Creative writing is anything where the purpose is to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to simply convey information.
COURSE TITLE: Creative Writing
INSTRUCTOR: Major Pamela Donehew
OFFICE and CLASS LOCATION: Room 117
PHONE: 941-936-1700 ext. 941-223-9692
E-MAIL: Pamela_Donehew@sarasota.k12.fl.us
WEBSITE: http://pameladonehew.com
www.sarasotamilitaryacademy.com
REQUIRED TEXT AND MATERIALS:
Books will be supplied
3-Ring Binder for handouts
Looseleaf paper
Composition Notebook for journaling
Floppy disk, flash drive or online computer folder for storing all class work.
COURSE DESCRIPTION: The creative writing class provides the student an outlet in which to explore his/her own story related interests and abilities. All students will be given the opportunity through a variety of types of writing to develop their voice by exploring various genres of writing. Skills in proof reading, peer editing, and revising are stressed. Critical thinking skills will be enhanced through patterns of language usage and reading. This course is designed to facilitate the student’s creative faculties and abilities. Creative Writing will provide an opportunity for students to refine their creative writing skills beyond those developed in the required English classes. Students will be encouraged to explore and develop their own ideas. Students will also be encouraged to see connections between their own writing, their classmates’ writing, and the writing of classical and contemporary authors. As a community of writers, students will read, write and share poetry and stories in a safe space for creating, experimenting, sharing, and providing constructive criticism to their peers. Instruction in literary techniques will direct the student’s writing. In addition to working within literary conventions, students will be exposed to exemplary texts by selected authors.
EXPECTED LEARNER OUTCOMES:
l. Students will become familiar with the concepts of literature, particularly the elements of poetry, fiction, and drama.
- Students will employ the concepts of literature to analyze the texts of selected authors.
- Students will employ the concepts of literature to write their own original manuscripts. By the
end of the semester, students will have written several poems, stories, and dramatic scenes. - Students will employ the concepts of literature to evaluate critically the quality of their own
manuscripts and the manuscripts of others. - Students will learn to revise manuscripts based upon the critical evaluations received in writing
workshops.
COURSE ORGANIZATION
Writing activities and the study of literature will be organized by genre including the following:
- Writing poetry
- Writing fiction
- Writing Nonfiction (e.g. feature articles)
- Multimedia productions
Various activities include reading and discussion of models, written or oral responses, pre-writing strategies presented by the teacher, journaling, free writing, and various components of the writing process: drafting, revising, editing, presenting, as well as peer conferencing and teacher-student conferencing.
EVALUATION
Grades will be determined by assignments done either in or outside of class, to include: notebook, oral presentations, quizzes, a portfolio, and the writing journal. Points will be deducted from writing assignments that are not submitted on time. A student may revise any piece of writing as many times as he would like for a better grade as long as he has turned it in on time up until the last two weeks of the grading period. Remember that meeting deadlines is an important part of the writer’s life.
PLAGIARISM/ACADEMIC INTEGRITY: Plagiarism is representing as one’s own the ideas of another person; as such, it is a serious form of academic dishonesty. Plagiarism, intentional or unintentional, will result in a failing grade for the assignment in order to help you learn that honesty and integrity are at least as important as grades. You cannot become a better writer by using the creative expressions of other writers. Find your own voice. Any occurrence of plagarism will result in receiving an F for the course.
1 response so far ↓
1
munashe
// Sep 30, 2009 at 12:13 pm
The education system in Zimbabwe does not encourage critical thinking. I think in a country that is so ravaged by poverty, disease, as well as high unemployment (over 80%) it is essential for the students to have the ability to analyse situations, and come up with solutions. The education system is very rigid and very much focused on passing exams- it is still a Victorian education system by all respects. Despite all this, however, it is possible to teach students critical thinking and at the same time prepare them for the exams. My GCE (A Levels) Geography and Shona teachers certainly did that and i will forever be grateful to them. I would like to investigate how this can be done using what is in place already because an overhaul of the education system, which is very necessary, is only but a distant dream for a country such as Zimbabwe. I look forward to suggestions on how this can be achieved.
Munashe
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