School-based Curriculum Development (Secondary) and Language Support Section

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Teaching Creative Writing

• School-based Curriculum Development (Secondary)
  and Language Support Section

Please sit in groups of four!
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Agenda of the workshop (2.5 hours)
Some basic knowledge about writing 10 mins
Introducing creativity and creative writing 15 mins
Introducing strategies for teaching creative writing (1) 40 mins
Break 15 mins
Introduce strategies for teaching creative writing (2) 30 mins
Planning a creative writing lesson 30 mins
Q and A 10 mins
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• Some basic knowledge about writing

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Matching Game

• Why do we write?
• -Activity Sheet Part 1

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Purpose of writing

• Communicate with each other
• Record information which last over time
• Present information, ideas and feelings for a
  variety of purposes and audiences
• Enhance oral development and reinforce the
  language structures and vocabulary that learners
  acquire
• Develop students communication
• Demonstrate ones creativity and critical
  thinking
• Inform, influence and entertain others
• ltDraftgt English Language Curriculum Guide
  (P.1-6), p.141

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Process of writing

• Activate knowledge
• Take in information
• Generate ideas
• Organize and reorganize ideas/ Recreate
  meanings

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What are the writing skills to be developed for
KS1 and KS2?

• Using the basic conventions of English
• Presenting information, ideas and feelings
  clearly and coherently
• ltDraftgt English Language Curriculum Guide
  (P.1-6), p.54

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Activity Sheet - Part 2
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Stages of writing

• In primary schools, learners go through four
  stages in developing their writing skills, i.e.
• Copying
• Controlled writing
• Guided writing
• Independent writing

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Development of writing skills through task-based
activities

• Have a context
• Have a purpose
• Involve learners in thinking and doing
• Learners draw upon their framework of knowledge
  and skills
• Purposeful activities lead to a product

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Approaches of writing

• Parallel writing
• Modelled writing
• Shared and interactive writing
• Experiential writing
• Creative writing
• Process writingetc

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• Creativity
• and
• creative writing

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What is creative writing?

• Definition
• Creative writing is writing that expresses the
  writer's thoughts and feelings in an imaginative,
  often unique, and poetic way. Creative writing is
  guided more by the writer's need to express
  feelings and ideas than by restrictive demands of
  factual and logical progression of expository
  writing.
• http//www.sil.org/lingualinks/literacy/ReferenceM
  aterials/GlossaryOfLiteracyTerms/WhatIsCreativeWri
  ting.htm

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What is creativity?

• Different definitions
• It is the ability to produce original ideas and
  solve problems
• It is the result of a complex of cognitive
  skills/abilities, personality factors,
  motivation, strategies and metacognitive skill.
• ltDraftgt English Language Curriculum Guide
  (P.1-6), p.69

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Elements of creativity

• Flexibility
• Fluency
• Originality
• Elaboration
• Sensitivity to problems
• Problem defining
• Visualization
• Analogical thinking
• Transformation
• Attribute listing
• Synectics

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What can teachers do to develop learners
creativity?

• Choose interesting topics for students
• Ask them to go beyond the given information
• Allow them time to think
• Reward their creative efforts
• Value their creative attributes
• Teach them creative thinking techniques
• Create a climate conducive to creativity

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Conducive environment for developing learners
creativity

• Respect the novel and unusual
• Provide challenges
• Appreciate individuality and openness
• Encourage open discussion
• Absence of conflicts
• Allow time for thinking
• Encourage confidence and willingness to take risk
• Appreciate and support new ideas
• ltDraftgt English Language Curriculum Guide
  (P.1-6), p.69

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• A comfortable and resourceful teaching
  environment is very important for initiating
  creativity. And more important is teachers should
  provide students with a pressure-free, harmonic,
  free and encouraging environment so that students
  will be able to express freely. In developing
  students creativity, teachers should allow
  mistakes.
• Timberlake 1982, Chan 1988, Lee 1992

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• Strategies
• for
• teaching creative writing (1)

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1. Three-minute Fast Write

• Activity sheet Part 3
• Write down anything you can remember from the
  story of The tortoise and the hare.
• 1, 2, 3.go!!!!!

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The tortoise and the hare
Cant swim, clever, find a bridge, jump,
easy, cool, proud Swim well, comfortable,
enjoying,
Swimming competition
arrive first, rest, laugh, silly proud
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• Three-minute Fast Write
• Transformation
• A new version of the story

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Why using Fast Write?

• First thought on a starting point are often the
  most original and powerful ones
• A daily fluency exercise
• Helps students get started on an assignment
• Remember Accuracy is not emphasized at
  this
• stage!

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2. Thematic Tree

1. Start with a common theme
2. Reflect on the theme
3. Develop sub-themes
4. Keep on thinking relevant ideas

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Theme My Flat
Rooms in the flat
Things put in the rooms
Things to do in each room
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My flat
1 living room
1 kitchen
2 bedrooms
1 toilet
1 dining room
computer, toys, bed, lamp, cupboards, pillow,
TV, sofa, cupboards, coffee table, lamp
stove, sink, pans, cupboards, kettle,
cups, plates
towels, toothbrush, soap, toilet, bathtub
table, chairs, vase, pictures
watch TV, read books, rest
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Now, write about yourDream House

• How many rooms do you want?
• Besides toilet, bedrooms, dining room, sitting
  room and kitchen, do you want any other
  rooms/things in your house?
• What do you want to put into different rooms?
• What do you want to do in those rooms?
• Who do you want to live with?...

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Why using Thematic Tree?

• Encourage students to think of something in
  different perspectives
• builds up students flexibility
• more ideas generated for writing
• Help students structure their writing

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3. Multi-dimensional writing

• Assign students a role and they have to write for
  that role.

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Example

• Teacher discusses a car accident with the
  students
• Students discuss how the accident can be avoided.
  They have to imagine they are the
• driver
• passengers
• pedestrians

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Activity sheet Part 4 Writing rules

• Imagine you are the
• Group 1,2 principal
• Group 3,4 librarian
• Group 5,6 class monitor
• Group 7,8 teachers

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Other examples

• Imagine you are the Papa Bear, write rules for
  Goldilocks so as to help her become a good girl.
• Imagine you are the king of the forest (lion),
  write rules for different animals to follow

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Why using Multi-dimensional writing?

• Enables students to view things from different
  angles
• Helps students to be more focused when they write

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4. Brainstorming and mind mapping

• Identify a problem / task to be done
• Brainstorm solutions / steps/ possibilities
• Use mind map to arrange and develop the ideas

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Example

• Teacher puts the word cooking on the board.
• Brainstorm words related to cooking.
  (ingredients, cooking utensils, different ways to
  cook, people who cook, different tastes )
• Tell students to focus on the ingredients,
  cooking utensils and ways to cook.
• Group the words under these 3 sub-themes
• Teach students how to write a recipe
• A loving recipe for _____________

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Why using brainstorming and mind-mapping?

• Brainstorming
• Excellent way of developing many creative ideas
• Help students to break out of their thinking
  patterns into new ways of looking at things
• Mind-maps
• Used for arranging and developing ideas
• Improve the way students take notes
• A good format for memorizing and reviewing ideas
• Remember
• There should be no criticism of ideas. Students
  should not worry about peoples egos or opinions.
  Judgments and analysis will stunt idea
  generation. Ideas should only be evaluated once
  the brainstorming session has finished.

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• Break Time!!
• (Be back in 15 minutes!)

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• Strategies
• for
• teaching creative writing (2)
• Writing stories

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1. Transformation

• Creating a new ending / new version to the story
• (b) Making an appeal

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Example

• Making an appeal
• Imagine you are the Troll, write about why you
  are so fierce to the goats.
• I am fierce to the goats because

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Activity Sheet Part 5

• Discuss with your groupmates
• Why was the troll so fierce to the goats?

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Language help

• Goats kicked trolls mother
• Mother fell into the water
• Mother died
• No one took care of Troll
• Hated the goats

• Goats ate all the grass
• No more grassland, trees
• All the other animals were hungry

reasons

• The goats were naughty
• Always kicked the troll
• Ate the grass and flowers in his garden

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2. Imagine you are

• Activity sheet Part 6
• Imagine you are the 3 goats, use your five senses
  to think about how nice the grassland is.
• See?
• Smell?
• Listen?
• Taste?
• Touch?

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Sample work

• When I arrived at the grassland, I saw
  ___________. I smelt ________ and it was
  __________. I could hear ____________________. I
  touched ____________________. Finally, I ate the
  grass and it tasted _________________.

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3. Character empathy

• Write for the characters and express how they
  feel (letter, diary)
• examples
• Write about Baby Bears feeling when he saw his
  broken chair. (letter)
• Write about Cinderellas feeling at home. (diary)

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Example

• Activity Sheet Part 7
• When writing Cinderellas diary, what language
  help will you give your students?
• Discuss with your groupmates.

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Sample Work (Diary)
10 Oct, 2004
I am so unhappy today. My sisters made me wake
up at 500 a.m. I am so tired. They made me cook
breakfast for the whole family. They made me feed
the animals and take the dog out for a walk. They
didnt let me have my breakfast and I was hungry
all day. They made me

• Language help
• past tense
• use of let and make
• vocabulary relating to housework

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4. Imagination

• (a) If
• Create a new ending based on an assumption
• e.g. If the Little Billy Goat Gruff couldnt
  cross bridge,
• Activity sheet Part 8
• Now, it is your turn to create a new ending!
• 1,2,3go!

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Language help

• Troll took him home.
• Troll and Little Billy
• Goat Gruff became friends
• Troll took care of Little Billy Goat
• Lived together happily

• Troll took him home
• No food for Little Billy Goat
• Little Billy Goat was
• very hungry.
• Little Billy Goat died

New endings

• The two brother goats didnt see Little Goat
• Brothers were sad
• Brothers went back to the bridge to find
• Little Goat
• The two brother goats fought with the
• troll.
• Brothers won and took Little Goat home

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(b.) Wish fulfillment

• Example
• Discuss what Cinderellas dream is.
• Write about your own dream (e.g. poem writing).

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Sample Work

• My dream
• When I am 20, I want to be a teacher.
• I will teach pupils to draw pictures.
• When I am 30, I want to be someones wife.
• I want to have 3 children in my life.
• When I am 40, I want to be richer and richer.
• But I dont want to get fatter and fatter.
• When I am 50, I want to travel around the world.
• And I am going to Disneyland and Movie World.

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• Planning a creative writing lesson

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• Lets watch the video!
• Shared reading creative writing students
  presentation

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Sample work

• DSCN0863.JPG
• DSCN0864.JPG
• DSCN0865.JPG
• DSCN0866.JPG

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• Any questions?

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Contact information

• Project officer Amy Fan
• Tel. no. 2364 6471
• Email address amyfan_at_emb.gov.hk

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Thanks!

• Thank you for attending the workshop!
• Please complete the evaluation form before you go
• Good luck in implementing the creative writing
  programme in school!