South High English --- South High Clock Tower
 

Creative Writing 

Course Syllabus -- Fall Semester 2003

Ms. Rinaldi

 Room 204
(303)698-6100 ext. 21411

jennifer_rinaldi@dpsk12.org
The goal of the Creative Writing course is to offer students the opportunity to express themselves in a wide variety of genres, techniques and approaches.  Students will be presented with examples of many different types of writing in the hope that each student will discover various modes of expression that inspire him or her.  With this in mind, students will be asked to complete daily assignments in the style being presented to "try it out."  However, despite being "forced" to write in various styles, respect for the students' individuality and personal choice has determined the structure of assignments.  The major grades for the course (60%) are based on the assignments that the students themselves choose to work on.  This allows each student tremendous freedom, but also requires strong individual responsibility.  The goal is for each and every student to learn valuable skills in the development and revision of writing, and therefore be able to create and express ideas in whatever form he or she chooses.

GENERAL CLASS STRUCTURE:

       ·    Mondays are WORKSHOP days.  Workshop groups will meet and review the writing of one group member each week.
       ·    All other classes will involve 3 components:  reading examples of the style being presented, writing a small sample of the style, and class discussion of the topic.

FIRST MARKING PERIOD:

  WEEKS 1-2: 
      ·        "Openings"--great first lines
      ·        Descriptions of characters
      ·        Creating characters (habits, universal and unique qualities)

  WEEKS 3-4:
       ·        Formatted poems:  shaped, haiku, sijo, spiral, cinquain, etc.
       ·     Sonnets:  Petrarch and Shakespeare, form, conceits
        Limericks, rhymes, rhythmic chants, etc.

WEEKS 5-6
       ·        Biography (Auto- and regular)
       ·      Perspectives (1st, 2nd, 3rd person)
       ·      Narration (and knowledge level of narrator)

  WEEKS 7-8:
       ·        VOICE--finding and keeping one
       ·       Dialect--giving voice to characters
          Dialogue--realistic (or not) exchanges

  WEEK 9:  PORTFOLIO PREPARATION

SECOND MARKING PERIOD:

WEEKS 1-2: 
      ·        Poetic/Literary devices:  onomatopoeia, alliteration, etc.
      ·       Setting, tone, mood
      ·       Metaphor, imagery, symbolism

WEEKS 3-4:
     ·        Mythology/Legend--form and function
     ·      Sci-Fi/Fantasy--creating new worlds
     ·       realism vs. surrealism (magic)

  WEEKS 5-6:
     ·        odes/elegies--poems in honor of
     ·       epics/sagas/cycles--ancient formats
     ·       Departures from form--innovators

WEEKS 7-8:
     ·        POV: unique (objects, deceased, animals, etc.), switching
     ·        Describing action--spatial and concrete visualization
     ·        Don't say, show (displaying sub-text through action)

WEEK 9:  PORTFOLIO PREPARATION

Ms. Rinaldi's Syllabus Page

South English Faculty

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