High School Creative Writing Course Planning In this course students will read, critique, and compose original poetry, essays, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. Students will examine the works of published writers as well as peers to discover, expand, and refine their own skills, voice, and repertoire. Students will share their work for both written and oral peer critique. Publication will be strongly encouraged as students develop portfolios of their writing. Enduring Understandings Academic Vocabulary • What understandings about the big ideas are desired? (what you want students to understand & be able to use several years from now) • What misunderstandings are predictable? • Creative writing is a process using six interrelated Mentor text repetition elements: ideas, organization, diction, syntax, voice, Voice masculine rhyme and convention. Style feminine rhyme • The way a writer looks at the world impacts his/her Tone half/slant rhyme work. Theme assonance • Words have power and should be used to impact Purpose consonance readers for a specific purpose. Hook alliteration line • A variety of styles and genres can be used to build a Pitch metaphor writing portfolio and develop a writer’s voice. Critique simile • Critiquing and editing establishes a framework for Narrative personification improving one’s writing using multiple drafts. Styles of conflict symbol • Audience impacts an author’s creative choices and Plot stanza how they tell a story. characterization foot • Genres: poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction exposition meter rising action enjambment climax scansion falling action haiku black moment sestina denouement villanelle catastrophe pantoum hero’s journey free verse critique prose draft iambic pentameter memoir rhyme and rhyme patterns vignette screenplay essay parody Essential Questions What provocative questions will foster inquiry into the content? (open-ended questions that stimulate thought and inquiry linked to the content of the enduring understanding) Instructional Essential Questions • How and why are we as humans drawn to stories? • In what ways does creative writing influence a community and the larger societies that surround it? • Does the writer have the greater influence on the audience, or does the audience have the greater influence on the author? • What elements of storytelling are found in different genres of writing: creative nonfiction, memoir, fiction, poetry and prose? • How are critiques and drafts important to the writing process? Reflective Student Essential Questions • What is the essential connection between critical reading skills and precise writing skills? • How does a writer find his/her voice? • How do mentor texts help shape our own work as writers? • How does looking at the world as a writer change your perspective? • In what ways does understanding the writing process and tools of writing add value to creative writing and expression? Pending CC Approval Assessments • Identify and analyze the story elements found in fiction, poetry, essay, and creative non-fiction. • Identify, apply, and critique the six elements of writing: ideas, organization, diction, syntax, voice, and convention. • Apply lessons learned from mentor text in reflective writing. • Create and publish a portfolio of creative writings. • Review and critique the writing work of peers. • Contribute to evidence based discussions critiquing the work of creative writers. Standards Addressed Reading Craft and Structure 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) 5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. 6. Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, understatement, or attitude). Language Conventions of Standard English 1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. 2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. Knowledge of Language 3. Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 6. Acquire and use accurately general academic and domain-specific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. Writing Text Types and Purposes 2. Use narrative writing to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, well-chosen details, and well-structured event sequences. 3. Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. Production and Distribution of Writing 4. Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, style, and features are appropriate to task, genre, purpose, and audience. (Grade-specific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 1–3 above.) 5. Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 1–3 up to and including grades 11–12.) 6. Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. Range of Writing 10. Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. Speaking and Listening 1. Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 9–10 topics, texts, and issues, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. Pending CC Approval Assessments Concepts to be Assessed Skills to be Assessed What knowledge will the student acquire as a result of this course? What skills will the students acquire as a result of this unit? • Close reading and interpreting rich text. Students will be able to: • Understanding the mechanics of creative writing in • Annotate and apply lessons learned from a mentor text. poetry, essays, short fiction, and creative non-fiction. • Produce a creative work in fiction, essay, poetry, and • Understanding the interrelated elements of writing- creative non-fiction suitable for publication. (A work in ideas, organization, diction, syntax, voice, and creative drama or a screenplay is also accepted) convention. • Review and edit creative work using the six interrelated • Understanding the relationship between the author and elements of writing: ideas, organization, diction, syntax, the audience. voice, and convention. • Understanding the writing process and how critiques • Write a review/critique of a mentor text and a peer’s and rewrites contribute to improved final drafts, that creative work. good writing requires rewriting. Novels, Mentor Texts and Teacher Resources The New York Times; The Learning Martin Brandt; Between the Commas Donald Murray; Creating a Life in Network Amy Ludwig VanDerwater; Poems are Essay, Story, and Poem Linda Reif; The Quick Write Handbook Teachers Short Takes: Model Essays for Lucy Calkins; Small Moments The use of children’s picture books is Compositions by Elizabeth Penfield recommended as use for mentor texts. 2013 For example: Jumanji could be used as I Was Told There’d be Cake: Essays by a resource to teach dialogue, or Owl Sloane Crosley 2008 Winter for description. Pending CC Approval .