Teaching Creative Writing to Other Children

Last winter, when I was first approached to teach creative writing to middle schoolers, I jumped at the chance. I was in the middle of a self-created writing and fantasy literature curriculum with Girlie, and we had been making such fantastic discoveries and progress. The *IDEA* was fabulous.

It wasn't long after that when I wiped a smudge off my rose-colored glasses that I pondered, "What have I done?" How can I recreate this dynamic, interactive student -teacher relationship in a once-a-week class with other children? Trying to hold the panic at bay, I threw myself into studying various writing curricula and techniques.

And the longer I looked, the more it became apparent there is little on the market that is dynamic and vibrant for teaching writing. If I look at ONE MORE boring graphic organizer or stunted worksheet I am going to scream. Institute for Excellence in Writing has some interesting points, but the exercises become so redundant and burdensome that they would suck any writing passion into a vacuum of dread. Bravewriter has some appeal, but we found that their $100 "The Writer's Jungle" it is more a guide of ideas for the teacher to getting the kids "unstuck". If you really want direction in developing literary elements into your writing, you are going to need to be come a never-ending ATM machine purchasing mini-units again and again. Ugh!

What I really wanted was something that really taught the kids about plot, character, conflict, point of view, voice, setting, tone and mode. I wanted to have them learn how to properly write dialogue, use connotation and denotation, and explore all those fun literary devices like metaphor, foreshadowing, alliteration,etc. Most of all, I wanted it to be dynamic and real.

The quandry came in that I know I COULD write all myself over a normal summer. But this year I was a little over burdened putting in 40+-hour weeks starting the co-op. I was a non-stop PR machine, all the while hammering out administrative details. My *Clever*, that creative vibrant side to my personality, took a vacation . All I could manage by way of planning were a ton of jottings in a spiral notebook and some web-surfing.

Three weeks ago, as things started slowing down on the PR side, I turned my focus to lesson planning these classes. I spent a week planning the psych class, and another tweeking environmental science unit that was almost done. All the while, this creative writing class loomed darkly over me . The class began filling quickly, and I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to consider the varied abilities and writing backgrounds of all these kids.

My panic was starting to rise significantly. I closed the class at eight students, realizing that my success in teaching writing is strongly based in giving feedback and editing help after instruction. I created a little outline, and I started to wade through all the scribbling in my notebook. I spent some more time surfing, and adapting some traditional lessons in fun and interesting ways.

The longer I worked, the faster the dread faded. It really is as easy as organizing the element, teaching the concept through examples and discussion, and getting to work WITH the kids. I found my excitement again as I planned. Like Elvis, the Dread has left the building!