creative writing mini lessons high school

Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature. 

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations. 

3. Clarification of Thoughts 

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem. 

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief 

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills  

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self.  Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person. 

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations 

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores  

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast 

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact. 

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process. 

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

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12 Lesson Plans for Teaching Writing to Secondary Students

Blog category: Education Date: 21 September 2017

It can be tough to think of ways to keep things interesting when teaching writing to high school students. Fortunately, there are so many great lesson plans out there to give you a starting point. We’ve compiled a list of 12 great lesson plans for teaching different writing techniques and styles to high school students.

1.  News stories

It’s important for students to learn that different types of writing require different styles. For example, the structure and tone of a newspaper article differs greatly from a creative narrative. This news story writing lesson is a great way to help students produce writing with more lexical variation, complex sentences and passive structures.

2.  Calling all characters

Writing fictional narratives can be daunting to many students who feel uncomfortable sharing their ideas, so breaking down the creative writing process is a good way to help students get the ball rolling. This lesson plan requires students to brainstorm character traits, behaviours and actions, then write scenes about that character. Although this lesson plan was designed for primary students, it can be adapted for secondary-level creative writing by removing the simpler games.

3.  Drafting your essay

Essay writing is a major part of high school so it’s important to find different ways of engaging students to reinforce their learning of this type of text. This activity has students deconstruct other essays to learn about essay structure, which will help them when they go to write their own essays. Again, because this is a lesson plan for primary school students, it should be adapted to suit the grade of high school you’re teaching, for example, substitute the picture book for a secondary school novel.

4.  Object creative writing

Rather than starting with characters, another way to prompt students to write stories is the object creative writing lesson plan. By giving students an object to describe, they learn to think creatively in response to a stimulus and develop their descriptive writing skills. Thinking on their feet will help them develop the skills to formulate their own creative ideas in the future.

5.  Letter of complaint

Letters are a common text type that your students will be familiar with. The purpose of this lesson plan is to encourage students to use phrases that express attitude and emotion, which are found in letters of complaint.

6.  Advertising

Advertising uses persuasive language, so practicing this type of writing can help students in forming arguments in essays and debates. Learning how to sell something can also help develop confidence in students.

7.  Peer editing

This lesson plan involves students editing the writing of their peers. Marking the work of others can help a student develop an understanding of their own writing skills by analysing what they would do differently. Responding to feedback from peers also encourages students to develop a positive attitude towards criticism and learning.

8.  Self-reflection

Writing about writing is one of the best ways to help students reduce the number of errors in their work. This lesson plan requires students to read over their work and identify one error that occurs frequently, then rewrite the piece without the error. This activity helps students learn how to correct their work and address habits so that they occur less frequently in the future.

9.  Writing for a real purpose

Writing for a hypothetical purpose can leave students feeling unmotivated to produce their best work. For this lesson plan, students respond to real life scenarios that they’re personally interested in. This way, students adopt an authentic voice, based on real life experience, making their work more engaging.

10.  The 100-word challenge

Being able to write clearly and succinctly is an important writing skill for students in high school and beyond. This lesson idea teaches students how to get to the point in a small number of words, by asking student to respond to a prompt in 100 words or less.

11.  Start a pseudonym project

If you have a students who are particularly shy about sharing their writing with others, you can introduce an anonymous system. Allow students to choose a pseudonym they will use for handing in work. The idea is that students will feel less conscious about being personal or passionate in their work, and therefore produce higher quality work.

12.  Copy cat

Some types of writing, like poetry and creative writing, are harder for students than structured essays and short responses. To help students adopt more creative tones in their writing, this lesson asks students to bring in a piece of writing (poetry or novel) and write their own original piece using the same style and tone.

Get creative

Learning to write different text types, from essays and letters, to creative stories and poetry, can be challenging for students. To help them along the way, it’s important to introduce lesson plans that encourage imagination and help develop lifelong skills that will improve their writing.

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Teaching Writing with Mini Lessons: A How-to

Every year, teachers are asked to do more–close the gap, make learning fun, use technology, encourage independence, provide quality feedback, collaborate, and so on. It’s not easy finding a class structure that perfectly meets the needs of students, administrators, and classroom evaluators. When it comes to teaching writing with mini lessons, however, you can get pretty close.

How I Discovered Mini Lessons

During my first year of teaching, I tried really hard to create long, dynamic lectures. My favorite teacher in high school had been able to lecture for hours at a time without losing my interest; I wanted to be able to do the same.

But no matter how interesting or well-planned I thought my lessons were, my students always eventually lost interest. Plus, they didn’t have any time in class to put their new knowledge to use. And I was spending a ton of time outside of class grading and providing comments.

When I discovered mini lessons, many of these issues disappeared!

Mini lessons are now one of my favorite structures for lesson planning (especially for creative writing ). When done well, I believe they lead to more independence and confidence in students and they get this introverted teacher out of the spotlight–wins all around. 

In this post, I’ll cover the benefits of using mini lessons, especially for writing, and how to structure your own.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.

What are Mini Lessons?

If you pick up any number of professional development books on mini lessons, you’ll find many definitions.

Some say that mini lessons have to cover a certain topic or content areas.

Others give strict requirements for time limits.

Here, I’ll give you my own definition of mini lessons.

Mini lessons are exactly what they sound like–short (mini) lessons or lectures. Those little lectures are followed by activities that let students immediately implement what they’ve learned. 

A mini lesson includes a short period of direct instruction followed by independent practice for students. Within this framework, the direct instruction and practice components can vary greatly, but this will be our general working definition for now. 

How “Mini” is Mini?

The term “mini” will vary depending on your class structure and time . I teach in ninety-minute blocks, so my mini lessons can go on for up to forty-five minutes sometimes. 

A teacher with a forty-five minute class time, however, will probably find that fifteen to twenty minutes for direct instruction is the sweet spot. 

The independent practice portion can be anything from a worksheet to working on a project. Typically, mini lessons involve more creative thinking activities–writing, 

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Why Use Mini Lessons When Teaching Writing?

There are many reasons that mini lessons are effective. Mini lessons provide:

• Direct instruction
• Gradual release of responsibility

Scaffolding

• Guided practice

There are benefits for the instructor, as well. 

Direct Instruction

Direct instruction is an essential part of teaching. I think it gets a bad rap–there’s always a new activity, a new fad, or new technology that tries to replace it.

But sometimes in order to teach, you just have to get up there and, well, teach .

Mini lessons allow for direct instruction, but limit the instruction time to prevent lectures from becoming stale, boring, or losing students.

Gradual Release of Responsibility

My students tend to be very dependent. They wait for me to go over the answer, approve of a response before they write it down, or ask questions they already know the answer too.

For some, it’s laziness. For others, it’s the fear of getting it wrong or disappointing their teacher. With mini lessons, students are eased into working on their own.

This might not be true with every mini lesson from every teacher, but it’s how I run my mini lessons usually. For example, in my “Show. Don’t Tell” mini lesson , I give examples on how to turn a telling sentence into a showing paragraph.

Then, we work as a whole class to turn a telling sentence into a showing paragraph.

Students randomly draw a telling sentence. They brainstorm details that could show rather than tell than sentence.

And then, finally, they write a showing paragraph.

Each step is built to build the student’s confidence. By the time we get to the activity, the know the expectations and what success will look like. They don’t need my approval.

Scaffolding ties in with the gradual release of responsibility. It is the scaffolding that allows for the release.

Again, this isn’t true of every mini lesson from every teacher, but I think it’s easy to build scaffolding into a lesson. Usually, you show an example and you do some modeling.

You may also provide a graphic organizer, a handout, or some other support for students to use as they work.

I do this in my tone mini lesson .

In this lesson, students randomly pick a strip of paper with a neutral situation on it like “eating in the cafeteria” and then they pick a random strip with a tone word like “humorous”. They would have to combine the two to write a paragraph about eating in the cafeteria in a humorous tone.

But before that, they write shorter practice situations that aren’t random. I also give them a tone handout, should they forget what tone is in the process.

Here’s more about scaffolding techniques in another post . I also talk about scaffolding specifically for creative writing classes here .

Guided Practice

This, to me, is the biggest instructional benefit to using mini lessons.

If I only teach for, say, twenty minutes, that gives students more time to actually do the work, practice, critique one another, get feedback, and make revisions.

When students are working on a writing activity, I always walk around the room. Sometimes, I’m aimless and wander, giving unsolicited feedback.

Other times, I let students work for a bit before purposely sitting and chatting with each student about their writing so far.

What is important, however, is that students get immediate, in-the-moment feedback. They can quickly course correct or revise. That’s where the learning happens.

Additional Benefits

Personally, as an introverted teacher, I love mini lessons because they take the focus away from me. I do my thing for just a short amount of time, and then the focus is on the students. Walking around, checking in, and giving one-on-one feedback is way better than trying to entertain twenty teenagers at a time. 

I believe my students prefer shorter lectures, too. I see so much learning happening while students grapple during independent practice. 

When students are able to engage in guided practice, they’re forced to try new skills. Instead of bailing out when concepts become challenging–like they might be tempted to do with homework–I’m there to help them get unstuck. 

How Do You Structure Writing Mini Lessons? 

Again, every instructor will have his or her own style for mini lessons. This is how I do mine.

Structuring Writing Mini Lessons Step 1: Identify the Goal

First, you need to know what you’re teaching of course. I love mini lessons for teaching or reinforcing skills. I love mini lessons for grammar and writing especially. 

It’s important to narrow down your focus. One of the hardest parts about creating a mini lesson is keeping it, well, mini .

Writing an essay is way too much content for a mini lesson. How to write a thesis statement, however, is perfect. 

When planning your class, it’s nice to know what your end goals are. Are students writing a speech? A short story? A poem? Use that end goal and work backwards, breaking apart the skills students will need to be successful. 

Structuring Writing Mini Lessons Step 2: Choose the Student Task

Wait, wait! Why plan the student task before I map out the lesson? Isn’t that backwards?

Well, yes it is! I love backwards design!

Knowing what we want students to be able to do by the end of class or by the end of the lesson will force us to really concentrate our short lesson on only what students absolutely need to know. 

You don’t have to do it this way–you could certainly plan your lesson first and then create an assignment to go with it. I’d be lying if I said I haven’t done that, too. But I do think working backwards almost always yields better results. 

So, what kind of task would you like students to perform? 

Notice that I used the work “task”. We want students to do or create something here. That rules out quizzes and worksheets as the end goal. 

(You can totally use quizzes and worksheets! I use these as an intermediary step sometimes, like in my dialogue mini lesson . But ultimately, students should have a small performance task.)

Earlier, I used the example of a mini lessons on writing thesis statements. If that was your topic, you’d obviously want to students to write a thesis statement by the end of class. 

If you want to teach students how to properly punctuate and construct a dialogue between characters, you’ll probably want them to actually write a conversation between two characters. 

Keep these tasks short . They’re practice, after all, not a major assessment. 

Structuring Writing Mini Lessons Step 3: Create Your Lesson

You know the end goal. You know what students are going to have to complete by the end of class.

Now, what will the need to know in order to do task?

My mini lessons are usually pretty straightforward presentations. When the lesson is short, you don’t have to do as much to keep students engaged. 

Generally, my lessons follow the same structure:

• Introduce the topic, along with any need-to-know definitions or terms
• Provide or model an example
• Do an example with the class
• Go over the assignment

For our thesis creation example, you can see how this would work. You’d first tell students what a thesis statement is and why we’d use it. You would show students an example of one and talk about it. 

Then, you might work with the class to create a thesis for an example question. 

Lastly, you’d have students write a thesis statement for their own papers. As they work, you’d walk around, checking on their work, and offering feedback. 

In my “Show. Don’t Tell” mini lesson , I have students select a random “telling” sentence and then turn it into a “showing” paragraph. (It’s a really fun activity!)

Teaching the Mini Lesson

Once you have your goal, your lesson, and the student task all worked out, you’re good to go! I do have some tips for you, though. 

First, there is an art to the mini lesson. The first time I teach any mini lesson, I usually end up running long. It’s way, way too easy to create a lesson that is just too long. 

If you find that your mini lesson is not-so-mini, that’s ok! Take note and adjust for next time. 

I recommend having students do at least some practice in class immediately after the mini lesson. That way you can help them course correct if they don’t understand the skill or concept at first. 

But in a pinch, if your lesson runs long you can always assign the task as homework or leave it for the next day. 

Giving Feedback

I also recommend touching base with each student as they work, if possible. While students work, walk around and look over their shoulders. Give lots of praise for work well done or concepts mastered. Give gentle suggestions to students who haven’t quite mastered the skill yet. 

I love my walking feedback. Not only does it help students learn and make corrections in the moment, but it gives me time to make connections with them, too. I’ll often note some cool new shoes or ask about their weekends while passing by. 

You’ll have to be careful, of course, to make sure conversation doesn’t dominate the whole class, but getting some casual conversation going sometimes encourages my students to talk to another about the assignment. 

I might remark on a student’s creative approach to a poem, which will then lead another student to ask to read the poem. They end up trading work and giving one another feedback–all without much from me. 

For this alone, I love mini lessons. It takes instruction out of my hands and puts it back into the students. I prefer being a facilitator and a coach than a boss.

Learn More About Mini Lessons

I use mini lessons routinely in my classroom, but I’m no expert! 

I mention several times in this post that every teacher’s style of mini lesson is going to vary. If you’re truly interested in diving deep into mini lessons, there are some fantastic professional development books on this topic.

Mini lessons are a must-have in your teaching arsenal! They include a little bit of everything–direct instruction, guided practice, and opportunities for meaningful feedback. 

Plus, they keep you from talking nonstop for eight hours, which my voice box totally appreciates. 

I have some great mini lessons right here if you’d like to save time by using someone else’s!

I also encourage you to grab this FREE Mood and Tone Student Handout to help you with any future mini lessons on those topics.

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Eight Free Creative Writing Lessons

February 17, 2012 by Ami 17 Comments

I know I throw around the word favorite all the time. But this is the truth: teaching creative writing lessons is my favorite. 

I have taught creative writing enrichment for summer school students. I have taught creative writing in various homeschool settings and co-ops. I have taught big students and little students. And I love it. 

Since I love to share homeschool co-op class ideas , I have compiled the creative writing lessons from a co-op class that I taught. 

Creative Writing Lessons for a Homeschool Co-op Class

First, please remember that any teacher can use these creative writing lessons. You don’t need to be teaching homeschoolers. You can be a classroom teacher or a homeschool teacher at home with one student. You can even be a librarian who needs a fun program series.

Second, I used these creative writing lesson plans with upper elementary students (with maybe a few 7th graders thrown in). However, you can adapt and use them for older students or younger students!

Creative Writing Lesson Plans

Creative writing lesson one.

The first lesson focuses on cliché and metaphor. It prompts students to consider how words matter.

Grab lesson one here .

Creative Writing Lesson Two

The second lesson teaches students about sensory details: why they are important and how to include them in their writing. Students will begin using sensory details to evoke smells and sounds and sights.

Grab lesson two here.

Creative Writing Lesson Three

The third lesson introduces showing vs. telling. Students learn how to recognize authors who utilize showing, and students are able to articulate the difference between showing and telling.

Grab lesson three here.

Creative Writing Lesson Four

The fourth lesson teaches students how to capture images. We use examples of poetry and prose to discuss this important writing skill.

Grab lesson four here.

Creative Writing Lesson Five

The fifth lesson introduces the story elements of character and conflict.

Note: You may choose to split this lesson into two lessons since it covers two big elements. I only had nine weeks with my students, so I had to jam character and conflict together.

Grab lesson five here.

Creative Writing Lesson Six

The sixth lesson introduces the students to point of view and perspective. We have fun reading poems and using pictures to write descriptions from different points of view.

Grab lesson six here.

Creative Writing Lesson Seven

The seventh lesson puts everything we’ve learned together. I read the students some fractured fairy tales, and we watch some, too. Students then use the prewriting activities and their imaginations to begin drafting their own fractured fairy tales.

Grab lesson seven here.

Creative Writing Lesson Eight

The eighth lesson focuses on revision. After a mini-lesson, students partner up for peer editing.

Grab lesson eight here .

For our final class day, students bring revised work, and I host coffee shop readings. This is a memorable experience for students (and their teacher).

Creative Writing Lessons FAQ

Since posting these creative writing lessons, I have had lots of questions. I decided to compile them here in case you have the same question.

Q: What are copywork quotes? A: Copywork quotes are simply great quotes that students copy as part of their homework assignments. You can use any quotes about writing. I’ve included my favorites throughout the printable packs.

Q: Can I use this with a younger or older student? A: Absolutely! Just adapt it to meet the needs of your student.

Q: Can I use this for my library’s programming or my homeschool co-op class? A: Yes! I just ask that it not be used for profit.

Do you have any questions about teaching creative writing? What’s your biggest hang-up when it comes to teaching creative writing? I’d love to hear from you and help you solve the issue.

January 7, 2016 at 1:57 pm

Hi Theresa,

As long as you are not profitting from using them, they are yours to use! Enjoy! Wish I could be there to help facilitate all those young writers! 

[…] Creative Writing Class […]

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Creative Writing: Complete 9-Week Class & Curriculum for High School

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Description

Take the stress out of planning a high school Creative Writing class with this complete, 9-week elective course curriculum bundle! This Complete Creative Writing Class Bundle includes everything you need to teach creative writing skills, poetry analysis, and engage students in a variety of writing at the high school level!

In this engaging 9-week elective creative writing class, students will learn and apply literary terms, analyze mentor texts, and write their own original poems and stories. This full course bundle includes daily warm-ups, projects, individual poem writing activities, mini lessons, and more--everything you need to create a creative writing class that is low-stress and works for both you and your students.

The included bundle-only bonus calendar is flexible. Choose from two different bell ringer or warm-up activities. Move lessons and projects around to suit you or your academic calendar. Plus, most activities and lessons include a digital version, so you and your students can stay on track no matter what! (Writing mini lessons are printable only .)

These lessons and activities are the same curriculum and lessons that I've personally used with my high school creative writing students. My students are usually a mix of low-level 11th and 12th graders. Depending on your students' ability levels, these lessons could work for middle school through high school (look through resource previews to get an idea of rigor).

This Resource Includes:

• Journal Prompts
• Poem of the Week Activities
• Figurative Language Mini Unit
• Writing Workshops and Mini Lessons
• Poetry Writing Activities
• Fairy Tale Retelling Project
• Author Study Project
• 2-Sentence Horror Stories
• "Nicholas Was..." Holiday Analysis and Activity
• Literary Terms Test
• 9-week Suggested Course Calendar
• Day 1 Google Slides Presentation
• Directions for a Storytelling Game
• Create Your Own Poem of the Week Project (from the Poem of the Week bundle)

Please look at each of these resources individually prior to purchase . Each resource includes an extensive preview, and I want you to be sure that these products will work for you and your students prior to purchase!

***This bundle consists of a mix of editable and non-editable resources, as well as a mix of Zip folders and Google folders. In order to access your purchase, you will need to give Teachers Pay Teachers access to your Google Drive. Before purchasing, please review the preview to make sure these resources support your and your students' needs. The whole of each resource, with the exception of any answer keys, is included in each activity's preview--please look at each product to make sure you'll be happy with your purchase.

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How do I use minilessons in my classroom?

Do you want quick lessons that teach concepts or skills? Each 10-15 minute minilesson presents a concept and engages students in an activity. Minilessons are optimized to display on your interactive whiteboard, smart phone, or anything in between.

Minilessons Writing

Adjusting Your Writing Voice

Adjust voice for audience and purpose.

Analyze the Communication Situation

Think of the sender, message, medium, receiver, and context.

Analyzing the Medium of a Message

Improve students' media literacy.

Analyzing with a Cause-Effect Chart

Analyze causes and effects of any topic.

Analyzing with a Line Diagram

Analyze parts of a topic with a line diagram.

Analyzing Writing Prompts

Practice studying the parts of a test prompt.

Asking and Answering the 5 W's and H Questions

Teach students to collect key details.

Asking Bigger and Better Questions

Teach students to form better questions.

Avoiding Double Subjects

Help students avoid double subjects.

Choosing the Right Coordinating Conjunction

Learn how to choose precise connecting words. 

Closely Read with SQ3R

Closely read with SQ3R .

Combining Choppy Sentences

Combine sentences for better flow.

Comparing Myself to a President

Compare yourself to a president.

Comparing with a Venn Diagram

Analyze similarities and differences.

Confusing “Its” and “It’s”

Help students sort out its and it's .

Correcting Capitalization 1

Correct capitalization.

Correcting Capitalization 2

Correcting End Punctuation

Insert end punctuation in the paragraph.

Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement 1

Make subjects and verbs agree in number.

Correcting Subject-Verb Agreement 2

Creating a Dialogue Journal

Engage in a written conversation.

Creating Command Sentences

Help students build command sentences.

Creating Flowcharts

Chart a process.

Creating Pie Graphs

Deciding When to Use Formal and Informal Language

Match language with purpose and audience.

Developing an Opinion Statement

Develop a main claim.

Discovering Narrative Strategies

Use shared inquiry to develop personal narratives. 

Discovering Rules for Their, There, and They’re

Use shared inquiry to learn their, there, and they're .

Distinguishing Argumentation from Persuasion

Study argumentation/persuasion.

Drawing a Life Map

Help students gather ideas for narratives.

Elaborating Ideas Using Different Levels of Details

Teach elaboration with levels of detail.

Elaborating Ideas with Compound Sentences

Learn how to add new details to sentences. 

Elaborating in a Food Review

Help students practice elaboration.

Elaborating Sentences

Add detail to sentences.

Evaluating Advertisements

Evaluate advertisements.

Evaluating Sources of Information

Evaluate sources with a checklist.  

Evaluating with a Pro-Con Chart

Analyze good and bad with a pro-con chart.

Fixing Run-On Sentences

Correct run-on sentences.

Fixing Sentence Fragments

Fix sentence fragments.

Forming a Focus

Help students write strong focus statements.

Forming a Thesis Statement

Focus on part of your topic.  

Forming Pronouns: Possessives and Contractions

Teach possessives and contractions.

Freewriting for Writing Topics

Have students freewrite for topic ideas.

Idiom Safari

Find idioms on the Internet.

If I Were a President's Pet

Imagine being a president's pet.

If I Were President

Think about being president.

Keeping a Learning Log

Tips for starting and maintaining a learning log.

Literal Idioms

Use idioms literally in a sentence.

Make Abstract Ideas Concrete

Make concrete representations of abstract ideas.

Making Rhetorical Appeals

Appeal to ethos, logos, and pathos.  

Malapropism Mania!

Find and fix malapropisms.

One-Month Miracles

Devise creative solutions for impossible tasks.

Performing "Systems Checks" of Your Writing

Help students self-evaluate their writing. 

Performing a Stop 'n' Write

Pause and reflect on your reading or learning.

Pun-ishing Idioms

Create puns using literal idioms.

Punctuating Dialogue

Teach quotation marks with end punctuation.  

Rate Your Listening

Take a listening survey.  

Reading as a Writer

Learn how to discover writing strategies from reading models. 

Replacing Dull Verbs with Vivid Verbs

Energize students' writing with vivid verbs.

Replacing General Nouns with Specific Nouns

Identify and replace general nouns.

Selecting Topics with the Basics of Life

Use broad subjects to find specific topics.

Sentence Modeling with the Masters

Practice sentence modeling.

Sequencing with a Time Line

Use time lines for critical thinking.

Sharing Fiction with a Partner

Use shared inquiry to read fiction.

Spell the Right Word

Practice spelling and usage.

Starting a Journal

Help students begin journal writing.

Starting Stories: 5 Great Beginning Strategies

Practice five strategies for starting a story.

Summarizing Ideas in a Nutshell

Practice one-sentence summaries.

Thinking About a Process

Prepare students for how-to or process writing.

Understanding Context Clues

Learn about context clues for vocabulary.  

Understanding the Plot Line

Understand the plot line.

Usage Mnemonics

Create memory aids for usage.

Using 5 Critical Thinking Strategies

Use this video to help students think critically.

Using a Peer Response Sheet

Teach students to write peer responses.

Using Anecdotes in Formal Writing

Add a narrative touch to formal writing.

Using Apostrophes in Contractions and Possessives

Use apostrophes with contractions and possessives.

Using Commas in a Series

Use commas in series.

Using Commas in Dates and Addresses

Use commas in dates and addresses.

Using Commas with Numbers and Interjections

Use commas with numbers and interjections.

Using Context Clues

Learn new words with context clues.

Using Hyphens with Compounds and Fractions

Use hyphens in compounds and fractions.

Using Numbers

Use numbers correctly.

Using Parallel Structure

Teach students to write using parallel structure.

Using PAST to Understand Assignments

Teach students to analyze writing assignments.

Using Perspective Shifting to Imagine History

Help students gain a historical viewpoint.

Using Perspective Shifting to Persuade Readers

Help students see from readers' perspectives.

Using Perspective Shifting to Understand Others

Help students improve empathy.

Using Quotation Marks

Use quotation marks with titles and quotations.

Using Signal Phrases

Smoothy integrate sources in your writing. 

Using the Right Word

Use the right word.

Using Time-Order Transitions

Teach about chronological transitions.

Using Transitions to Add Information and Emphasis

Help students add information and emphasis.

Words in the Wild

Search the Web for correct usage.

Would You Rather?

Practice usage with a game.

Writing a "Showing" Paragraph

Help students show instead of tell.

Writing a 5 W’s Story

Help students write realistic stories.

Writing a Diary of a Famous Figure

Have students creatively narrate.

Writing a Family Story and Historical Marker

Inspire students to write family stories.

Writing a Four-Star Food Review

Use this prompt to spark students' creativity.

Writing a Historical Dialogue

Create a dialogue with a historical figure.

Writing a List Poem

Learn how to write a list poem.  

Writing a Tumble-Down Poem

Help students write a free-verse poem.

Writing an Arts & Performance Review

Review a song, dance, poem, or piece of artwork.

Writing an InstaMemory

Help students narrate and describe.

Writing Back-and-Forth Stories

Inspire students to collaborate in writing.

Writing Descriptions That "Show" Instead of "Tell"

Teach students to use sensory details.

Writing Freely and Rapidly

Teach student to freewrite for ideas.

Writing: Now how do I get out of this one?

Assign this prompt to spark students' creativity.

Minilessons 21st Century Skills

21st century skills.

Analyzing Point of View in Media

Review media for point of view.  

Analyzing the Receiver of a Message

Teach students to think about audience.

Analyzing the Sender of a Message

Help students think about sources.

Checking the Emotion Thermometer

Help students express intensity of emotion.

Class Mascot

Create a memorable class mascot.

Create a Memory Palace

Use spatial awareness to improve memory.

Creating a Growth Mindset

Develop a growth mindset.

Creating a Plan

Help students plan projects.

Creating a Rubric to Evaluate Projects

Create a quick rubric for any project.

Detecting Fake News

Ask critical questions to detect fake news.

Detecting Media Bias

Practice detecting bias.  

Discovering Word Origins (Etymology)

Use shared inquiry to find word origins.

Guarding Against Confirmation Bias

Read news from an unbiased point of view.

Recognizing Bullying

Help students recognize bullying.

Recognizing Logical Fallacies 1

Learn to spot logical fallacies.

Recognizing Logical Fallacies 2

Seeing Emotion in Facial Expressions

Create mindfulness of facial expressions.

Seeing Emotions in Body Language

Create mindfulness of body language.

Setting and Reaching Goals

Help students set and reach academic goals.

Solving Problems Critically and Creatively

Help students improve problem solving.

Starting Stories with Suspense

Inspire storytelling with original story starters. 

Thinking About the Context of a Message

Teach students to think about context.

Time Surgeons

Change one small thing to change history.

Understanding a Message's Subject and Purpose

Teach students how to analyze messages.

Understanding the Parts of the Brain

Teach brain parts and functions.

Using Positive Self-Talk

Replace negative with positive self-talk.

Writing a Creative Synopsis

Create a synopsis of a book, TV show, or event.

Writing a Fictionalized Diary

Have students write a diary entry of an everyday object. 

Minilessons Social-Emotional Learning

Social-emotional learning.

Calming Down with Deep Pressure

Teach deep pressure to calm students.

Doing Random Acts of Kindness

Help students be kind to each other.

Expressing Emotions Through Drawing

Help students draw their feelings.

Expressing Emotions Through Movement

Connect movement to emotion.

Journaling About Intuitions

Track the ways your intuitions guide your decisions.

Labeling Your Feelings

Calm your body and mind by voicing your feelings.

Learning to Say No

Help students learn refusal skills.

Taking Action Against Bullying

Teach students strategies for staying safe.

Using 5-5-5 Breathing to Calm Down

Teach 5-5-5 breathing to calm students.

Using Bodily Meditation

Open a line of communication between body and brain. 

Using Progressive Relaxation

Use progressive relaxation to calm students.

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5 Mini-Lessons You MUST Teach for Creative Narrative Writing

Using creative narrative mini-lessons is a great way to teach students about small tidbits of writing without overwhelming them. These sessions are 10-15 minutes long, which is the perfect amount of time to engage elementary students without them losing interest. In my post about Writer’s Workshop , I stress the importance of teaching writing through mini-lessons.

Need writing lessons that reach all of your writers? The lesson I feature in this post is a part of this ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ lesson plan bundle. 

Here are the 5 creative narrative mini-lessons you MUST teach!

Character development.

Your students all know about character traits, right? Build off of this knowledge to talk about character development in your creative narrative. Character development occurs when the author writes character actions or dialogue that gives us clues about the character’s traits, interests, and background.

In this creative narrative mini-lesson, students spend time during brainstorming coming up with a strong lead character, who happens to be an astronaut on the international space station. We use this brainstorming to help us write our rough draft, which includes character development. This is a great organizer to use after your mini-lesson to help students develop their main character.

Setting Development

It’s imperative to teach your students to develop their setting using descriptive words and phrases. Put up photos of different places and have students come up with words and phrases to describe them. Let them orally share with a partner as if they were introducing the place to someone that has never seen it. Have students close their eyes and describe a setting to them, then have them draw a picture of how they saw the setting in their mind. There are so many fun ways to teach setting development in a 10-15 minute mini-lesson!

Sequence of Events

Your students will probably remember the sequence words they’ve learned in past grade levels: first, next, then, last, etc. This creative narrative mini-lesson is a great time to reintroduce those words to show that a creative narrative has a sequence of events. Give them an example mentor text and then have them retell the story using these sequence words.

I’ve made a easy bookmark (included in the freebie above!) with these words that students can pull out if they get stuck. I’ve found that they are much more likely to use a bookmark as a resource than turn to a page of notes in their notebook – crazy, right ?

After you retell the sequence of events using those order words, change those words to stronger transition words. My favorite list of transition words can be found  here . 

First Immediately

Next By Now

Then Meanwhile

Finally Ultimately

After this mini-lesson, I send my students back to their seat to independently create a sequence of events for their own creative narrative. I encourage them to use transition words and we continue to work on these throughout our rough draft and revision stages.

Dialogue is one of the most important pieces of a creative narrative. It’s also one of the most difficult for students. I’ve often found myself asking, “Why can my students identify dialogue so easily, but they can’t write it correctly?” It’s all about practice, which means they need to be writing a lot of dialogue!

For this creative narrative mini-lesson, give students the rules to writing different types of dialogue. They’ll need to know how to:

• Make a new line of dialogue every time a new speaker talks
• Use quotation marks around the words being spoken
• Choose a fitting dialogue tag or attribution
• Use the appropriate punctuation depending on whether the tag is at the beginning, middle, or end of the dialogue

Strong Endings

Students really struggle with how to write a good, strong resolution to their story. You may notice that many of their stories either abruptly end, or end with “and that’s what happened” or “the end.” Teach your students about how experienced authors end their stories . Grab an ending or two from one of the short stories your class has read this year. Analyze the ending with your class during your mini-lesson and brainstorm the different parts of a strong ending.

Creative narrative writing can be so much fun, and using these 5 mini-lessons will turn a basic story into a rich, delightful tale!

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About the Author

April smith.

April began her career as a 5th grade teacher in 2008 and quickly developed a passion for creating engaging educational materials to share with fellow teachers. She now works with districts around the country, training their teachers and leaders on how to implement research-based strategies and differentiation techniques that meet the needs of diverse learners.

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