This is our first year offering Creative Writing, and it is my first time teaching it. When I proposed the idea to my principal, we thought it would be best to make the class a semester-long and pair it with Beginning Drama. At the semester, the kids in drama will go to writing and the kids in writing will go to drama. This will allow students to "try" both electives. The drama teacher and I thought it would be fun to collaborate on a project together, and it was a huge success.
First, I taught my students how to write a scene. We discussed the elements of writing a scene, looked at examples, brainstormed ideas, and practiced writing a few. Once students were ready, they worked in a group to write a scene on their own. They were encouraged to have just two or three characters in their scene. Students spent quite a bit of time on this project and received feedback from their classmates on several occasions. Writing groups worked perfectly, but students also read their scenes to the class and received kudos and suggestions. Eventually, students shared their scene with me in Google, and I provided feedback. Finally, they printed out their final drafts.
Then, we made the pilgrimage down to the drama room where we watched the drama students perform Shakespeare scenes. As my students watched the scenes, they sat with their groups and evaluated the actors to see whom they would like to cast for their scene! We came back to class where I had my students write the name of their scene on a piece of paper. If their scene had two characters, they got two pieces of paper, if it has three, they got three. I put the papers in a bowl. I pulled a paper out and that group got to cast their first actor. This seemed to be the fairest way to go about this, and it seemed to work out just fine! Then, I sent our choices over to the drama teacher, along with our scripts. Her students began to rehearse our scenes.
The following week we paid another visit to the drama room where my students served as "directors" of their scenes. Some gave suggestions for how a particular line could be delivered, what props might be used, or what a character could be doing when delivering a line.They had a blast. They loved having this power!
Finally, on November 17th, the drama students performed our scenes in Cougar Hall. Several classes attended, as well as parents and teachers. My students introduced their scenes to the audience and then became a part of the audience! I was so proud of my students, and the drama students did a stellar job. A frequent comment I heard was, "They performed my scene better than I ever imagined!" Giving students an audience for their writing is so important, and I definitely want to discover even more ways to make this happen!
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