In honor of Creative Writing and It's Importance a Freebie to My Followers!

I think Creative Writing simply needs to be taught more! And it needs to be seen as the important and useful writing tool that it is!! Anyone who is following this blog...if you are kind enough to give me a few days, I'll find a way to add a widget to my blog. This post will be a freebie poster you can open and download. The holiday break approaches. God Bless.

Gina
PerfettoWritingRoom

Why Creative Writing is Every Bit as Important as the Research or Argument Paper!



http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Perfettowritingroom


This quite recent creation...still a work in progress actually, is based on the types of very serious, very rigorous, and yes, very FUN and intriguing writing activities I did in my semester long creative writing classes for Juniors and Seniors, which in turn was based on many classes I took with professors while I was a student myself.

Is it true that teachers are struggling, this year more than most with the new standards? Is it correct to say the arts are a wee bit "less essential"?

I have always found that poetry and fiction writing can harness critical thinking, the routine of word economy and proper word choice, the ability to pattern, pace, strategize, and more. Additionally, Students have told me, over, and over, and OVER again how the rigors of creative writing had somehow teased their brains into writing better (my words I suppose, not theirs) and gave them transferable skills. I think the passion and enthusiasm I feel, and that students can have for creative writing is so powerful, that the course and its USEFULNESS needs to be addressed.

If there is anyone who would like to discuss, agree, or even raise a question or disagree, I welcome it. I do feel that translatable skills abound in the writing room, as they ALSO do in the music or art room. Students are required for example in a writing class to perform rewrites and drafts, be a part of a community of writers, and make numerous decisions. Writing a full length story is on many levels MORE complicated than constructing in a comparison or argument essay. The reason for this is simple. A story is an organic form, or, a highly complex form purposely organized to appear as if it was effortless. While the goal of an essay is to be clear and accomplish something, a story must do a multitude of things and do it all quite well. Finally, a short story can be lucid, exceptionally well written, exciting and moving, and yet may additionally have a character persuade or argue, implying that the author behind the story must have these abilities. The argument essay itself may only boast at its best that it is very good in its form as an argument essay.

While the comparison or argument essay is an essential essay that must be tackled in school for a Core Standard, one must realize that in writing a story, one can also apply Core Standards to story writing. In the end, students must be given free reign to create, but in the end, the MORE students write, the more VARIED the writing, the more transferrable all of their skills will be and the better they will be as writers. In the end, creative writing is an essential part of a healthy and well-rounded writing diet.

The Reason for Inspiring Literary Posters?

I just created a very reasonably priced poster product on http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Author-Quote-Posters-of-Inspiration-Wisdom-Kindness-Gr-6-up-1010435

The reason is simple.

Teachers have so much to do. Not much time to do it. And very little money to pay extra for any bells and whistles. It doesn't matter if you teach math, fitness, history, a foreign
language, English...

What you are really doing is so much larger. You multitask as, depending on the day, a stand-up-comedian, a lecturer, a facilitator, a mediator, a therapist, an editor, a computer geek and tech wizard, a friend, a chaplain, coach, a parent stand-in, and sometimes you are all of these things and more in one day.

Regardless of what subject you teach, LIFE and the APPROACH to LIFE is what often concerns a good teacher. You often wonder:

Will he give up or keep trying?
Will this student learn to enjoy the process more?
Can this student become more kind? More happy?
Can he learn to let go and stop worrying?
Will she learn to trust herself and her instincts more...she is so bright, but needs confidence!

AS teachers, beyond the "subject" there are deeper issues. It was an honor and pleasure to spend,
and I am not joking, a month in research on various sources, finding the perfect literary quotes.
In the end, I found ten for this teacherspayteachers posters of inspiration, kindness and wisdom. Not too many, not too little. I designed around the quotes, so teachers, librarians, or even department heads could post them wherever they would like. Then I made them as inexpensive as I could so that many people could use and enjoy them.

MY GOAL?
I want people to use them. I want the library, learning or writing center, reading or writing nook, any classroom to be a place where the eye rests on a place of encouragement, inspiration or kindness.

JUST SOME USES FOR THESE POSTERS:

• on a large themed bulletin board (Words of Wisdom from Literary Greats)
• on the runner space above the black or white board
• in the library, writing center, reading nook, on class doors or closet doors, next to the entryway to your classroom
• individually to spark a writing prompt, journal activity and class discussion, or particular behavior in your class.

If Benjamin Franklin tells you not to fritter away time, perhaps you and your students will be filled with the sense of urgency. Your life IS important! And this includes all of your moments.
If Charles Lamb says the greatest joys are good deeds done secretly and found out about later, doesn't it encourage small acts of kindness? Of course there are more, but every positive note, inspiring quote, is helpful. Your students need it. You need it. So do it, and that is probably why I made them...
If Cervantes says that the sky is the limit...well then just maybe a student will think twice before limiting him or herself.

A little kindness and inspiration goes a long way in the world.

Thank you for reading.

The Importance of Gratitude, During the Holidays and Year Round.

I've been a teacher for many years. Part of this time was spent as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ethiopia. Years later, I am married, living in New Jersey, and creating teaching and writing materials for teacherspayteachers.

While I was in the Peace Corps...and anyone who spends their time in service I am sure can understand...that realizations assault you at all turns. Even the realizations you have at the beginning are questioned towards the end as you grow into a new person. It is true: the more you give to others, the more you receive in return. You often receive more than the people you help.

Throughout the many years of teaching, in New Jersey, as a tutor, adjunct professor, or high school teacher, and in Ethiopia at the high school level (grammar and English), I feel truly humbled.  It is an honor to teach and to be of service. I know. This is something people say all the time. "It's been an honor." You wonder, "What does that mean? That is just so disingenuous!"

But it IS an honor to help others. It is wonderful to be powerful, a mover-and-shaker, and an entrepreneur in the great and exciting world. But it is a gift to be able to help others, if only because you receive such a depth of satisfaction. It is humbling to know people in a more intimate way, to be allowed to help them, and to feel the reward knowing you had some small measure of agency in helping them grow or improve. THAT is why it is humbling and an honor. That is why to say "It's been an honor" is honest and not a lie.

To be a nurse, a teacher, anyone who helps others, and yes, a person who creates and makes things and puts them new into the world can feel this kind of gratitude about life and the work they do...


BUT HOW TO SUSTAIN A SENSE OF GRATITUDE IN YOUR JOB?
How do you keep feeling this way, when your students don't do their homework, the other teachers are really keen on entering your classroom to complain, the parents keep insisting their child did SO much better last year, implying it just might be your fault, or the upper management is not being nearly as supportive as you'd like?

The key to keeping a sense of gratitude is keeping above the daily grind, the annoyances, the pesky irritants.  Focus on why you ARE a teacher, what you love, and what you have and are grateful for.
Know why you are a teacher and be grateful for that, for your students, for all of the things you are, and can do and can change in the world and in your class. If you focus more on what you are thankful for, you will be happier and more productive. Also, you will concern yourself less with those things that annoy you and cannot be changed. Superintendents may come and go. Do you want to be grateful for the new books, the student who finally came out of her shell, and the angry student who did her homework every day this week, or do you want to feel shortchanged because the Superintendent changed the rule and now everyone has to go to school? Remember that you have chosen this job. If this is the case, you are free to "un-choose" it. Would you really do that? If not, then your time would be better spent HAPPY and grateful for what you DO have, and spent thinking about what you can do to make it even better.

HOW TO SUSTAIN A SENSE OF GREATITUDE IN LIFE?
To focus on what one DOES have, instead of what one WISHES to have, what one WANTS, what one does not have or worse yet, what others have, is a recipe for disaster. The idea of being grateful, in oneself, for what one has, to God, or for one's family or situation, very much seems saccharine and corny and also THEMED for the Thanksgiving and Christmas rush, conveniently sandwiched in between pumpkins  in October, and the need to join your local gym in January. Nothing could be more off or slant.

The happiest people are those that take time. Time to breathe and to realize "I am here, alive, and breathing. And right now all is exactly as it should be." Though this is for writers, teachers, designers, creators of all stripes, EVERYONE should know that all you have is enough. If you have a person to love, if you have food on the table, if you are warm enough at night, and if you can find some joy in the work that you do and the things that you create, be grateful for it, and practice focusing on those things that you DO have. The world will notice! You will notice, your family, customers, students will notice. And if gratitude is something you only do for a day, when then shame on the advertising executives.

GRATITUDE CAVEATS
PLEASE, don't misunderstand. I fall off the wagon all the time. Being grateful takes practice. My husband drives me crazy. I drive down the highway and someone veers over into my lane. While I usually feel bad because I just know through this Italian intuition of mine that it has to be an old person who can't drive very well, on this particular day I am incensed and frustrated and yell out in my car "Oh Yeah? Sure, why don't you just drive wherever you feel like it?"

Then I'm in Shop Rite, notorious for having small aisles (is this just near me?) and of course I'm in a rush and people love planting their cart in the center of the aisle to just stand and stare. This doesn't even make me upset. It's the maneuvering of the cart around them; there are always boxes of food not yet put away. Then another shopper shows up, and looks as me as if I'm in the way.

THE TAKE AWAY
And yet, I too try to feel grateful. In the end, character is what you do when no one in looking. No one may truly know if you practice being grateful for others year-round. But inside, you will know. You will feel lighter and happier. The carts and cars, the people by the water cooler or coffee station may simply not bother you as much. There is a freedom in that. And we return to the beginning, in doing something for others, we will get much more in return. Freedom, happiness, peace of mind? I'll take that everyday and twice on Sunday!

Cyber Monday Approaches, AND "Retro"- "The 4-Senses - Top-Secret Writing Activity" is now posted!!!

Hi Everyone!
Before I say anything, please note that cyber Monday is coming up. If there is anything you wanted or had your eye on, I am throwing a sale and every store item is 20% off. Simply go to my store December 2,December 3, December 4, and December 5. EVERYTHING is on sale!

While I mentioned the other day about a retro writing activity you can do in class, one your students will absolutely love, I hadn't yet gotten it together on the teacherspayteachers.com website. Well it is now there for you in downloadable form!

While I call this a "retro" short story writing assignment because it uses brown paper bags and items from your home reminiscent of an old-timey grab bag, please know this can be modern.

 There is no reason they can't use technology. In fact, there is no reason this can't be done in class for foreign languages, for ESL, for special needs classes, or with certain modifications, for a history class.

I have taken the liberty of creating a LOW-COST version and a FREE version. There's no reason that my top activity shouldn't be shared because someone can't afford it. For those teachers, writers, or editors who do want the low-cost version, it comes with extras, like story-starter ideas in case students or writers get stuck, a five-day lesson plan complete with common core anchor standards so all you need to do is teach, and helpful tips, strategies and suggestions on how to choose those right items to make the activity more of a success from start to finish.

The free version is a stripped down version. This being said, it has, as does the low-cost version, the same cover page and the FOUR-PART timed writing assignments. It has none of the extras, but you can still do the assignment!

Feel free to go to http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/PerfettoWritingRoom

To see BOTH products....

A special thanks to both sunnydaze, for her borders, and to clipartengine.com for their lovely loose leaf digital paper used in the product. BOTH of their work is available for purchase at teacherspayteachers.

Here is what the finished product looks like!

A "Retro" Writing Activity that'll have Students Enthusiastically Writing - TeachersPayTeachers Freebie!

 Here is a fantastic, low tech, throw-it-together-in-your-spare-time sort of assignment that FEELS like magic when you do it in class. It has love and care, because it does in fact come from YOU. The students will know that. It really pushes the level of creativity, inspires new ways of thinking and has the element of surprise - more than once!!  This is a multi-tiered assignment, and it can take two class periods or AS LONG as you need it to, if you take your time, enjoy yourself, and let the students do the same. The ultimate goal is an actual well-written, full-length short story(this can take up to a month of part-time work). If you want them to have fun, follow the directions and go through the assignment, this can be done in as little as two days.

WHAT YOU NEED:

25-30 brown paper lunch bags and 25-30 items.

"What?" You must be saying. What KIND of items? The items are

§  small, interesting, intriguing,

§  with different types of sides

§  weights,

§  textures,

§  temperatures to the skin, 

§  In short, items that would interesting EVEN IF you could only TOUCH them.

§  Lastly, they will come from your life.

§  The odder the better.

Just some of the items I have in my bags are: One porcupine quill gotten while hiking (cut into a size that will fit); One very antique, cloth embroidered woman's compact, with a feather puff inside; A faux jade stamping device called a "chop" that they sell in Asian markets; an old knot, from a tree, that had fallen out during a routine carpentry work; an old black plastic film canister from the 1980s with a gray lid. I put a foreign coin in it for extra intrigue; miniature hand-carved wooden push puppet, where you depress the base the body goes limp; sea glass made into the centerpiece for a necklace; a small leather-bound journal detailing my vacation (there wasn't anything personal in it); dull crochet needle; 3-d glasses; Japanese fan; locket; other items.   

WHAT IS THE ASSIGNMENT?

When the Students come into class....and mind you, the students can be age 12 or 13. But don't think for a moment that a 58 year-old wouldn't get a kick out this either, tell them....

***Don't sit down! Look at all these mystery bags that are placed on the desks. Walk around each bag and place your hand in each one, FEELING the item in each bag, but don't LOOK. TRY not to talk! When you have felt enough of them, choose the one you think you'd like to write about and sit down, but remember, do NOT look inside!

*Of course, this should be pretty exciting and fun. There should be some giggling, or whispering, like "I know what this is" and a bit of eye winking. When the students have all chosen, they will take their places. Any left over bags can be collected. Please note that I give time ranges for each section, but don't be surprised if your class varies and needs more time. These are only outlines. In my experience, it is better to give the class a guideline to work within.

WRITING DIRECTIONS

1. Part One Writing Directions 7-10 minutes. Keeping your hand in the bag, Use every sense you have except vision. Even if you know what the object is, do not write it. Explain the object by: size, shape, dimension, temperature, texture, sound, weight, and smell. You can weigh the object in your hand, gently tap it on your table to see if it is hollow or solid or makes a sound. Most of these items will be odorless, or may have an organic woodsy smell, a plastic or powdery smell. Be a detective.

2. PART TWO 5-7 minutes : Take the mystery object out of its bag! Say what it is, then describe it visually, now that you can see how it looks.

3. Part THREE 7 minutes: Go beyond simple description. Explain this object with metaphor and simile.  You will exhaust the expected comparisons; naturally your tropes will become more experimental and artistic. THIS IS GOOD.

4. Part Four: The BEST PART. The object you see before you is not really the ordinary object that you think it is! It is one of these:  A. a KEY to unlock something of great potential or power B. an object with a secret history that is held by someone who is able to tell its story to one person on his or her deathbed C. a superspy device that actually can do multiple things in order to help your hero save the day D. an object that will bring peace to a planet  E. the source of amazing power for an entire people F. a weapon G. provides incredible knowledge H. is a porthole to another universe I. is a treasure that people are willing to kill for, or die for! J. is essential for some civilization's utter survival; other. TELL A STORY that FEATURES THIS OBJECT.

Note: If you want to collect these when they are finished, this is a two day activity. Let them read their stories. They will, I assure you. love this assignment. If you want them to turn these into real, full-length stories, this will take a workshop, a rewrite, and so be prepared for this to take up to a month, part-time of revisiting before it is complete. But students LOVE this assignment. Years later, students have approached me in grocery stores and THIS is what they remember about my class. I have even done this at the University level, and they enjoyed it too. Sometimes, a little love and generosity comes back to you, and it comes back to the students too. They remember to have fun. They forget they hate writing, or that they are supposed to hate it. They just go back to being small kids with pencils, coming up with adventures. This is a great "trick" assignment. Please try it, free, on me, today. I will also make a free version and a pay version on teacherspayteachers. If you want the free version, just download it. In the end, it's gotta be about making students want to learn, and enjoy the process. Otherwise, what is the point, right? Please note I have not yet posted this freebie on teacherspayteachers. There will be a free and a paid version soon. In the meantime, please just use this blog!! The goal we have as teachers, regardless of whether we are new, veterans, or retired, is that we delight in helping others, and in seeing others learn. I promise, this is a really good one!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Perfettowritingroom

Poetry UNITS, And the Value of talking to other Teachers. . .

Today I was on LinkedIn.

I had the good fortune of falling into a group - teachers anonymous of something silly like that. One of the benefits of helping other people is that it really benefits you MORE, almost all of the time. You feel good about yourself, you feel inspired. It feels good to do good. And then there's the fact that you read about all these other fascinating ideas teachers have for poetry units.

The found poem is always fun. The acrostic? - why not... One professor suggested giving each student half a line, and having that student meet up with his or her "other half" in order to discern the line's meaning. Still another teacher suggested drawing the impression or meaning the poem has for them. A final one I read thought a variation on the "cut up" poem would be fun. Instead of cutting up the entire poem, just cut out certain phrases. Students can fill in what they believe would work provided they can justify it.

I've always thought the Exquisite Corpse works well, whether you are doing it for the short story or for the poem. Most people don't call it the "Exquisite Corpse" because it sounds eerie and odd, but most of us have done it before. If you use rows, and have five students in each row, each has a sheet of paper. The entire class begins their versions of a story, OR a POEM.
      When they have gotten a stanza or a few good lines down, each person passes it back (well, except for the poor people in the back who must run very fast up to the front. Now, everyone quickly reads the first stanza, and continue the poem, until it is time to pass back again. When each person has the honor of getting back his or her paper, let everyone read, and then finish their own poem. This round will take the longest.  Everyone may share out loud afterwards.

If you want a longer more far-reaching and skills-based poetry unit....

An idea I have had much success with is using the Romantic Poets. This is nothing I am currently working on for the PerfettoWritingRoom. If and when I do, it will be a full unit. Whether you do one poem from each: Shelley, Wordsworth, Blake, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, and Keats, use the poems of the Romantic poets that are available in your text, choose your favorite or have the students choose their own, it can be very successful, and will have a different slant.

Once the poems are chosen, create a prompt for each poem. Assignments can vary and can be: personal reflection, close reading, summarizing the poem but moving on to a related writing topic, or a targeted writing activity geared towards studying the poems' literary devices, structure, pacing, symbolism, tropes, or other goal you may have. Ideally, you may want to do a variety of each of these, not just summaries, or reflections, etc. I always got permission to take the student out of school for one or two periods, to sit outside and read poetry as the Romantics would have done. This was Grade 11, and they appreciated it and as a result were reasonably well behaved!

The Unit grade is based on a major test that includes all of the poetry and information covered, all of the writings done in the "Poetry-prompt journal," as well as one-two poems they must write that use the style and the subject matter of the Romantic poets. Lastly, there is a small art component: some students take pictures of nature, other draw, sculpt, do computer renderings or animation. For those who "swear" they are completely dull at art, an extra poem or two may be submitted.

Outside of the unit itself, there is a major poetry analysis paper in the works; this is not included in the unit grade, but shows that the students have a very well-rounded activity and lesson load during the spring. I feel it is very holistic, or "whole-istic."

I hope you think this is a useful approach to teaching, not just "a few poems" but the style and structure of poetry, and background of the poets, all the while giving the students some time to slow down and soak up some sun, time to reflect and write as the Romantics themselves would, before quizzing, testing, and writing an analytical paper and some poems of their own. Who knew you could be so industrious in March?

I hope you enjoyed my idea for the Romantics teaching unit. So in the spirit of talking to our teachers and yes, our writers too, any other ideas for great poetry units? I'm all ears. Stop by and drop me a line, or visit my store, posted on the side bar of my main page.
Best,
Gina
PerfettoWritingRoom

When Can One Writing Activity Be Used 900 Times?? Well (if you Really Push Your Limits)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/PerfettoWritingRoom

Yes, Yes, this is ONE page. A mere single page. On the left are positive attribute adjectives, and on the right are potentially negative attribute nouns, or at the very least nouns that are frustratingly ill-fitted (on purpose, I assure you) to the words on the left!

The ENTIRE activity is SIX pages. A writer, teacher, lecturer, professor or coach, can do SO MUCH with an exercise like this!!

I have used this activity for years, and writer always always love it, not to say they don't sometimes HATE it first....but they are allowed to choose again. The light bulb always goes on.

Whether you give one page to each row or aisle, or cut them into squares and have one "noun" bag and one "adjective" bag and let the writers choose until they have a suitable pair that makes them suitably excited and inspired, it almost always leads to something bizarre, outrageous, beautiful or at least beyond what a writer felt he or she was capable of writing before attempting such an extreme assignment.

I have named this the "Extreme Perspective" Writing Activity. In total, there are up to 900 possible adjective-noun matches. Here are the directions, knowing FULL well that if you wanted, you could all just shut off the computer and make it on your own. While I am admittedly selling it (yes, the amazingly high price, if I recall properly of $5.00 bucks?), the idea, work, effort, directions and embedded freebie alone (which you'll never really know about unless you buy it, so ha) is more than worth it....

Back to the Directions -

While you have chosen a bizarre, odd, or unlikely adjective-noun scenario, write a scene in which the pairing you have chosen not only is feasible, but is downright believable and likely given your setting, atmosphere, narrator, or all three. In short, what scenario can you create in which the unlikely pairing you have makes perfect sense?

Just a few of the 900 pairings could be

Brilliant Industrialization
Fascinating Agony
Glorious Destruction

As you can already guess, such pairings have the potential to PUSH writers into lesser traveled genre or historical eras, can force writers to make less safe writing topics, choose more interesting narrators or unreliable ones, and in general make writing choices and decisions far away from what they normally would. The fact that a writer can go back every week and choose a new possibility is exciting, lending itself to portfolio or even story collection possibilities.

See the link to my store at Teachers Pay teachers at the top of this post. Happy writing, and happy teaching.

The Joy of a Great Writing Prompt . . .

What I think I've been struggling with most lately is how to create not merely a good writing exercise - the ones that are open-ended but also hold the potential of a intriguing exercise or the promise of  STORY  - BUT, a writing exercise that can do ALL of that for multiple writing levels, for an ENTIRE CLASS, and even more so, with a theme to (sort of, kind of) hold it all together. How could something with a theme still be open-ended and be diverse and varied?

>>>

I had been collecting photos for a while, and the ideas of doors hit me. What a metaphor. Writing itself is a door, or a doorway to the imagination, to discourse, to another reality, and a gateway between writer and reader (some critics would of course vehemently disagree on this final bit).

However you look at it, the idea of doors, door ways, halls, passages, or gates was intriguing to me. When I compiled twenty-two I realized the incredible diversity among them. Fantastical 'doorways to nowhere,' renderings of somewhat funny or potentially frightening 'choose which door' scenarios, comforting photos of a flower adorned gate or cottage on a cliff, a collection of cars (well they all have doors, don't they?), and even the yawning mouth of a cave come together in an unlikely and tantalizing collection. In short, these picture prompts ask many questions, but just some of them can be:

Where does this door lead?
What is on the other side?
What is outside the range of the picture's edge?
Why is your character here?

Before I knew what had happened two weeks had gone by. I had created an introduction with directions for use, and a two page hand out on setting, with a nod to atmosphere and showing vs. telling. I realized that each of these prompts could be a scene in itself, or taken to it full extent, a story rich in detail. The goal, at least as I envision it, is to write in a moment-to-moment fashion, as if the narrator is exploring the space, so the reader feels as if he or she is there. This is invaluable practice for a writer for is starting out.

"DOOR WAYS To SETTING" is just that, a way to explore space, place, the five senses ( or as many of them as are practical ) AND, to approach character. In time, any of these prompts can be stories; events can occur that are not pictured in the renderings. It is of course, about the writer, and never really about the prompt. The prompt is just a door to the imagination, right?

For ANY teacher, professor, lecturer, or writer interested in using or purchasing this 29 page prompt activity with notes, overview and directions, or for other items (and yes, all are reasonably priced; a few are free) by all means please visit my store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/PerfettoWritingRoom

Consider liking or following me!

Welcome to PerfettoWritingRoom!

Welcome to PerfettoWritingRoom.                                                                          August 15, 2013

I decided to share my writing prompts, tips and lessons for teaching students about the writing process only a few months ago.

My ancillary materials, overview sheets, introductory lessons, lecture notes, activities - ANYTHING I produce - is usually different than a majority of what you'll find online for a variety of reasons.

 - My creative writing materials are definitely fun. They additionally originate from years of experience
    utilizing the workshop model, scaffolding techniques, and teaching from the perspective that writing is a
    serious art form that can result in publication. Students should find creative writing class engaging and 
    challenging. And ultimately, they should leave with skills that they can apply to other classes, whether it be
    their Expository Writing or History class or their SATs. They should learn new skills, and should respect
    the art of writing, its craft, the components that make it up.  


- The materials are of the highest quality, encouraging students to engage in creativity, higher critical thinking,
   develop a stronger grasp on literary terms, tropes and devices, and culminate in a students' writing full-
   length short stories.

- The philosophy is simple. Art of any type, painting, throwing a perfect curve ball, writing the best sonnet or short story is lots of fun. but some of the time, it is difficult. What drives the person to keep going back is the love of the game, or love of the art. Students and even teachers have come to think of gym or creative writing class as the "Easy A" class. It is not. The Easy A class may be the only class where the student, if he or she loves the work, does not mind working hard to get the A. If you expect the world of them, you just might get it.

What I offer is challenging overviews, lectures, lessons, and activities for the discerning teacher who wants their students eventually to write full length stories, learn about and attempt publication and even have their own reading of "best works."

That being said...If you need seating charts, I have those, too. 

For the Very Beginning of Good Things from PerfettoWritingRoom go to

www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Gina-Perfetto/