In each week's class, students will use silly excuses as prompts to write their own creative short story, which they can share with the group at the end of class. 

This class will meet on an ongoing basis, each class with the same structure, but a different silly excuses prompt each week. If your schedule does not allow for an ongoing/weekly class meeting, I also offer "Creative Writing: Silly Excuses Story Prompts (One-Time / Trial Class)" where your learner can participate without an ongoing commitment. 

Class Activities: 

- Introduction

- Choose our silly excuse prompt: 
             The teacher will provide the beginning of the prompt. 

   Upcoming Prompts: 
          - Sunday, January 15 to Saturday, January 21 - "I was late for school because..."
          - Sunday, January 22 to Saturday, January 28 - "I forgot to clean my room because..."
          - Sunday, January 29 to Saturday, February 4 - "I burnt the cake because..." 
          - Sunday, February 5 to Saturday, February 11 - "I lost my dog because..."

Then, a student will be randomly chosen each week to choose the ending. The chosen prompt will be used as the topic of the story each student writes. Since the prompt endings are chosen randomly during class time and are student-directed, there are no definitive prompt endings to list for each week. Some examples of prompt endings include but are not limited to: 
          - an elephant ate my homework
          - I fell into a magical portal
          - a monster gave me a high five
          - a monkey made me spaghetti
          - I found a time machine
          - it started raining gummy bears
          - I was wearing the wrong shoes
          - I drank some spoiled milk
          - my dog stole my apron

- Brainstorming:
          The teacher will facilitate a time of brainstorming and discussion about the silly excuse prompt to help students develop ideas for their stories before writing.

- Writing time: 
          Students will write their stories in a private (just one student) breakout room for 10 to 20 minutes. The time given varies based on the number of students in class and how long other activities take. Most weeks, most class sections will have 15-20 minutes. On some occasions, in full classes, or where there is more discussion during brainstorming time, students may have less than 15 minutes, but never less than 10. Students are encouraged to write as much as they can in the time they have and are reminded that it is okay if their story is not completely finished when time is up.

- Sharing time: 
          Students are welcome to read their stories aloud (though not required). The teacher and students will offer positive comments, emojis, and reactions to each other. After students have shared their stories, the teacher will often share a story she has written about the prompt as well! Students are free to leave when class time is over or stay a few extra minutes to hear the teacher's story. 

*Please note that this class does not focus on helping students to improve spelling, grammar, punctuation, capitalization, or other writing mechanics.