADEs, What’s in the bag?
-Impromptu Story 2: Strange Photos

Lesson 4
-MADEs, Scenes from a hat
-Challenge Mountain