Writing


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This semester, Creative Writing was renamed: FEISTY NARWHALS

 

Assignments:

  1. I AM a short story: choose one tiny moment of your life that is significant to you. Plan, write, and revise a short story about it. Google Doc name: "Your Name - I am a short story."
  2. I AM a room: After hearing Jonathan Swift's poem, "The Lady's Dressing Room," write your own exaggerated room poem. Use the same rhyme scheme and vivid description as Swift and make sure your poem is at least one page in length. Make sure to include exaggeration, humor, an AABB rhyme scheme. Google Doc name: "Your Name - I am a room."
  3. I AM a declaration: After reading the Declaration of Independence, write your own Declaration of _____________. Consider your audience, your goal, and include a list of reasons for your declaration. Try to model your document structure after the Declaration of Independence. Google Doc name: "Your Name - I am a declaration."
  4. I AM mysterious:  You will be assigned a group of 3 or 4. In your group, you will work together to plan and write a mystery. During the planning phase, strategize about how to work together as a group. You will use the chat feature of GDocs, but Julie will be monitoring to be sure you stay on task -- so be thoughtful about how you work. Focus on creating mood and using the elements of a mystery we discussed. Google Doc name: "Your Names - We are Mysterious" (Julie will create your document and share it with your group).

 

 

Resources:

 

 

Revision Tasks

When you finish writing, here are some tasks for you to choose from completing. These tasks get you used to things real writers might do when editing and revising their work -- things like evaluating word choice and sentence fluency, making meaning clearer, deleting extra words, looking for more information or inspiration, and getting advice from a trusted peer.

 

Choose the number of revision tasks Julie asks you to and complete them. Write any revision tasks you've completed at the bottom of your Google Doc in PURPLE.

 

  1. (Required; DO THIS FIRST) Read through your work and check for COPS (capitalization, organization, punctuation, spelling). Do this basic first revision before doing any of the revision tasks below.
  2. Find a novel with a style that you really admire. Find a part of your novel to rewrite/change based on the author's style. Comment with the novelauthor, and page number you were inspired by. In your comment, describe what about the author's style inspired you. Then resolve the comment.
  3. Find 10 words to change or add to make your story more sophisticated. Add them to our poster if they aren’t there already. Comment on each word you change so that I can see it. Then resolve the comments. 
  4. Tidy up font and format (Times New Roman, size 12, double spaced, no extra line breaks, heading: name, project, date) using your LA format Google Doc (usually called "Your Name - Sample Document" or "Your Name - English Format" or something similar.)
  5. Use the grammar resources above. Choose a grammar rule you feel weak on. Study the rule(s) and go through your essay looking for errors.
  6. (If you choose this task, DO IT LAST and make sure you have at least 15 minutes left in class) Complete at least one peer revision. When doing peer revisions, check for places in the story that are UNCLEAR and places in the story you would like more DESCRIPTION.