Our Workshops
We have a series of four modules to facilitate creative writing in the classrooms we visit. They focus on structure (via the Story Spine), dialogue, playwriting, and argumentation.
Here are some examples of what we would do in a workshop:
- Warm-Up Games:
These games can be used to create an energized, focused, or calm atmosphere in the classroom at the beginning of the workshop. Some examples of games that we played are:
- Zip Zap Zop
- Pie Pie Pie!
- Follow the Leader
- Dance Diamond (Follow The Leader -- dance style! Can involve freezing when the music stops.)
- Silent Pictures (forming pictures using only your body)
- Writing Exercises
We focused on several elements of creative writing with the students. We first would model the exercise with the full class, then work in small groups, and finally let the students go to work individually or in pairs.
- Story Spine: This is the way that fairy tales are written! Understanding Story Spine is a good base for any type of writing. It involves a clear set up with clarified setting and characters as well as a causative plot and a strong ending.
- Adding Dialogue: We worked on basic punctuation, as well as exploring how dialogue can add details and information to stories in a different way from straight narration.
- Image-Based Writing: When presented with a picture picked out by their pen-pals, the kids had a blast imagining what sort of world the "characters" in the picture would live in. This exercise helped them practice accepting others' ideas while still using their own.
- Playwriting: Combining their knowledge of dialoge and Story Spine, we looked at scripts and wrote short plays. This was one of the most exciting workshops, as the students worked in pairs and often found cool new ways to combine their ideas.
- Argumentation: We taught a simple, logical structure of argumentation. The kids learned about the point-of-view of a character, and how they might explain their reasoning to an audience.
- Story Sharing:
After the main sections of the workshop, the students had a chance to share with each other and with us! Acting out the stories was always a hoot.
- Saying Goodbye:
Both classes found their own way to say good-bye. In Ms. Nita's class, we waved our arms to the left and said, "Hi-hi!"
Finally, we take the notebooks of the children and workshop them in our own classes into sketches and songs to be performed in our show!
- Warm-Up Games:
These games can be used to create an energized, focused, or calm atmosphere in the classroom at the beginning of the workshop. Some examples of games that we played are:
- Zip Zap Zop
- Pie Pie Pie!
- Follow the Leader
- Dance Diamond (Follow The Leader -- dance style! Can involve freezing when the music stops.)
- Silent Pictures (forming pictures using only your body)
- Writing Exercises
We focused on several elements of creative writing with the students. We first would model the exercise with the full class, then work in small groups, and finally let the students go to work individually or in pairs.
- Story Spine: This is the way that fairy tales are written! Understanding Story Spine is a good base for any type of writing. It involves a clear set up with clarified setting and characters as well as a causative plot and a strong ending.
- Adding Dialogue: We worked on basic punctuation, as well as exploring how dialogue can add details and information to stories in a different way from straight narration.
- Image-Based Writing: When presented with a picture picked out by their pen-pals, the kids had a blast imagining what sort of world the "characters" in the picture would live in. This exercise helped them practice accepting others' ideas while still using their own.
- Playwriting: Combining their knowledge of dialoge and Story Spine, we looked at scripts and wrote short plays. This was one of the most exciting workshops, as the students worked in pairs and often found cool new ways to combine their ideas.
- Argumentation: We taught a simple, logical structure of argumentation. The kids learned about the point-of-view of a character, and how they might explain their reasoning to an audience.
- Story Sharing:
After the main sections of the workshop, the students had a chance to share with each other and with us! Acting out the stories was always a hoot.
- Saying Goodbye:
Both classes found their own way to say good-bye. In Ms. Nita's class, we waved our arms to the left and said, "Hi-hi!"
Finally, we take the notebooks of the children and workshop them in our own classes into sketches and songs to be performed in our show!
