Implementing Creative Writing Into The English Classroom

Incorporating creative writing into the English classroom is very important in order to create a more personal and a more interesting environment.  Creative writing is not an easy style of literature to bring into any classroom.  Many students will slack off if they don't have anything to write about, and many teachers will be afraid of not having a rubric.  This is usually because they don't know how to write in this way and they don't have true motivation to write it.  Before this year I was never truly introduced into creative writing; I always had a rubric, topic, and an exact style that I had to write in.  This year I was given each quarter a creative online writing to write, and it was 15% of my grade.  I was very scared when I first heard that, but now it is fun to write it.  There are many ways that we can implement creative writing, and all of them have their specific benefits.

Quick Writes
Adding quick writes into the classroom opens the minds for the students, and allows them to explore different styles of writing and different topics.  Just one five-minute quick write is enough time for each student to write their own little story, poem, or any other style.  This will make them more comfortable with writing, and are given an intro to all kinds of topics you decide.  "It can serve as a basis for more collaborative learning activities, such as student-led discussion, or pair and shares." (Shen)  Doing these discussions helps tremendously with the students ability to present and with their confidence, even though they can pass if they would rather not share.

Presentations
Implementing presentations can have many benefits for the students, especially when they are given on open topic.  The students can choose what to present about, and in doing so, they will get a better oral presentation skills and will boost their confidence in front of crowds.  "Despite the fact that oral communication is a key professional skill, efforts to help undergraduates develop this skill are often confined to an isolated course on public speaking, if they are formally addressed at all," (Galindo)  Recently in my English class we had the choice to either write a speech or rap and present it in front of the class.  Many of the students were very scared and overwhelmed, but the teacher offered help on the presentation part of it.  Almost all students took advantage of this, and were in the clear when it came time.  Others weren't and really struggled but from talking to them, they have taken a good lesson out of it, and that to take advantage of your resources because it will help you later on.

Analyses
Using analyses allows students to really explore different types of literature, and then depict it in any way that they want.  The analyses can be on poems, songs, books, movies, or any other piece of literature.  I have just begun doing these analyses for my English class this year, and so far we have done three poems, two songs, one movie, and we do an analyses every few days.  I know of not one student who doesn't love either poem or song analyses.  Doing these allow those students to let you what they think, and how they interpret something.  This is a great confidence booster in the students writing as their thoughts aren't judged and they can access areas of writing that they have never accessed.

What I have mentioned here are only a few styles of creative writing that can be used in the English classroom, but there is a never ending list.  Every student can do some form of creative writing, it just depends on how motivated they are.  Writing creative papers can have many of its benefits, as it boosts the students confidence, allows the student to explore their writing abilities, and will teach them how to be a better writer without even knowing it.

Galindo, Julia Hayden, Ed.D. "Presentations." Ablconnect. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.
Shen, Danxi, Ed.M. "Quick Write." Ablconnect. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.