Course Work

Scope of Course

Reading

We will read multiple books during each semester, in a variety of genres. (See Book List.)

At the completion of each book, a portion of class time will be spent discussing the book and learning skills for meaningful book discussions.

Students will complete a Story Hacker’s Log for each book. This will help them to  organize their thoughts and impressions of the book. It will also reinforce the elements of a story, determine what makes a “good” book, learn how to judge a book, and determine which genres they most enjoy.

Writing

Students will be encouraged and inspired to exercise their writing muscles by writing daily.

Semester 1 will include intriguing and fun writing prompts that will help them explore the elements of writing. Students may also choose to write about whatever interests them or get a head start on writing their own story.

Semester 2 will include writing assignments that will encourage students toward creating a complete story.

Rewriting

Rewriting can be frustrating but it’s one of the requirements of writing and/or publishing solid stories.

Semester 1 has minimal re-writing. However, some of the writing prompts will encourage writing the same scene in varying genres or points of view. These may be submitted for one-on-one feedback. We will also focus on team-building and trust needed for peer evaluation.

Semester 2 will focus on completing a short story for publication, requiring edits and revisions, as needed. This may include peer evaluation using skills learned in Semester 1 to create an encouraging and safe environment,

Homework

If your student’s goal is to a successfully complete a story to be included in the anthology, we recommend the following homework, with the reminder that they will get out of this class what they put into it.

• Writing Journal
  Daily writing from prompts or imagination, or writing your story. Just like with any new skill, daily practice is crucial!
• Reading the Book List
  Read the suggested books and thoughtfully complete the Story Hacker’s Log. This will prepare you to participate in class discussion..
• Write and revise your story.
  Generate ideas, write first draft, revise and repeat. There will be some time provided in class for this, but most of the writing will be need to be done at home.