Upper School Creative Writing - Period Five
UPPER SCHOOL CREATIVE WRITING SYLLABUS– First Semester 2007
Mr. Farmer – Room Four, Leeland
Course Description:
This course is a one-semester student elective. It provides an opportunity to write creatively without constraints on form, style, or genre, and to workshop the pieces with classmates. Fiction, non-fiction, and poetry are all permissible. This class will be small, and, by the nature of a writing workshop, it will be intimate. Feedback should be at all times constructive. You will not be forced to share anything immediately after writing it in class, but you will need to present your work three times throughout the semester. At the end of the course, you will submit a portfolio of revised writing that includes either three stories at least 3500 words in combined length or at least eight poems. The portfolio cannot mix prose and poetry. In addition to writing, we will engage in discussions of short creative writing pieces that I feel exemplify their form. We will read in class and digest the material together.
Homework:
The only homework in this course will be the continual revision of the writing pieces begun in class.
Grading:
Your grade will be determined by the combination of your portfolio and your class participation. At the end of the first quarter, I will collect your portfolio to review it as a work in progress. At that point, the writing it contains will not be judged as a final draft. At the end of the quarter, when I collect the portfolio for the second time, the specifications outlined in the course description above need to be met. The portfolio accounts for 75 percent of your grade, and your class participation makes up the remaining 25 percent. In addition to the spoken critique, you will create a peer review sheet every time someone workshops a new piece. I will receive a copy as well as the author, and the reviews will factor significantly into your class participation grade.
Class Requirements:
I will provide a writing notebook for in-class writing. Take care of it, and bring it to every class. Bring a pen or pencil to every class. Type your papers, proof read them, and print copies for everyone when it is your turn to workshop your piece. All stories need to be original as of the 2007-08 school year.
Honor Code:
Abide by the Queen Anne Honor Code at all times.
Please come to me for extra help whenever you feel the need. I will be more than happy to talk to you about your writing.
Homework:
Due on Monday, September, 17th: Write a thoughtful critique for Anna's poem, our first workshop piece, and prepare for discussion. Due Friday, September 21st: Write a thoughtful page length critique of Natalia's short story, and prepare for discussion. Delian, prepare your piece for workshop on Monday. Due on Wednesday, September 26th: Write a page long critique on Delian's story. Connor, bring in your short story. Genice's story is due on Friday. Natalia, write a page comparing and contrasting your story with Kincaid's short story, Girl, by next Tuesday, October second. Due October ninth: Natalia's story. Due Tuesday, October sixteenth: Delian's story. All students hand in critique of Natalia's story. Delian, Connor, and Genice hand in comparison pieces. Due Thursday, October eighteenth: Connor's story. All students hand in critique on Delian's story. Due Friday, October nineteenth: Genice's story. All students hand in critique on Connor's story. Due Monday, October twenty-second: All students hand in critique on Genice's story. Rewrites and all other first quarter work due today. First quarter ends on October twenty-fourth. Due November first: Anna and Natalia will bring pieces for a workshop on Tuesday, November fourth. Everyone else needs to bring in a writing response to a piece of news.
Due on November first: Natalia is submitting a piece for the rest of us to read over the weekend. Have your critiques ready on Tuesday, the fourth. Due on November fourth: Anna is submitting a piece for us to read for Thursday, the sixth.
Due before Thanksgiving break: Natalia and Genice will complete an original piece of creative writing. Connor will complete his response to the Chabon story. Delian will complete his story and hand it in the day we return from Thanksgiving break, if not sooner.