creative writing course overview

Creative Writing
Ms. Arbuckle – Fall 2009

What is creative writing?

Creative writing is a language arts course which earns ½ to 1 state elective credit. Students in creative writing use the writing process to explore various types of writing—short stories, poetry, essays, plays, satire, etc. The purpose of this class is to give students a place where they can practice the craft of writing, have critical feedback on their writing, and publish their finished work.

How does the class work? Will we be assigned lots of papers?

Students will be given the freedom to develop the kinds of writing projects in which they are interested. My job will be to act as a sounding board to help you improve as a writer. I will be doing mini lessons throughout the semester on various types of writing—some possibilities are how to write a sports article, the do’s and don’ts of writing poetry, how to write a one act play, and more. This class is an opportunity for students to write about what they want to write about and to experiment with new forms of writing.

How will I be graded?

˜ Students will be expected to participate every class period in some phase of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, conferencing, revising, editing, publishing.
˜ Students may be asked to take risks and experiment with forms of writing that are new to them.
˜ Students will also be expected to serve as an audience for their peers in conferences and read-alouds.
˜ Students will be expected to keep portfolios and journals and produce a body of work each six weeks.
˜ Students will be asked to publish finished pieces of work.

Anything else I need to know?

With freedom comes responsibility.
˜ You will need to produce a body of work and stay on task.
˜ You will have to take risks as a writer.
˜ You will have to learn to be a good editor and a fair evaluator of your peers’ work.

Upper School Late Work Policy:

All work is due at the beginning of class. If work is turned in after this time, it is considered late and the following penalties will be accrued:
30% off 1st school day
Maximum grade given after 2 or more school days (not class periods) will be a 50%. Assignments will not be accepted, and will be recorded as a zero in the grade book, once a 3-weeks grading period has ended (the teacher grade entry deadline for progress reports or report cards).


Homework Hall Information:
SBISD has developed a new homework policy that requires homework to “promote high quality student learning and achievement. Homework is an out-of-classroom learning experience assigned by a teacher to enhance student learning.” Because homework is designed to help the student become a successful and independent learner, it is imperative that each student complete all of his/her homework. WAIS has created homework hall to help students meet this goal of completing all homework. Homework Hall is provided Monday – Friday from 3:05-4:05 p.m. A late bus is provided that takes students to the elementary school closest to their home.
Students who do not turn in homework on time will be assigned homework hall on the day the work was due. The teacher will enter the assignment in the computer system, including the assignment that needs to be completed.
The students will call their parents to inform them about the homework hall assignment. A classroom phone log could record the call. The WAIS call out system will also call parents about the homework hall assignment.
Students who are unable to attend an assigned homework hall will be required to make up their assignments on Saturday from 9 am - 12 pm. Homework Hall is not optional.