Lesson+Plans


 * The following is a lesson which I teach about three weeks into a six week course. It has students taking what they have learned about character development, setting, and theme to begin a story. With slight modifications this lesson could also be used in a high school English class.

Class:** Introduction to Creative Writing

1) Students will be able to write from the point of view of a randomly assigned character. 2) Students will be able to set their stories in a randomly assigned setting. 3) Students will be able to write stories about a randomly assigned theme or situation.
 * Objectives:**


 * Procedure:

Warm Up:** 1) Students will be given 5 minutes to write on the following writing prompt: A drunk person sits down next to you in a bar, thinks your his/her buddy, and starts confessing the "truth" to you. Write about what "the truth" is. 2) Students will be given the oppurtunity to share what they have written with the rest of the class. 3) Repeat steps 1 and 2 with the following prompt: You have finished filing your last report and are ready to go home. As you reach for the office door the lights suddenly go out. Write about what happens next.

1) Teacher will briefly review the importance being able to write from different points of view, various settings, and about interesting situations. 2) The teacher will set strips of paper in three different piles. One for character, one for setting, one for theme. Each strip of paper will be set face down so that the students can not see what is written on any given strip of paper. 3) Each student will choose one slip of paper from each pile. 4) Students will have 5-10 minutes to outline a story which is from the point of view of the character they have chosen, takes place in the setting they chose, and is about the theme or situation they picked from the pile. 5) Students will be given 15-20 minutes to begin writing the story they have outlined. 6) Students will pass their slips of paper to the person to their left. 7) Repeat steps 4 and 5 with the new slips of paper. 8) Students will be given a chance to read what they have written and discuss how to further develop their ideas. 9) Teacher will collect one piece of writing from each student.
 * Class:**

1) The class will discuss how the day's exercise helped them and what difficulties they had with the exercise. Teacher will grade the assignments according to the rubric provided and then return the exercise to the students and have them continue working on their stories.
 * Wrap-Up:**
 * Follow Up:**




 * Here are several links to other lesson plans and exercises for Creative Writing classes:**

The following site has a WebQuest which guides students through writing Historical Fiction:

http://www.greece.k12.ny.us/ath/library/webquests/backintime/default.htm

The following site contains four workshops on finding inspiration for poetry. The workshops can be used with either children or adults.

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