Creative Writing

Course Expectations:

Expectations for this class are simple. You will use your time in class to write creatively. Please do not use this time to complete homework, socialize, sleep, or catch up on the latest CD. You need to be serious in your pursuit of writing. And you will be required to submit complete, original works. These assignments will be given in class and may be worked on in the class and at home. You will also be required to submit a writer’s notebook near the end of each semester.

Course Requirements:

Class participation – Students must be willing to share their writing with members of the class. This includes orally presenting pieces of writing. If you have a fear of speaking in class, get over it quickly. If any student knows he or she will have difficulty with this, he or she should seriously reconsider taking this class.
The writer’s notebook – please refer to the handout. The best notebook to purchase is one of the marble cover composition books.
On time completion of all assignments. Late assignments will lose one letter grade per day late. Weekend days will counts as days late.
Unless otherwise instructed, all assignments must be type-written.

Course Content:

The Charter School of Wilmington creative writing course is a half-year course designed to help high school poets and fiction writers to develop their skills, to discover their distinctive voices, and to give their creative work an outlet.

This course incorporates the four state standards in English but focuses primarily on Standard One:

Students will use written and oral English appropriate for various purposes and audiences.
Students will construct, examine, and extend the meaning of literary, informative, and technical texts through listening, reading, and viewing.
Students will access, organize, and evaluate information by listening, reading, and viewing.
Students will use literary knowledge accessed through print and visual media to connect self to society and culture.

Course Objectives

Students will learn and practice the fundamentals of writing fiction—point of view, tone, style, theme, description, dialogue, plot (identifying and creating) and so on. By discussing and analyzing published short fiction, students will learn the narrative techniques and strategies of creative writers.

Students will learn and practice the fundamentals of writing poetry, including but not limited to poetic elements such as rhythm, meter, rhyme scheme, imagery, diction, and tone and poetic forms such as haiku, sonnet, dramatic monologue, picture poem, limerick, ready made poem, etc. By discussing and analyzing published poems, students will learn the poetic techniques and strategies of poets.

Students will learn and practice the fundamentals of writing drama, including but not limited to dialogue, character development (characterization), stage direction and setting.

Students will, by sharing works-in-progress, learn from and support one another, and begin to develop critical judgment.

Students will write and read literature regularly.

Unit 1: Short Story/fiction.

In this unit, students will review and/or learn the literary terminology associated with literature, especially terminology associated with the short story, examine and analyze works of short fiction by both prominent and lesser-known authors, and create and write two original short works of fiction. Students will participate in mini workshop groups for purposes of constructive criticism. (State standards one, two, and three will be addressed in this unit).

Unit 2: Poetry.

In this unit, students will review and/or learn the literary terminology associated with poetry, examine and analyze a variety of poems, and produce/write a body of original works of poetry. Each student will be required to present a selection of his or her poetry to the class. (State standards one, two, and three will be addressed in this unit).

Unit 3: Drama.

In this unit, students will review and/or learn the literary terminology associated with drama, examine one act plays, and, in groups, write and perform an original one act play. (State standards one, two, and three will be addressed in this unit).

In addition to the content listed in the above course outline, we will also address other types of creative writing that do not conform neatly into those descriptions. For example, we will be writing children’s stories, and we will be painting when we take a look at what is known as a picture poem.

Taught by:

Mr.Mervine

302.651.2727 ext. 320

mmervine@charterschool.org