How to teach creative writing?

Question

Specifically to children.

Answer 1

get the children to read read read read read make sure what they read is interesting, and of a high quality,
pick interesting fantasy or fictional stories and read them with vigour

creative writing is 99% inspiration and 1% convention
the conventions are important but when the children are involved and passionate then they will be most interested in going through the editing and self-correction process which is how they will best learn convention

talk them through the process of beggining a story, give them perhaps a few beggings, some could be time oriented- long ago... once upon a time... three years ago... etc.

find inspiring ideas for them to base their stories on
use materials, photographs, objects, guided visualisation, fantasy settings, interesting science fiction ideas, whatever you can dream up to help inspire them

perhaps you could tie it in with the sport they are doing, or the social studies area they are learning about


an interesting beggining would be for the children to watch a little bit of the surfing movie- biggest wednesday, (50ft plus face waves) where the surfers towed in by jet-ski and the helicopters watching were dwarfed by the waves -
and to get them to write from there

as soon as the children have the idea of making stories up-(which most will) they will be able to have far more freedom

a great exercise is to ask the children to give you a list of the ten top words they would use in a story, and then tell them they have to write a story without using these words
some will struggle, others will relish the challenge, with support all will learn and develop

(if the children struggle with handwriting you may need to set minumum legth requirement and convention guidlines before- hand, as they may write a few sentences and tell you they have finished, these will be useless if the children are not inspired and they will come up with all sorts of strategies to avoid them, however if you can really inspire them these will be easy to help them to achieve.)

once they have dived in, then it is time to start talking about grammer and paragraphing and sentencing or whatever level they are at

if you can build passion with the entire class about this activity
they are already successful and your job will be easy

Answer 2

Good question I would think you need a degree in Secondary Teaching but, thats for regular English. For good luck finding a high school that will allow you to teach creative writing, it's a great idea but schools are so stuck in thier We only read Beuwolf and The Great Gatsby ways, I hate those stupid books becasue I had to read them 100 times between high school and college

Answer 3

The writing process involves prewriting activities, doing a first draft, revising, editing, and the finsihed product.

I would start by getting children to talk about what they know. If necessary, help them write down these ideas. Children can talk about and write about what they know - everyday events, trips to the museum or park, family celebrations, etc. Brainstorm ideas to include and do a story web. If the children are young - five,six, seven, eight years old - investigate the "language experience approach".

These websites can give you a great deal of help. They will lead you to many others.

Answer 4

Perhaps show your young students how they can view the world in imaginative ways and make those thoughts tangible by writing about them. Creatiivity brings pleasure, and words can be molded like play-doh. Anything they can conceive can become more real once they commit an idea to paper.

Why not have them write about the day in the life of an imaginary friend, one that comes to life when they write about this friend? Appeal to their sense and sensitivity. Allow their imaginations to become thoughtful and detailed, and to put these thoughts on paper, along with a hand drawn picture, or a collage of faces from magazines. Encourage them to "see" their own thoughts and create a miniature world of their own design, building a world with their ideas and words. And of course, let this be a "fun" exercise.

Answer 5

You need to have a classroom activity. Have students give you ideas they would like to write about, list them on the board. Depending on the grade you should have the writing format for them planned out and you do a quick write with the students. I usually write a really fun story the students would like and I read it to the class to give them an idea. Of course you have your activity sheet so they can get the correct format.

Answer 6

Have them write. Focus on the story first with children. After a few stories start also focusing on grammar.

Answer 7

1. do a "finish this story" assignment
2. give them a list of words to use in a writing assignment
3. Let them write about a family member - and then on a certain day let them bring in the family member and read it out loud to the class!
4. Take them outside and let them write about what they see

Answer 8

give them creative writing books