Getting your class passionate about creative writing is no mean feat, especially when you consider the amount of research, planning, teaching and marking involved to perform this activity in the first place.
But what if you could instil a love of creative writing among your pupils in just one day? It might sound impossible, but where there’s a will, there’s a way…
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Establish a ‘buzz’ for writing
When you’re tight for time, the easiest way to create a ‘buzz’ about writing in the classroom is to learn from others that have done it previously. For example, Young Writers has a number of excellent classroom-ready resources for you to take advantage of.
Along with lesson plans and workshops, you can also access fact packs, activity sheets, infographics, videos and more! Best of all, there are resources for Reception, KS1, KS2 and KS3/4.
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Provide your class with different types of activities
Creative writing doesn’t have to be limited to short stories – you can encourage your class to pursue poetry, plays, movie or television scripts, songs, speeches and even personal essays.
However, a lot will depend on the age and ability of your pupils. Here’s some options available from Young Writers:
KS1 – Poem Safari
Introduce younger pupils to poetry and help them create their own original poem inspired by animals with Poetry Safari! From wild animals and sea creatures to pets and dinosaurs, pupils can write about any animal they choose. They could even create their own crazy creature!
KS2 – Let’s Get Writing
This lesson plan is a great way to engage pupils aged 7-11 with a short story writing activity, whilst encouraging imagination and expression as well as planning their work too. Your class will use language to imagine and recreate roles and experiences, develop character through description, action and dialogue, as well as learn and understand the structure of a story using interactive resources.
KS3 – Climbing Rhyme
This workshop will teach your class about a form of poetry from another culture, and provide an interesting alternative to the poetic methods with which they have grown up.
KS4 – War of Words
This lesson plan introduces the theme of conflict, looks at the causes and types of conflict and provides an activity so pupils can explore this theme and poetic techniques. Conflict is a sensitive subject and this lesson plan aims to provide pupils with information and an understanding of conflict that will inspire them to write their own unique poem.
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Know that it won’t cost you anything
Young Writers conducted some research with teachers in the West Midlands and Kent. The top 3 things they said that makes their jobs difficult are time to plan, to create, to even assess; money – there are no funds for resources, writing workshops or even new books and the curriculum.
But when it comes to initiating creative writing in the classroom, you can rest assured that Young Writers has everything you could possibly need. Its sole aim is to promote poetry and creative writing.