Laurie C. Molloy –
http://laurie-molloy.blogspot.com/
ATI Scholarship Report
July 25, 2014
Creative Writing in
the Classroom
During the 2013-2014 school year, I
implemented creative writing lessons to teach poetry, narrative writing, and dialogue. During that time, I felt that although the
students loved writing creatively, I had to keep these lessons to a minimum so
that I could make sure I was meeting the state’s core curriculum standards. Ms.
Doty’s poetry workshop taught me a multitude of new writing prompts and
revision techniques.
Due to her workshop, I know that I
will be able to bring in many new prompts to my students and utilize those
prompts in ways that will effectively meet core standards and prepare my
students for the NJ PARCC. I am still in the process of learning more about how
to prepare my students for the PARCC exam, but I do know that students will
have to write creative narratives, develop characters, and show understanding
of story elements in their writing. Because this is not something I feel most
teachers have not focused on, especially in the high school years, new prompts
to stimulate students’ interest in writing will be a key part in helping my
students become successful, interesting, and creative writers.
Ms. Doty encouraged us to write,
re-write, re-revise, read out loud, and revise our work again. Through close
critical readings of our own and others’ poems, we were able to develop a skill
for noticing weak words, non-specific details, and incongruous sections.
Through many patient listening and reading sessions, all of us were successful
in refining our poems. After our critiques, our poems were concise, powerful,
relatable, and interesting. She taught us to use details that would help us
resonate with our audience, transform the vague to the powerful, and avoid
clichés at all costs.
She also brought in a guest writer,
Renee Ashley, who was a joy to work with. Her light-hearted and humorous
approach to writing proved to be a great role model to me. Her knack for
pointing out the best in our work and encouraging us to stay with the best and
leave the rest really helped me think of new ways to approach my own students.
I always try to look for the positive parts of my students’ writing, but I
realize now that I also have to be more critical, while focusing on the
students’ strengths. My students will appreciate direct critique, as long as it
includes complements. Even though it can be frustrating to have to edit your
own work, I think students will be happy once they see the finished product of
the required revisions.
To be very specific, Ms. Doty and
Ms. Ashley taught our class two prompts that really stayed with me. Ms. Doty read
a poem titled, “Remodeling the Bathroom” by Ellen Bass, and then asked us to
write a poem using the prompt, our last day in the world. A link to that poem
can be found here: http://www.ayearofbeinghere.com/2013/11/ellen-bass-remodeling-bathroom.html
I wrote a poem titled, “On the last
day of my life I contemplate flying, but I don’t.” A link to my poem can be
found here: http://laurie-molloy.blogspot.com/2014/07/on-last-day-of-my-life-i-contemplate.html
I feel it is one of my best poems,
and I think that that prompt will be highly effective to inspire my students.
Ms. Ashley’s prompt was based on intriguing pictures, essential questions, and
personal parables. We free-wrote for ten minutes, writing the details of the
artwork, then wrote at least five big questions, and then wrote a personal
story that correlated to the image and our questions. This prompt was very
effective in helping me learn how to write a poem with levels of depth I do no
think I ever been able to achieve on my own. My ekphrastic poem can be found
here: http://laurie-molloy.blogspot.com/2014/07/nocturne-in-black-and-gold-falling.html
That technique may be advanced for some of my students;
however, I feel it always great to have challenging lessons to inspire our
children to stretch their mind capacity as far as they can.
I am very excited to share what I
have learned at Ms. Doty’s workshop with my English department coworkers. We
will all benefit from Ms. Doty’s ideas, and I believe our students will improve
their writing when presented with prompts that are completely new to them. Our
students deserve the tools to find the power of their voice and discover how to
write words that will convey their ideas to the world.
I would be honored if ATI staff,
faculty, and friends would read some of the many poems on my blog, provide some
feedback, and share my work with others that might appreciate it. Thank you all
for holding this wonderful workshop!
Here is the link to my blog: http://laurie-molloy.blogspot.com/
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