Creative Writing Class

Creative Writing Class It was the last day of our Homeschool association's weekly fall co-op classes one spring and I had taught several 6th -8th graders in a Creative Writing class for ten weeks. The class was on Friday afternoon, fourth hour, right after lunch. It was a great group of kids, but because of the time of day, and perhaps because of the subject, they were a rather subdued bunch. The first day of class I asked the youngsters why they were there. Was writing something they liked to do or did their Moms make them take the class? The majority of the hands indicated that it wasn't their idea to be there. Hummm. The first couple of Fridays I assigned something for them to write but it was like pulling hens teeth to get the kids to put their ideas on paper; and it had nothing to do with disobedience. After talking to them a while, I discovered that writing was something that the kids didn't think they could enjoy. They were intimidated by the mechanics: grammar, spelling and the "rules" of putting their thoughts on paper. I wasn't quite sure what to do next. SOOOO… I brainstormed with a friend who also loves to write. She told me about her experience in high school many years ago with a teacher who had a room full of reluctant students who was willing to use an unusual method of instruction: If in doubt, talk it out. His method worked. The group of students accidentally fell in love with writing... via the spoken word and oral story telling. If actually having to put a pen to paper was so intimidating for the kids in my class, then we'd just talk it out. I spent that hour each Friday afternoon for the next several weeks talking about writing. That sounds silly, but, after trying it, I agree with that teacher. Creative writing is as much a state of mind as it is anything else. It's a stretch of imagination and/or a mental observation that takes concrete form. The majority of the battle is won or lost before ever capturing a word in print. I wanted so much to share that love with my class. Over the course of weeks, we talked about all sorts of things: assumptions and alliterations, about writing to be read, positive and negative connotations, descriptions and word choices. We talked about audiences. We "wrote" stories verbally and played word games to introduce the concept that vocabulary can be fun. But as the weeks rocked along, I wasn't sure I was getting through to them. During that last class we reviewed what we had talked about... and I was convinced that I had failed in my attempt to share my love of writing. Dejected, I felt that I had wasted their time. With only a few minutes left of my "term" with these precious kids I asked a loaded question. "What would you have me do if I taught the class again?" Then it happened. The children told me that "next time" they'd like to write more! It seems that they all liked to write stories! Hehehe... now! In that moment, I realized that those kids came all the way from a complete reluctance to put thoughts on paper to requesting that "next time" they get to write more. I don't care if they remember a thing I said about the mechanics of writing... what matters most to me is that they seemed to have overcome some of their reluctance to put thoughts in print. It was all worth it.