What are your experiences teaching writing through creative writing?(poems, short stories, etc) How could you use the ideas/strategies described in Chapter 11 work for your students?
I have never taught poems through creative writing before. However, I have taught my students to write short stories. I passed out the examples of my previous students' works and had them read them. Then, I had the students set their characters of their stories with their real classmates because they already knew one another well. I also told them to include me as a character, too. Most of the students put me as a witch. (I was not a mean teacher though.) The genres of novels were various. It could a fairy tale, humor, and mystery etc... The students enjoyed writing the stories because they already knew about the other friends' characteristics and it was fun for them to reflect their original characteristics onto their own novels. We couldn't wait to read the other friends' stories. One of the useful poetic described in Ch.11 is "repetition" for my class. This can be effective when the students need to practice the grammar parts such as "I wish~" or "I used to...",too. By writing their own poems with the repeating words, the students can learn the expressions in a fun way. When their English proficiency is high, they can also use the rhyme strategy in their poems or they can apply their vocabulary knowledge in a diamantes form.
I don’t have any experience that I taught writing but have some that I was taught. I was given each form’s concept and characteristics and opportunities to apply them to my own writing. As I remembered, I made an effort to follow form’s shape or rule without any emphasizing my meaning or purpose. In this present time, I become to know that the most important point in writing is its content and communication with audiences. So, I can adapt this chapter to my teaching writing, especially creative writing, stressing out more how they use each form in order to express their thoughts and give audiences enjoyment rather than what devices should be showed in their writing. The purpose of my lesson would be enjoying appreciating all writing forms and experiencing them, so that students can understand each form’s characteristics and when they use specific form effectively. Through these approaches, students would be able to be possible writers.
I do not have any teaching experience, but If taught teaching writing throug creating writing I would focus on brainstorming idea, making thier voice in their writing, using specific purpose and audience,making memorable characters or vivid laguage rather then focus on mechanical erros they made. If studnets are awared for these content their writing would be clever, creative and well organized that makes readers to be touched.
Studnets can use and apply the stretegies described in Chapter 11 dring writing workshop. Tey can apply or adopt the poetic stretegies they have learned when they write thier own poems
Once I loved to read poems and tried to write my poems. I still enjoy word playing -choosing words, changing them again and again- like drawing in mind. I can't say I am good at writing poem or any kind of writing but I can tell how pleasing it can be to write down my thoughts and feelings. That's why I often write when I am depressed. Unfortunately I hadn't been taught how to write poems or other writings explicitly and I haven't done any writing workshop for my classes, though I have tried little bit of simple pattern writing using patterns repeated in story books as after-reading activities. I noticed that children loved to create their own story feeling comfortable because they have patterns as scaffolds. I am sure that "beginning with formula poems" will help students feel easier to start writing. Tompkins (2008) pointed out that simply explain several poetic forms and allow children to write as they please doesn't teach a thing about poetry writing. She insists that "children need to learn and experiment with EACH poetic form" (p, 261). As Miss Clark in the vignette incorporated all three components-reading, instruction, and writing, to be successful in class teachers should put efforts to integrate reading and writing with instructions.
Actually I haven’t experienced teaching creative writing to students until now. But when I worked in a middle school about 5 years ago, I used to help students to write an English diary. Keeping a diary in English was their homework. All the stories in the diary were based on their real life. So I don’t think keeping a diary is a creative writing. If I have an opportunity to teach writing through creative writing, I’d like to teach students with one of the model poems, “If I Were in Charge of the World” because it is interesting enough to stimulate children’s imagination fully and children usually want to be a master and control the world. In the beginning of class, I will have them brainstorm the ideas about the phrase and ask them to cluster all the ideas. After that, I will encourage them to make a creative poem with those ideas.
I don't really have an experience in teaching students through creative writing. I only taught a few people on learning how to speak in English in an easier way, which, I think, was an easy way - having conversations with other foreigners or people who speak in that language. But I do have an idea on how I can use the ideas or strategies described in Chapter 11 work for students that I may have in the future. I think, beyond the forms and and formalities the book showed us, through poetry writing, our students can learn to be more imaginative and maybe even learn to think out of the box. With that, they can link a simple idea or title with other things that may still be related to it, gather them all together and make one great poem or writing.
I believe some of you have heard about 'Teacher's Spy'. After watching one of classmates for a limited time, a student writes a poem about him or her. A presenter reading out loud the completed poem in front of the class, his or her classmates guess who he or she in the poem is. It is very fun! In chapter 11, there's a device called rhyme. I think it would make students so interested in writing a poem beacuse they are used to singing rap music.
Creative writing, especially poetry writing is the area that has been kind of abandoned in writing classes in Korea - not only in English language classes but also in Korean language ones. Even though I have wanted to cover this in my classes, the chances have been slim because the students felt great burden about dealing with poetry in English and I didn't have many ideas to encourage them to approach writing English poems. 'Formula poems' in chapter 11 draw my attention in that it suggested an initial step to writing poems to unconfident students. Formulas like 'I wish ...', 'If I were ...' or 'I used to .../But no ...' could be adopted in grammar classes as a very creative application of the forms covered. It's a shame that I am not teaching a class to try this at the moment due to this MA study!
According to Tomkins (20008), it is said that through writing creatively, students learn to experiment with multiple word meanings and word order. They also use language for fun and self-expression. In fact, I don’t teach regular writing classes to my students, but I sometimes have my students write the poem to make them express their mind metaphorically. Many EFL writers have problems getting started when writing a poem; however, this should not be the case. In the book, the formula poems caught my eyes. Formula poems help students use words effectively. Using “I wish…” poems, color poems, five-sense poems etc.. help to make students’ work lively and exciting. I think it can be started easily for children as well as for adults who are never attractive to writing.
Korean students are not accustomed to writing poem in English as well as reading because they believe that poetic rhymes and the underlined meanings are not easily accessible to their real life. However, if it is not restricted in a specific genre, to complete a poem with scaffolding writing is quite good activity for the beginning stage of students in poetry writing. Funny short-story can be good exemplary material. Using imagines and facts from real world, compositions line by line based on the scaffolding sentences and reorganizing those sentences in a writer’s preference are practical exercise to learn how to write poem as a skill.
Teaching language--first or second through poetry especiallly could be really fun for students, since poetry allows them to be "non-traditional" when writing---you dont have to follow grammar rules to a "T" and could be really free with the language. THe concrete poems, the repetition poems, simple rhymes are very easy to create even for beginner students. My son is 6 and he enjoys making up his own rhymes and little poems patterned after ones he learns in school.
Students can write a poem only if they just express their feelings as they are. Children are natural poets because they are not obsessed with rules and formulas of a poem. In a poetry writing class, I will say to the class, ” Write down your thoughts as they come to you.”
I have never taught poems through creative writing before. However, I have taught my students to write short stories. I passed out the examples of my previous students' works and had them read them. Then, I had the students set their characters of their stories with their real classmates because they already knew one another well. I also told them to include me as a character, too. Most of the students put me as a witch. (I was not a mean teacher though.) The genres of novels were various. It could a fairy tale, humor, and mystery etc... The students enjoyed writing the stories because they already knew about the other friends' characteristics and it was fun for them to reflect their original characteristics onto their own novels. We couldn't wait to read the other friends' stories.
ReplyDeleteOne of the useful poetic described in Ch.11 is "repetition" for my class. This can be effective when the students need to practice the grammar parts such as "I wish~" or "I used to...",too. By writing their own poems with the repeating words, the students can learn the expressions in a fun way. When their English proficiency is high, they can also use the rhyme strategy in their poems or they can apply their vocabulary knowledge in a diamantes form.
I don’t have any experience that I taught writing but have some that I was taught. I was given each form’s concept and characteristics and opportunities to apply them to my own writing. As I remembered, I made an effort to follow form’s shape or rule without any emphasizing my meaning or purpose. In this present time, I become to know that the most important point in writing is its content and communication with audiences. So, I can adapt this chapter to my teaching writing, especially creative writing, stressing out more how they use each form in order to express their thoughts and give audiences enjoyment rather than what devices should be showed in their writing. The purpose of my lesson would be enjoying appreciating all writing forms and experiencing them, so that students can understand each form’s characteristics and when they use specific form effectively. Through these approaches, students would be able to be possible writers.
ReplyDeleteI do not have any teaching experience, but If taught teaching writing throug creating writing I would focus on brainstorming idea, making thier voice in their writing, using specific purpose and audience,making memorable characters or vivid laguage rather then focus on mechanical erros they made.
ReplyDeleteIf studnets are awared for these content their writing would be clever, creative and well organized that makes readers to be touched.
Studnets can use and apply the stretegies described in Chapter 11 dring writing workshop.
Tey can apply or adopt the poetic stretegies they have learned when they write thier own poems
Once I loved to read poems and tried to write my poems. I still enjoy word playing -choosing words, changing them again and again- like drawing in mind. I can't say I am good at writing poem or any kind of writing but I can tell how pleasing it can be to write down my thoughts and feelings. That's why I often write when I am depressed. Unfortunately I hadn't been taught how to write poems or other writings explicitly and I haven't done any writing workshop for my classes, though I have tried little bit of simple pattern writing using patterns repeated in story books as after-reading activities. I noticed that children loved to create their own story feeling comfortable because they have patterns as scaffolds. I am sure that "beginning with formula poems" will help students feel easier to start writing.
ReplyDeleteTompkins (2008) pointed out that simply explain several poetic forms and allow children to write as they please doesn't teach a thing about poetry writing. She insists that "children need to learn and experiment with EACH poetic form" (p, 261). As Miss Clark in the vignette incorporated all three components-reading, instruction, and writing, to be successful in class teachers should put efforts to integrate reading and writing with instructions.
Actually I haven’t experienced teaching creative writing to students until now. But when I worked in a middle school about 5 years ago, I used to help students to write an English diary. Keeping a diary in English was their homework. All the stories in the diary were based on their real life. So I don’t think keeping a diary is a creative writing.
ReplyDeleteIf I have an opportunity to teach writing through creative writing, I’d like to teach students with one of the model poems, “If I Were in Charge of the World” because it is interesting enough to stimulate children’s imagination fully and children usually want to be a master and control the world.
In the beginning of class, I will have them brainstorm the ideas about the phrase and ask them to cluster all the ideas. After that, I will encourage them to make a creative poem with those ideas.
I don't really have an experience in teaching students through creative writing. I only taught a few people on learning how to speak in English in an easier way, which, I think, was an easy way - having conversations with other foreigners or people who speak in that language. But I do have an idea on how I can use the ideas or strategies described in Chapter 11 work for students that I may have in the future. I think, beyond the forms and and formalities the book showed us, through poetry writing, our students can learn to be more imaginative and maybe even learn to think out of the box. With that, they can link a simple idea or title with other things that may still be related to it, gather them all together and make one great poem or writing.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI believe some of you have heard about 'Teacher's Spy'. After watching one of classmates for a limited time, a student writes a poem about him or her. A presenter reading out loud the completed poem in front of the class, his or her classmates guess who he or she in the poem is. It is very fun!
ReplyDeleteIn chapter 11, there's a device called rhyme. I think it would make students so interested in writing a poem beacuse they are used to singing rap music.
Creative writing, especially poetry writing is the area that has been kind of abandoned in writing classes in Korea - not only in English language classes but also in Korean language ones. Even though I have wanted to cover this in my classes, the chances have been slim because the students felt great burden about dealing with poetry in English and I didn't have many ideas to encourage them to approach writing English poems. 'Formula poems' in chapter 11 draw my attention in that it suggested an initial step to writing poems to unconfident students. Formulas like 'I wish ...', 'If I were ...' or 'I used to .../But no ...' could be adopted in grammar classes as a very creative application of the forms covered. It's a shame that I am not teaching a class to try this at the moment due to this MA study!
ReplyDeleteAccording to Tomkins (20008), it is said that through writing creatively, students learn to experiment with multiple word meanings and word order. They also use language for fun and self-expression.
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I don’t teach regular writing classes to my students, but I sometimes have my students write the poem to make them express their mind metaphorically. Many EFL writers have problems getting started when writing a poem; however, this should not be the case. In the book, the formula poems caught my eyes. Formula poems help students use words effectively. Using “I wish…” poems, color poems, five-sense poems etc.. help to make students’ work lively and exciting. I think it can be started easily for children as well as for adults who are never attractive to writing.
Korean students are not accustomed to writing poem in English as well as reading because they believe that poetic rhymes and the underlined meanings are not easily accessible to their real life. However, if it is not restricted in a specific genre, to complete a poem with scaffolding writing is quite good activity for the beginning stage of students in poetry writing. Funny short-story can be good exemplary material. Using imagines and facts from real world, compositions line by line based on the scaffolding sentences and reorganizing those sentences in a writer’s preference are practical exercise to learn how to write poem as a skill.
ReplyDeleteTeaching language--first or second through poetry especiallly could be really fun for students, since poetry allows them to be "non-traditional" when writing---you dont have to follow grammar rules to a "T" and could be really free with the language. THe concrete poems, the repetition poems, simple rhymes are very easy to create even for beginner students. My son is 6 and he enjoys making up his own rhymes and little poems patterned after ones he learns in school.
ReplyDeleteStudents can write a poem only if they just express their feelings as they are. Children are natural poets because they are not obsessed with rules and formulas of a poem. In a poetry writing class, I will say to the class, ” Write down your thoughts as they come to you.”
ReplyDelete