THE Importance of Old Teachers, & Free Exercise Idea Inspired by Him. . . “Make Your Verbs Sweat!!”

I am now working on a very arduous project that has kept me from keeping in touch with readers, writers, and teachers.

Currently, it’s a 35-page, everything-but-the-lamppost unit on characterization, including fiction writing exercises, identifying and analyzing the differences between direct and indirect characterization, a definition overview on all character types (including foil, doppelganger, sidekick, flat and round, etc.), with quizzes that are easy, and then more challenging for different levels of students, plus writing beyond the stock character, analyzing characterization in a short fiction piece……ARGH.

I suppose you understand why it’s taken so long for me to get back to writing?

One of the things I am including is “The Rules of Showing versus Telling” which has some things in it that frankly go beyond fiction and push all writers to be better, stronger writers. Period.

ONE. Use active verbs, and if at all possible, precise verbs.

TWO. AVOID adverbs more often than not.

THREE. Stay away from unnecessary words. Really, truly, I mean it. Are you getting to the point where you sort of know what I mean? (Ha).

Sure, this is a characterization unit. But quickly, you see how important style, economy and strong sentence structure is to the whole, regardless of whether you are writing in fiction, or an analytic essay about characterization. Which brings me to. . .

My FORMER TEACHERS. . .

One in particular. As a teacher, I lament that students will forget me, or toss me into the garbage heap of their teen memories. Sure, on occasion a few find me and say thank you. I delight in knowing that the work I performed mattered. It doesn’t happen all the time, though. I loved English, and one of my teachers always said, “Make your verbs sweat!”

It was because of him that I developed a love of English, and in particular, of words, and of language.

Why say walked? When you can:

• Amble,
• shuffle,
• shamble,
• meander,
• hot-foot it,
• skip,
• march,
• proceed,
• hoof it
• made a beeline for
• minced
• waddled
• and more?

And while we are talking about VERBS, why not also discuss ADVERBS? Why do we “say morosely” or “say accusingly”? Even WE are guilty of this. Let alone our students. What my teacher Mr. Prior gave me, was a love of words though perhaps not the mind of an editor. Years ago, we wrote short themes and were meant to use adjectives and colorful language, including adverbs. Instead of ANY type of “say” with an adverb after it, why not use a STRONGER VERB. As Mr. Prior said, “Make your Verbs Sweat!”

Instead of Say, feel free to choose of these appropriate verbs:

• accused
• inquired
• infer
• pronounce
• announce
• respond
• reply
• reveal
• whisper
• breathe
• promise
• retort
• assert
• cry
• and MORE

I find that it is heartening and validating that such simple exercises exist to improve writing.

FREE ACTIVITY IDEA.

1. Simply provide a verb as above, or substitute out another one, such as: try, go, or make.

2. 3. Allow students to try their hand at writing out acceptable substitutes on their own, and then, with a thesaurus.

4. Students will write the best, most active sentences they can. Your choice how many they write. Perhaps five sentences per verb, each using a different verb of their choice.

On a FINAL note, I think it is a hopeful thought indeed that all of us, I’m sure, have a fond recollection of an old, dear teacher that at least in part, makes us who we are today. If you have any heartwarming stories, we’d all be delighted to hear them.

Warmly,

Gina Perfetto, PerfettoWritingRoomhttp://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Perfettowritingroom

A love letter to creativity in general and creative writing too

I have often lamented the loss of art, music, creative writing and other creative arts in the school system. I also tire of the never-ending struggle to keep these classes, the anxiety about funding cuts, or the feeling teachers have that they need to "justify themselves" when they add creative elements that may "detract" from other lessons deemed more essential.

I am astounded that some people still think creativity = easy and bad. Is learning a musical instrument and musical notation easy? Is writing a short story easy? I can attest, as can many of my students (and I'm sure you can as well) that creative tasks require more of your faculties and brain power, a wider array of skill sets, and both sides of your brain than many other tasks do.

I was once accused of not teaching properly, or sufficiently, when I introduced my high school students to children's books. It was a fiction class. The goal of this particular activity was to have the students analyze a number of children's books and picture books and come to series of conclusions about the way these books are written, their font size and placement, etc. in order to learn and then create their own complete creations. The department head only thought I was making a "dumbed down" and "inappropriate" lesson. She thought I was asking them to "write at a kindergarten level" - after all the parents expected a lot more than "Dick and Jane are friends" for sentence structure! She really missed the entire point: creativity, critical thinking, owning the entire process. Clearly I am glad to not be there anymore.

If she misunderstood me, and this was an activity in a sanctioned fiction writing course, I can't even imagine the degree to which other teachers are being maligned for attempting to encourage students to be creative and write stories in regular classrooms.

Turn that Negative into a Positive. . .

Creativity is the most important tool we have in our arsenal against indifference.

Whether we teach math, geography, science, history, art, or physical education and health, we can be creative and fun ourselves, which is how we bring wonder and excitement into the classroom.

What about Creative Writing? Isn't it Just a Waste of Time?
I think this has me a little angry.
I can't tell you how difficult it is to write stories and poems, and to write them well.  True poetry writing and fiction writing aspires, has goals, is work shopped, is graded. While it can be exhilarating, exciting, and great fun, it is challenging and can be frustrating as well. And at times, it is just plain difficult. There are rewrites. The students get stumped and feel challenged.

Story writing is even MORE complicated than the very best of essays and papers. Stories are dynamic and there is no such thing as "how to write a story." No, no formula, despite that drawing of a nifty little "arc" in those fiction writing books. Every single story is unique and varied and is organically derived from the student. There are threads, through lines, dialogue, one character or many, various settings that might or might not occasionally forward the plot, and an arc of some type. One must think of foreshadowing, mood, and must describe clearly. 

Sometimes, students will even do research in order to know more about the topic they are writing about. In fact, the research is not a big deal in the way the "research paper" is; writing a good story is so involved that doing research is usually just background to the story they are telling. Research is simply a part of the job!

So I ask you. REALLY? Fun but a little too easy? A waste of time?

A Comment on the Essay

So writing stories is easy and a waste of time (I haven't even told you how hard it is to write a poem. Maybe another day). Essays and research do not hold high court in the world of words and meaning. In fact, the more capable students are in a multiple of forms, the better. What is difficult about research is thinking critically, making original points out of the points out there, and less so, notating. All of this should be done often and regularly. And, so should many other forms of writing, including poetry, argument, story writing, and OTHER forms. Hey, how about REAL letter writing? Remember that? Now that's something we should all blog about! How's that for a lost art form?

Creative Writing - Of Immense Value - NINE SKILLS (and maybe more)
Of course there will be a transfer of skills. This is not the difference between skiing and learning French.

1.  Learning to organize thoughts,
2. create full sentences, paragraphs, and to a certain extent,
3. argue,
4. look up background information that will be used in the work,
5. use logical order and
6. explain things in a clear way, 
7. practice economy, and
8. obey spelling and
9. grammar rules

are just a few of the transferable skills students will learn through storytelling that will prove a boon when it comes time to writing a paper. In fact, students may even be more motivated to improve if they are working on stories.

I Leave You With This

 

 

Is THIS Why Folks Say It's a Waste?

Don't Judge a Book by it's Paper Bag Cover?

If you look above, I guess if you saw me bring these things into class, and you weren't very open minded, you'd think I was playing games and not challenging my students. You'd think I was going to read a newspaper or something while they fiddled around and then got bored. You would certainly not think I would be engaged the entire class, and that the students would be engaged. You'd never believe this was serious "life or death stuff," ending in a workshop dealing with full length stories about super spies, wars, and other heavy stuff. But you'd be wrong!

 I've mentioned this activity before - It is the SUPER SECRET - 4-SENSES Writing Activity. Take all of your little treasures and garage sale finds, and put them in brown paper lunch bags.

Step one. Students choose only by feeling. Write a description using only touch.

Step two. Take it out and LOOK! Now you can write about what it is and describe it.

Step three. Now only use metaphors and similes.

Step four. Your object isn't what you think. It is a weapon, a spy device, a portal to another dimension, of incalculable worth, has a long story of excitement and adventure, has a spell on it and a story only YOU know, has the ability to heal two warring peoples (offer other suggestions). TELL the full and complete story of this object the day you main character finds it or gives it away.

PS. This is a paid-for product on TPT, (there is extra of course in that one)...but I'm illustrating a point.  The students are pushing to use figurative language, they are using outside of the box thinking, (other senses in order to write, such as feel, and in the paid for version, they are instructed to use sound, etc.),  and they are surprised and told to switch gears. They feel internally motivated to write because they have a lot of options to choose from and it feels very immediate and very cool to them that what they are being presented with is something different. They "play along" - I've even done this in colleges, and they do it willingly. It somehow opens something up in them, and all of the NINE SKILLS are still being used, ready to transfer when you want them to write that argument essay.

God Bless, and happy teaching.

Gina

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.