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How to Start a Creative Writing Club

Last Updated: June 1, 2024 References

This article was co-authored by Ashley Pritchard, MA . Ashley Pritchard is an Academic and School Counselor at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Frenchtown, New Jersey. Ashley has over 3 years of high school, college, and career counseling experience. She has an MA in School Counseling with a specialization in Mental Health from Caldwell University and is certified as an Independent Education Consultant through the University of California, Irvine. This article has been viewed 36,378 times.

Do you have a passion for creative writing that you want to take to the next level? A great way to grow your writing skills is to start a creative writing club, where you can share your work with others who are invested in cultivating the same craft. Working with people who share similar interests to you is both fun and incredibly rewarding!

Things You Should Know

If you’re a student, talk to your favorite English teacher and ask them to sponsor the club; the odds are extremely high that they’ll be thrilled by the idea!
If you’re running the club, remember that different members are likely there for unique reasons—include a variety of poetry, fiction, non-fiction, and screenwriting activities.
For a younger crowd, include a writing activity with every meeting and encourage members to share their work—be super supportive!
Make sure that if you’re doing any workshop-style discussions that the members understand that critiquing someone’s work does not mean criticizing them as people.
Clubs with older members will likely attract a good number of experienced writers, so you may want to start meetings by asking members if they’ve been working on anything they’d like feedback on before going into activities, lectures, or discussions.

Forming Your Club

Possible locations include your house, public park, an open classroom, or anywhere else you can meet and converse without disturbing others.

Word of mouth: Invite friends and acquaintances, and ask them to spread the word and bring their friends! Talk openly and excitedly about your club: your enthusiasm will help draw the interest of others. It’s a good idea to invite very broadly to begin with: the people who are truly invested in your club will show up and stick around.
Posters and fliers: Design a cool flier and post it around school or your workplace! This is a nice way to draw attention to your club.
Social media: For example, you can create a Facebook Event for the first meeting and share it widely with your friends!

Step 4 Consider searching for and recruiting an advisor.

If you do decide to ask someone to be your advisor, be considerate of their time and respectful when making your request. Sending them an introductory email explaining your plans (in as much detail as you can) will allow them to make an informed decision. It is also courteous to offer to meet in person or talk over the phone/Skype so that they can ask any questions they might have before they make their decision.
Advisors can be involved in a variety of ways, and this should be a conversation that you have directly with your potential advisor. Will they attend meetings? Will they offer guidance from afar? These are questions that are best to ask early on.

Step 5 Fill out and submit any necessary registration forms.

This is related to possibly need an advisor: some schools require an advisor's signature on club registration forms. Once again, just be sure to research your school, university, or organization's requirements.

Holding for Your First Meeting

You can choose an icebreaker that is relevant to the theme (if applicable) of your club, or you choose something entirely random. The point of this activity is to lighten the mood and help your members get to know each other and feel more comfortable opening up and sharing their work. Classic icebreakers like "Two Truths and Lie" (where everyone shares two true facts and a lie about themselves, and others guess the fabrication) and the "Name Game" (where each person has to find an adjective to describe themselves that starts with the same letter as their name) can be great simple options. [2] X Research source

Step 3 Include a creative writing exercise.

Write about an animal of your choice.
Open up a dictionary, pick a word, and write what it means to you.
Create a poem or story that starts with "Hello."
Write a piece that's inspired by a conversation you've recently overheard.
Write about something you dread or fear.

Step 4 Decide if you want to appoint club officers.

If voting proves too messy (this might be the case, especially if you have many members), an easy and neutral online tool that may help you decide when to hold meetings is doodle.com (or other similar scheduling applications).

Is your main goal as a group to spark new writing ideas together and actually practice writing during the meetings, or to critique and improve one another's written works? Alternatively, you may want to operate as more of a social/support group for writers, where you talk about your craft and hold one another accountable for your personal writing goals. Decide your focus together, and build that into your mission. [4] X Research source

Step 7 Talk about the structure of your club.

Bringing a large sheet of paper and pens (or whiteboard markers if your location has a whiteboard) can be a nice way of involving members in this process. Members can take turns suggesting and writing ideas. You can keep this piece of paper as a reminder for future meetings, or you can take it, type it up, and print it and share copies (or a combination).

Keeping Your Club Going

Step 1 Clearly communicate contact information.

It is helpful to bring a notebook to meetings so that new members can share their e-mails and/or phone numbers, and so that you can then add them to any groups or lists.

Step 2 Keep club members informed about future meetings and events.

It's a good idea to start an e-mail list, a Facebook group, and maybe a group chat so that you can add members and keep them informed and up to date on club meetings and activities. It's all up to you, but clear communication will help your club flourish.

Step 3 Consider how you will handle writing partners.

If you do choose to have writing partnerships be a part of your club structure, you may want to consider assigning writing partners randomly as well as have people change partners periodically. It's a good idea to try to prevent cliques from forming for many reasons: so that no one feels left out, so that members are receiving feedback on their work from multiple perspectives, and so that people are establishing many connections with many different members of different style, backgrounds, and personalities.
Give members ideas of how to connect with their writing partner. Suggest accessible practices such as, "After you've written your piece, share it with your partner via Google Docs so that you can read each other's work. Then, coordinate a time to meet and discuss one your work in person." Encourage members to do whatever feels most comfortable to them.

Step 4 Gather ongoing feedback from your members.

One way to do this is creating and sharing the link to a standing Google Form that is specifically designed for feedback. Creating an anonymous Google Form (or whatever type of digital survey works best for you) will encourage members to voice their opinions. It's good to establish protocol for how this feedback will be dealt with, early on: will you (as the leader) check the responses regularly, and will suggestions be discussed at meetings?
Another way to gather feedback is to designate an allotted amount of time during meetings to open up the discussion for feedback and suggestions.
If you and your members do decide that you want to discuss feedback weekly (however you choose to gather it, whether electronically or during meetings), you may also want to discuss the format of this discussion. Will it be an informal discussion? Will people vote? Will it depend on the feedback? These are good points to consider early on when determining club guidelines.

Step 5 Make sure that you have a plan moving forward.

Let members know what they should bring to the next meeting (i.e. laptop, notebooks, pens, etc.).
Ideally, set at least a loose agenda for your next meeting, before you wrap up your first one. Your goal should be to get right down to writing and club discussions in your subsequent meetings, now that you've set some ground rules and expectations. [6] X Trustworthy Source University of North Carolina Writing Center UNC's on-campus and online instructional service that provides assistance to students, faculty, and others during the writing process Go to source

Community Q&A

Bringing snacks can be a fun addition to any meeting. But be sure to communicate any allergens (nuts, dairy, etc.)! This will help incentivize people to come to the meetings, and—particularly if your club is hosted during lunch or after school—makes sure that no one is hungry entirely. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Bringing some extra notebooks and pens to the first meeting (or first few meetings) is always a good idea, just in case someone forgets their own. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
Try this fun activity: Pass sheets of paper around so everyone has one. Have everyone write the beginning of a story, pass the sheet to the person on their right, and have them continue the story (then folding the sheet over so the next person can only see the most recently added sentence, not any of the previous sentences). It's sort of like the game "telephone," and you can theme it around a particular topic! Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/7-questions-to-ask-yourself-before-starting-a-writers-group
↑ https://icebreakerideas.com/quick-icebreakers/
↑ https://thinkwritten.com/365-creative-writing-prompts
↑ https://www.inkedvoices.com/writing/types/
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/writing-groups/writing-group-starter-kit/

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How to Start a Creative Writing Club for Kids

how to run a creative writing club middle school

I pitched the idea to a friend of mine, a professor of creative writing, who very graciously shared with me exercises she does with her grad students. It took some work but I brought them down to a level I thought would work with 4 th -6 th graders.

Next I had to get buy in from the school principal to run an after school club and use the library. She loved the idea but reminded me I needed a ‘baby sitter’ because I’m not a credentialed teacher. The librarian agreed to keep me on the straight and narrow and I promised to keep his library in good working order.

From there, I got myself invited to a PTA meeting to see if they would throw me some funds to run the club. Really all I wanted were notebooks, pencils and a few other little things here and there to help with the writing exercises. They said yes and I was off.

We meet once a month for an hour. We have two rules for Writing Club. The first is we are respectful of everyone’s ideas; if a fellow student is reading his/her work aloud, we are quiet and listen closely. The second is no one has to read if they don’t want to. No pressure. I also give away middle grade books I’m done reading. Winners beam like they’ve just won the lottery.

September’s giveaway books

At our first meeting this year fifty students showed up! I ran out of everything – notebooks, pencils, seats, table space – but seeing these kids, scribbling away, giving voice to the stories in their heads, gave me hope for the future.

(for specifics on the writing exercises, please visit my website )

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Articles / Writing

Building a Foundation for In-Class Writing Clubs

by MiddleWeb · Published 09/11/2022 · Updated 07/27/2024

By Lisa Eickholdt and Patty Vitale-Reilly

Lisa Eickholdt

Heading back to school is simultaneously nerve-wracking and joyous.

We want to quickly get the year going (and get to the good stuff!), but we also want to connect to students and create a classroom community where students can thrive independently and collaboratively.

Patty Vitale-Reilly

Many of us use collaborations in reading and writing, and our own favorite collaboration is a writing club. What is a writing club? Just like a reading club, a writing club is an opportunity to work in authentic, engaging, and collaborative ways.

Students choose what to write, navigate the process and pacing of writing, talk with self-selected peers, and make decisions on how to impact the world with their voices and their words.

Here are our top five ways to build community and create a foundation for writing clubs.

Start with Read Aloud s.

One of our favorite ways to help students get to know one another is by reading aloud. Sharing beautiful picture books, poetry, short stories, and current events about common human experiences evokes memories of similar experiences – memories they want to share.

After the read-aloud, we share the memories the book triggered for us. When we share our stories and humorous anecdotes about family and friends, students open up. Talk soon fills the room as partners and small groups organically form around shared experiences. Through storytelling, we learn we are more alike than different.

Use Getting-to-Know-You Writing Exercises .

Another way that we build community and prepare students to work in powerful and productive collaborations is to engage them in some short writing exercises. These exercises help us get to know our kids, and, more importantly, help them get to know one another. Two of our favorites are:

● Six-Word Memoirs . We invite students to reveal themselves through very short stories or six-word memoirs. Legend has it that Ernest Hemingway was once challenged to write a full story in six words. Hemingway famously responded with: “For Sale: baby shoes, never worn.” Kids love writing and sharing these with one another and the world via the hashtag #SixWordStories.

● Humans of New York . Literacy teacher extraordinaire, Jessica Lifshitz (@Jess5th), taught us to harness the power of human interest stories by imitating the famous Human of New York (HONY) website . The HONY project includes photographs and brief stories about the inhabitants of New York City. In our classrooms we can take pictures of our students (or allow them to create self-portraits) and then have students craft short stories about experiences from their lives.

Implement Feedback Structures .

Regardless of the approach you use for writing, one common feature is a share session or wrap-up at the end of the writing time. The share is powerful in many ways because it provides time for students to acknowledge, reflect, reiterate, and share ideas.

This time is also ideal for introducing feedback structures that enable students to get to know one another as writers and move them toward writing collaborations. One of our favorite ways to share is a structure that one of Patty’s classes once called “Sitting in the Chair.” (Graves and Hansen 1983). It goes like this:

● Each day one writer sits in the feedback chair. In Patty’s classroom, this was just the chair that Patty typically sat in during minilessons. Here, she gave the chair to a writer in the class, and she joined the rest of the writers in the meeting area.

● The writer asks the community to give feedback on a part of their writing. We limit the selection to be either one sentence or one paragraph because we want to fit this practice into the typical timing of the share – between five and ten minutes. The writer asks for specific feedback (Does my lead engage you as a reader? Can you follow the dialogue in this scene? Does my word choice pack a punch?) and then reads the part.

● Students listen to the writer and then implement a simple feedback structure called “a glow and a grow.” A “glow” is a compliment about what a writer is doing well, and a “grow” is constructive feedback. Through this activity, each writer learns to ask for and take in feedback as well as how to provide feedback that is positive and powerful.

Identify Student Expertise .

We enjoy discovering each child’s strengths and using this knowledge to create an expert list (Vitale-Reilly 2018). To create this list, we talk to kids about their writing and observe them as they work with peers. As we informally assess our students, we are looking for what they are good at.

As we confer, we take note when a student has lots of ideas in their notebook and inquire how they accomplished it. We share their response with the rest of the class and add “idea generation” under their name on our expert chart. We notice when a student finds a unique way to plan and add “planning” under their name on the list. We pay attention to the students who seek out for assistance with spelling or drawing and add “editing” and “illustrating” under their names.

Establish Partnerships.

Once we’ve established some whole-class structures and have gotten to know each other as people and as writers, students are ready to begin collaborating. We like to begin small, so we start with partnerships.

Before assigning students a long-term partner, we make sure every child has the opportunity to collaborate with every person in the class at least once. We call this speed partnering, and the goal is for students to have the opportunity to briefly work and talk with everyone in the class, even for just five to ten minutes.

We provide partner opportunities throughout our workshop: we ask students to partner during the minilesson and work together, to partner during writing to make plans and share ideas, and to partner at the end of writing to share their work. After each partnership experience, we ask students to jot down one positive thing about their partner or the experience in their notebooks to refer to later.

Speed partnering shows students that every child has unique qualities that may make them a good fit as a partner. We keep track of this speed dating on a grid so we can be sure each child has had the opportunity to work with everyone in the class.

After a few weeks of partnering, we ask students to look back at their notes and list several students they’d like to work with for a while (writing partners are long term, usually throughout the duration of a unit, but not for the entire year). We then use students’ requests, our notes from observations, and information from the class expert list to create what we hope will be the first of many well-matched collaborations throughout the year.

The Natural Next Step: Writing Collaborations

After building a writing community that values every student as a person and a writer, and after teaching students how to talk to their peers in a constructive manner, writing collaborations are a natural next step. Starting the year in these exciting and joyous ways will lay the foundation for creating successful writing clubs throughout the year.

Read Katie Durkin’s MiddleWeb review of Lisa and Patty’s Writing Clubs: Fostering Choice, Collaboration, and Community in the Writing Classroom.

Education consultant Patty Vitale-Reilly has taught in both public and independent schools as well as at the graduate level. She currently works with school leaders, coaches, teachers, and students inside and outside of classrooms. The books she has written include The Complete Year in Reading and Writing Grade 2 (Scholastic, 2008), Engaging Every Learner and Supporting Struggling Learners (Heinemann, 2015) and Supporting Struggling Learners: 50 Instructional Moves for the Classroom Teacher (Heinemann, 2017).

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7 Steps to a Great Writing Workshop

Would you like to make your classroom a stimulating community of writers and learners? Set up a writing workshop! This instructional approach truly engages students by letting them write, read, interact, mentor, and take risks—all at their own pace. Follow these simple steps to create a writing workshop in your classroom.

Step 1: Set up a writing workshop framework.

A typical writing workshop session has four parts.


(10 minutes as needed)	Introduce a new concept or skill to the class in a 10-minute lesson and ask students to apply it in their writing. ( .)
(2 minutes) Find out what students will work on for the day.	Spend a few minutes tracking the work each student will do that day. (Download and .)
(30 minutes) Writing, Revising, Editing, Conferencing, or Publishing	Provide students with 30 minutes to work on their projects. Meanwhile, you can conference with individual writers or small groups as needed.
(5 minutes)	Leave 5 minutes at the end of class for students to share portions of their work and/or ask questions.

Step 2: Be a writer!

Teach by example, showing not only how you write, but also how to collaborate, respond to other writers, and make improvements based on responses.

Step 3: Create a writing community.

Help your students work side by side, learning from each other in much the same way that artists do in studios or cooks do in the kitchen. Provide spaces for individual work and spaces for small-group work.

Step 4: Provide many models and topic choices.

Models help students see how other writers have shaped their ideas in essays and stories. They also serve as springboards for minilessons and class discussions about specific writing strategies. ( See student models .)

Your students need to write about topics that interest them. When students have strong feelings about their topics, they stay with their writing longer and do their best work. ( See writing topics .)

Step 5: Let students work at their own pace.

On any given day, some students may be researching a topic; others may be drafting or revising; and still others may have finished one piece of work and started on another. As workshop manager, your job is to make sure that everyone is gainfully working on a project.

Step 6: Invite peer responses.

Your students need the feedback of their peers to develop strong writing and feel part of the writing community. Help them carry out peer response groups. ( See the peer response minilesson .)

Step 7: Offer your support.

Hold brief (2- to 3-minute) conferences with students as needed during independent writing time. During these conferences, don’t act as a fixer but rather as someone who listens and suggests and offers next steps.

Final Thoughts:

Effective classroom management is the key to implementing a successful writing workshop. You need to establish specific goals (such as the number of pieces to be completed per quarter), keep students on task (via the work check), and look for teachable moments to introduce specific minilessons.

Writing Workshop Resources

Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher and JoAnn Portalupi

About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by Katie Wood Ray

In the Middle: New Understandings About Writing, Reading, and Learning by Nancie Atwell

The 9 Rights of Every Writer by Vicki Spandel

The No-Nonsense Guide to Teaching Writing by Judy Davis and Sharon Hill

www.writingproject.org (National Writing Project)

Teacher Support:

Click to find out more about this resource.

Standards Correlations:

The State Standards provide a way to evaluate your students' performance.

LAFS.K12.W.1.1
LAFS.K12.W.1.2
LAFS.K12.W.1.3
LAFS.K12.W.2.4
LAFS.K12.W.2.5
LAFS.K12.W.2.6
LAFS.K12.W.3.7
LAFS.K12.W.3.8
LAFS.K12.W.3.9
LAFS.K12.W.4.10

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-Author Podcaster-

BETH MCMU LLEN

How to start a creative writing club.

When school started last year, I got the crazy idea that the students at my daughter’s elementary school might like a forum in which to do creative writing. Although they get some in the classroom, I was thinking of a completely non-judgmental environment where I guide them but they ultimately do what they want, where there are no wrong answers or points off for misspelling a word. Really, I wanted for them the kind of club I would have loved myself as a child.

Click for mini writing exercises!

How to Create a Middle School Writer’s Workshop Your Students Will Love

Post author: Marie
Post published: April 27, 2020
Post category: Classroom Management / Lesson Planning / Literature Programming / Uncategorized
Post comments: 66 Comments

Every teacher has experienced introducing a writing assignment to the class and being met with eyerolls groans. Except for maybe the 3 or 4 students that are actually excited to hear about a writing assignment.

So then, how do you create a middle school writer’s workshop that your students will actually love? Students will learn to love writing when they are able to use is as an outlet to express themselves, their dreams, thoughts, complaints, aspirations, or anything else that middle schoolers want the world to know.

Table of Contents

What is Writer’s Workshop?

According to Wikipedia , Writer’s Workshop was created by Donald Graves, Donald Murray, and several other teachers, and then later popularized by Lucy Calkins (more on Lucy later).

They believed that if professional writers’ workshops are so effective for professional writers, then how much more successful would writer’s workshops for students be than traditional teaching methods?

Another great strength to the middle school writer’s workshop model is that students are writing from the start. So there isn’t a lot of dead time where they are trying to figure out some elusive lesson without putting it into practice immediately.

Many students fear writing because they don’t know how to get started. We have all seen those students, sitting there, staring blankly into space. But if we let them write what they want how they want, then help them to master their craft, they are already way into the process and much less intimidated by it.

What Lucy Calkins Brought to the Middle School Writer’s Workshop

Lucy Calkins began her work in 1981 when she became the founding director of Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. Her philosophy of student writing was that writing is a process consisting of definitive steps and all students can become excellent writers, not just certain gifted students.

And fortunately for classrooms since then, her point has been proven correct nationwide. Her work was particularly concentrated in New York City schools. Ms. Calkins and her team went into the schools and trained thousands of teachers in her techniques. The result was a dramatically improved writing program throughout New York City schools.

She has written over 20 books on the subject, the most popular one being the best-selling The Art of Teaching Writing.

What makes Ms. Calkins even more amazing is that this book is not just a revision of the old copy. It is the result of years of tweaking and updating her material to work with classrooms of today. And in cases where her methods could be transformed to make them even better, she didn’t shy away from denouncing the old and bringing in the new.

So this book is the product of an excellent methodology that was put into practice in thousands of schools, then improved upon to pass the test of real life. That is an impressive book and author that are willing to go to such lengths to keep the material fresh and relevant.

Let me warn you, though, this book is an incredibly meaty 550 pages. So, buy it now, implement what you can by reading bits until this summer, then, once you have time, you can dig deep and be ready to transform your class in the fall!

From Writing to Reading

As a side note, Ms. Calkins’ work extended into the reading realm as well. She maintained that it is imperative to allow children to read the things that are important to them. And the end result will be children that develop a passion for reading that follows them into adulthood.

It makes perfect sense when I think about all the times I was forced to read something I had no interest in. It was pure torture at times.

What are the Four Components of Writer’s Workshop?

There are four basic components to the middle school writer’s workshop. Some teachers will add or tweak a bit, but these four are pretty much the gold standard: mini-lesson, student status, writing time, and sharing time.

I know that sometimes it’s easier to cut out one or more of these steps for the sake of lack of time and just focus on the writing without all the “extra” steps. But it’s really important to fight through that temptation. Each one of these steps is critically important for your students to develop their thinking and writing process and skills. And if you can get that time in (even if you have to split it over a couple of days), it will be more than worth it in the long run.

I do understand that the clock is fighting against us when we only have a 45 minute period to do this in. But we have to be careful that the students don’t feel our battle with the clock. They don’t need the stress of trying to finish before that bell rings or else…

In these instances, it is so much better to continue to the next day. Everybody is more relaxed, and their brains are concentrating on what they are writing instead of the pressure.

Mini-Lesson

So the mini-lesson is exactly that: a mini lesson that gives the students one or maybe two straightforward concepts. They will then take those concepts and immediately put them into practice instead of listening to the teacher continue to give details about that lesson.

The mini-lesson is designed to be only 5-15 minutes long. I have seen plenty of complaints from teachers that this is not nearly enough time to explain a concept well enough for the students to grasp it and then put it into practice.

And in the traditional teaching method, they are absolutely right. But in this case, the real learning is in the students’ writing. Keep in mind that when you get to the writing process, you will just reach out to the students that need help the most while the rest of the students are already on their way.

Over half of your class is going to recognize the writing concept already, especially if they are readers. We will get to that part more in depth in a little bit.

A Ready Example

What is important here is having an example that they can look at immediately. Then, rather than continuing on with the lesson, you will be turning it over to the kids to put into practice while it is still fresh in their minds.

So basically, if you are going to teach a lesson on capital letters, you would concentrate on one or two usages of capital letters. For example, you would teach them how names are always capitalized. And you may want to add in the concept of the first word of every sentence being capitalized because there is nothing they have to figure out regarding that rule. Of course, this is over-simplified for middle school age, but you get the point.

Once they start writing, be careful to only correct the work relating to that lesson or previous lessons you have already taught. That allows them to concentrate on the concept you are teaching. And they don’t get overwhelmed trying to remember ALL of the capitalization rules.

And that is how you are able to keep the lesson short and sweet!

Also, it helps to realize that you aren’t trying to cement the lesson at this point, just introduce it.

Student Status

Because your students’ work is generated by them, they are going to end up at all different levels of progress in their writing. Some students may be writing a short story, others may be writing a much longer piece. There can be as many different options as you have students in your class.

The main point here is that the students are choosing what they want to write about (within reason ) and what they want to do with it.

Because of this fact, you will not have all of your students in the same spot at the same time. And your primary goal is to guide them through the lesson itself rather than writing style or any aspect not related to the specific lesson. So this period of time is for you to get updates from your students on where they’re at and where they’re planning to with their projects.

This will actually be one of your students’ favorite times. They will enjoy showing you what they’re up to and seeing a smile on your face when you see how they are progressing.

Working Out the Details

You can choose to do this every day, or you can do it a little bit less often, especially as the year progresses and they start to get their own bearings.

Also, as the year goes on, you can have older student helpers come in to do this step with them, or even pair up or group your class to that they can do this step with each other. If you choose this method, you will still need to be able to check in with all the students periodically. But it won’t be as much as if you are doing all of the status checks yourself.

Some teachers will put a chart with pockets up on the wall so the students can put what stage of writing they are in. Those would be such things as brainstorming for ideas, forming an outline, drafting, proofreading, and publishing. Feel free to add or subtract as you work with your class.

And some teachers will allow the students to be writing more than one project at a time, which would make the chart-with-pocket idea more necessary. I did not do this because I thought it would get too chaotic for me. But other teachers do it well.

This step can be done at the beginning of writing time, while the students are settling in to start writing. It shouldn’t take any more than 5 minutes. You aren’t helping yet. But you can certainly take note of help you will be giving during writing time. This is just for you to evaluate where everyone is at and where they need to get to.

Writing Time

This is going to the longest time period of the class. Which is really the point–students should be writing as much as possible during writing class. It will be around 20 minutes long for the standard 50-minute class. Those in block scheduling will have a bit more liberty in their schedule for this part.

The writing time part of the middle school writer’s workshop is, of course, the most important part. That is because the more students actually write, the better they will become. And the more motivated they will be to continue writing right into adulthood.

What the Writing Process Looks Like

This step is actually a two-step process. While the students are writing, you will be conferencing with students around the room. In the middle school years, the majority of students will be quick to let you know they need help. But with every class, there are some that won’t. Be aware of those students and make sure to get to them and peek in on their work.

Over the course of a couple of days, you need to get to each student at least once. I kept a checklist to make sure I got to everyone. My brain isn’t as young as it used to be!

As for the students’ writing, my students worked so much better when I let them move around the room at will. They could work anywhere as long as they were working diligently, and as long as they were not being a distraction to other students around them.

Just a reminder: you are only correcting/guiding their work based on the current lesson and past lessons that they should have down by now. If you try to correct everything, especially at the middle school level, you will get defeated students that no longer want to write. Unfortunately, I know this from experience.

When Writer’s Block Threatens to Derail You

Writer’s block is real. We’ve all been there many times in our life. And I guarantee just about all of your students will face it head on.

But there are some great ways to combat it. You can just converse with your student for a few minutes. Casual conversation can help them think about what they’ve been up to, what they’ve been thinking about, what they’ve been watching, where they’ve been, or who they’ve been with. There’s a whole lot of inspiration in that.

It also helps to have a chart up somewhere in your classroom with inspirational pictures and ideas. Then they can always just look quickly at the list and pick something. Just make sure you are changing that list often enough to keep it fresh.

For some instant inspiration, check out my post on Timely Middle School Writing Prompts.

Sharing Time

Sharing time will be the other favorite part for your students–at least the extroverted ones. But even for the introverted students, they will generally be happy to be sharing their work. They will be grateful that this isn’t speech class!

Seriously, though, this is the point in time that they have learned a concept, put it to work on a project that was initiated by their own thoughts and made use of their own creativity. You guided them through the process as they did all of the work.

And now, they get to share that piece of themselves with the class, or small group, whichever you prefer. Or you could even ask how many students would like to present to the class.

At this age, you will have a good many that want to share with the whole class. And honestly, I found it as fun as the other students.

Many students will enjoy hearing each other’s work. And they will be inspired as they continue on to the next project.

Another huge benefit to this: you are not taking all of those papers home to read through and grade all night. You can make some notes as they are reading. And with that, the majority of your work is done! This alone is worth its weight in gold.

While the students are presenting and you are evaluating from a distance, it also feels like a chill time for you and your students. Although if you try to do this right after lunch you may find yourself and some students nodding off!

Why Each Step is So Important

The biggest reason each step in the middle school writer’s workshop process is so important is because you are helping the students to develop a comfort with writing. And really, just like anything else, the way to become comfortable with something is to practice it regularly.

The four steps help them to keep on track with their thoughts, goals, and how they plan to get there. And the process helps you to be able to efficiently help a large classroom as they work in their own time and at their own pace. This is a win-win for everybody!

The biggest takeaway here is that the students are in control of their writing. That makes them authors! When you share this information with them, they will take even more pride in their work.

Check out this short video on how middle school writer’s workshop helps the students to take ownership of their work:

So this is middle school writer’s workshop in a nutshell. Yours will look different than mine. But they will all have basically the same components.

One of the most exciting things you will see come out of this is how much your students’ writing improves throughout the year. You will be amazed and proud of them for a job well done. And you will see how much quicker your students catch on to the writing process. Seeing their confidence grow is such a rewarding thing.

Education Next: The Lucy Calkins Project

If you liked this article, I think you will like some of these other articles:

Timely Middle School Writing Prompts

12 Significant Ways to Improve Student Writing

12 Ways to Improve Reading Skills

Seven Styles of Learning and How They Apply to Your Students

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This post has 66 comments.

There are so many wonderful resources for children and I’m glad that there are writers workshop to explore creativity.

Your students will thank you later, if they aren’t yet now. As we grow older, we realize just how useful reading and writing is in our careers and in daily life. I like how you would like to capture your target audience for your workshops. I wish we had that when I was younger.

Making learning fun is not an easy task. You have nailed it in this article.

Thank you, Melissa!

I wish we had focused more on writing during English class. We didn’t do much creative writing, just essay writing and comprehensions. They were fine and I don’t mind writing essays, but I would have loved to learn more about creative writing and structure.

I agree. I didn’t get much of that until college. I think teachers are afraid that there just isn’t enough time to add it. But over time, it actually saves time because the students learn it better and faster when they are using it and not just memorizing the facts.

My daughter is in middle school and I think she’d like this. Granted, she usually hates when they have to share what they’ve written with the class.

Yes! That is why I always base it on the students’ desire and not force them. It would be better to just let those students share in a small group so they don’t stress about something that isn’t that necessary.

I have seen that students working in a comfortable seat have helped them concentrate on their writing. I wonder what research will find when it comes to flexible seating options and student outcomes.

Research has shown that students are way more productive when they are comfortable. 🙂

As a kid I enjoyed writing so much. As I grew up that changed, I dreaded the term paper here and there. Now, I blog which I find kind of ironic. These workshops are great and being able to share their work is great.

I wonder if you hated writing the term papers because you had a lack of time and because you weren’t that interested in the subjects. It may have been a different story if you liked what you were writing about. Or it could have just been that you were a kid/teenager!

I have two middle schoolers. I shall try this to get them to write more

I hope it works well for you!

Your concept of mini lesson us really amazing…….I have listen that comfortable seat gives children full relaxation….. thanks for sharing.

I love this! In wonder how I could spin this for the music classroom – maybe in a composition style assignment? Hmmm…

Oh my gosh, that would be amazing! I love how you always take an idea and just run with it!

This is such a great idea to help them get comfortable with writing! I know for myself that having unstructured time to just write allows me to be so much more creative too.

Great ideas to encourage creative writing. My daughter will do this willingly and enjoy but my boys need more encouragement.

Haha, I had the same exact issue with my kids. The girls love to write, the boys think it’s torture.

This is so useful! I have a brother around this age and we both love reading and English so maybe I could do stuff like this with him while in quarantine!

I love the way that you’ve laid this out! These are definitely useful tips that I can put to use in my own teaching endeavors.

Wow nice idea these are absolutely awesome tips to encourage creative writing.

I grew up having the right people teach me how to improve my writing skills. and I will be forever grateful to them. 🙂 Im happy that there are initiatives like this. keep it up!

I always told my own kids that writing is a critical life skill in all of life. Fortunately they believed me and ran with it. The girls a bit better than the boys, lol.

As a non-teacher parent currently stuck at home homeschooling the kids, this is definitely helpful in building out my own psyche to teach, and how to keep them engaged. Thanks!

I hope it helps you!

This was so helpful!! Thank you!

Love this post. As a former journalist and current writer, I cannot emphasize the importance of communicating through the written word. Thanks for sharing!

This is a great post. You are really helpful in how you set up a writing session for children. Writing is a great tool of expression and love🤗

This is really good for children to know the basics of writing. When I was growing up, I struggled to use proper punctuations and even the simple subject-verb agreement. Great post you have!

Thank you, Waren.

Wow! How I wish there are writing workshops too especially for kids here in our country.

Maybe you could do a neighborhood group with kids on the weekends? Especially for the kids that love to write!

A writer’s workshop would definitely improve their writing skills. Writing will also help their creativeness and imagination

It’s a great way to help them when they get stuck on what to write!

I love how this is set up and it really is a great way to help improve writing skills.

I loved the creative writing classes I took in high school and college. You reminded me that I really miss writing, I need to get back to it.

This is a fantastic resource. I think the key to learning is making it fun, and this workshop reallyi does that. I love how in-depth it was, as well. You can’t possibly screw it up!

This post is a mini lesson that guides an educator to add more resources for her students. Very helpful.

I would love to sign up my son for a writer club like this one, that would be so beneficial and I know he’d like it…

Awe, I love this! I started writing at a very young age and it stuck into adulthood. Anything to shape this craft at a young age is great!

Love these tips! These tips have me wanting to do a writing workshop!

I wish I had an English teacher that encouraged more creative writing like this! I didn’t know how much I enjoyed writing until I was much older!

This is so amazing, you shares some really great information. I totally wish I had resources like this bad in the day.

as someone who used to be a h.s. teacher, i love your tip — be careful to only correct the work relating to that lesson or previous lessons you have already taught. that is so true! well written.

This is so amazing, you share some really great information. Well written

This is so helpful tips! My son love writing, im going to encourage him to sign up in this writing club to enhance his writing skills.

I think it’s a great way to get them to write for sure. I am all about interactive learning it always keep kids captivated.

This is a great idea for middle school teachers as writing is so important!

I used to hate writing when I was in school and now I have come to love it 🙂

I remember that I did not like writing assignments at all when I was in a middle school. I whish that our teacher would have created writer’s workshop or made the assignment more interesting.

Writer’s workshop is a great idea wish I had it back when I was in school. As much as I absolutely love and enjoy writing now back in school writing assignments were at times nerve-wrecking.

Great advices and tips! I like getting involved in Middle School Writer’s Workshop. I usually mentor kids to write.

My daughters love to write stories, and they always seem eager to tell me about the plot, the characters, etc. I think having a writer’s workshop is great for kids like them.

Amazing tips for a school writing workshop. I am sure these study will gain so much info.

In todays time, this is very helpful specially for homeschooling activities. I am sure this is of good use.

Thank you for sharing these great tips. Very helpful for anyone working with kids

This sounds like an awesome idea! I’m sure there are many out there who will put this idea to good use! Thanks for sharing.

I hope so, Shannon!

I think the idea of a writer’s workshop for students is awesome. Teach for a few minutes, then write, teach then write. The perfect way to learn and become a better writer.

I am soon going to be a teacher and I can’t wait to implement your brilliant ideas!

These are really great tips. I have a friend who is a teacher in school. I will share this article with her. I know she will be more than interested in this.

What a fabulous way to get your kids into writing! These are such awesome tips to incorporate more writing. I’m going to try to incorporate this with my own kids!

Kileen cute & little

These are great steps to create Middle School Writer’s Workshop. It’s really helpful for new teachers and of course to students!

oh i love this. i know a few teachers that would love this and i will have to send this to them.

6 Activities for Your Teens’ Writing Club

One of my favorite extracurricular homeschool activities was leading a monthly homeschool writers’ club. We called ourselves “Writing Nerds” because that’s what we were—a group who loved reading and were interested in writing. Our group was made up of junior high and high school homeschoolers. We met for an hour and a half each month. If you like reading and know the basics of fiction writing, consider starting a group with your own homeschoolers.

Here are some activities to get your teens’ writing club started!

5 minute story:.

Give each student each three slips of paper. On the first, they write a character. On the second, they write a setting. On the third, they write a conflict. I had a basket for each (characters, setting, conflict), and they tossed them all in. They drew one slip of paper out of each basket, then they had five minutes to write a story about their character, conflict, and setting. The requirements for the story were:

Open with dialogue in paragraph #1
Describe the action in paragraph #2
Then they could describe the setting in paragraph #3.

After that they could continue with the story as they saw fit. They then read the stories out loud, and they were HILARIOUS! I still remember one was about a nun who had to bail from a plane that was crashing in Paris.

Teaching Dialogue:

To teach dialogue, I used plays, such as mixed-up fairy tales ( here are some free ones!) . We assigned parts and read sections of them out loud. Then I had them write the dialogue of the same characters in a different situation. For example, what if Baby Bear in the three bears showed up at the first day of school and his seat mate was Goldilocks?

Color Coding:

I photocopied the first pages of a novel—such as Kingdom’s Dawn by Chuck Black —and gave everyone a copy and crayons:

Red for action.
Green for dialogue.
Yellow for internal thoughts.
Orange for description.
Pink for emotion.

This really helped them see how novels are not just narrative (this happened, then that happened, etc.). Sometimes I had them write their own story following the same “color pattern.” The results were impressive. Sometimes we colored the openings to two different novels and then compared the authors’ writing style.

Snowflake Method:

We used Randy Ingermanson’s Snowflake Method and “plotted” a novel. You can learn more about The Snowflake Method here .

3 Likes + 1 Dislike:

We assigned people to bring short stories or parts of their book to class every week. They had a limit of 1,000 words and they had to make enough photocopies for everyone in class. We passed around the story and gave eight to ten minutes for everyone to read the story. Then everyone went around and shared three things they liked and one thing they didn’t like.

I was the last to comment after everyone was done, and I did the same (but I usually gave two or three suggestions about ways they could improve their story). I was amazed how insightful the students were. The majority of the time they discovered all the “issues” by the time it got to me.

Sensory Exercise:

I had a collection of objects—steel wool, sponge, a plant, coins, etc.—that they could handle, and they had to write descriptions of them. Then they had to use that same description and describe something else—for example, the description for steel wool became the description for a knight’s armor.

Those are a few ideas to get you started. A writing club is so much fun—and educational, too!

Here is a FREE printable to use for your writing club!

More resources:.

Homeschooling for the Rest of Us by Sonya Haskins

Homeschooling 101 by Erica Ardnt

Hope and Refreshment for Homeschooling Parents

Need more ideas and advice on homeschooling? Pick up a copy of Homeschool Basics . Receive tried-and-true homeschool advice from veteran homeschooling moms Tricia Goyer and Kristi Clover. We dish out practical help on getting started and staying the course. Homeschool Basics will remind you that the best homeschooling starts with the heart. Packed with ideas to help you push aside your fears and raise kids who will grow to be life-long learners. Kristi and I believe that homeschooling can transform your life, your home, and your family. Mostly, we believe homeschooling can truly prepare your children for the life God’s called them to live. Don’t let doubts hold you back any longer. Get Homeschool Basics on Amazon Now!

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January 16, 2019 at 12:55 pm

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Discussions about the writing craft.

I inherited a high school creative writing club and am very excited about it, but I need help with some activities!

This writing club is longstanding and has great participation across all grades. I've helped out with it in the past but really only just been there as a sounding board for kids. I never led anything.

I've taken over as of this week since the original teacher left, and am excited and have some great ideas...but this week is going to be super busy already and I am afraid I won't have time to really come up with much.

Most of the students already know each other pretty well, and those who are new will get the chance to mingle this week, which is fine. It can be pretty laid back for a while as they do this. It SHOULD be laid back overall, but I'd like to offer something for those kids who are ready to just get started with actually writing and workshopping.

What are some ideas for 30-50-minute creative writing exercises I could implement for part of the group?

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Writing club – How to set one up and boost children’s confidence

In the inspiring environment of a well-run writing group, children’s literacy skills will flourish – so why not set up your own?

Lynda set up a lunchtime writing club, ‘Buzzwords’, in her primary school. She began with Year 6 and, after a while, opened the writing club to children across KS2.

Children were given notebooks and encouraged to ‘loosen their writing muscles’ with a range of word hunts, lists and short writing exercises. She found oral anecdotes and memories powerful ways of engaging less confident writers.

She always read aloud a piece of writing to broaden the children’s vocabulary, ideas and structures, and to increase their literary knowledge.

A collection of simple writing prompts also proved effective – pictures, maps, word collections, opening lines and newspaper headlines .

Children were happy to find their own materials and spaces, under desks as well as at them, and to write for 20 minutes.

Lynda established an atmosphere of respectful attention so children who wanted to would read out their work. They were always keen to know their peers’ responses and became fond of each other’s distinctive humour.

Greatest success

In Lynda’s view, children’s increased ease with writing was the club’s greatest success. This was especially the case for children with learning difficulties who had previously under-achieved because of low self-esteem, and for able writers hampered by the limitation of prescribed or over-structured writing tasks.

You may have heard of the National Writing Project UK (NWP UK). Perhaps you have attended one of its growing networks of ‘writing clubs’, which since 2009 have been bringing teachers together to write, share their work and enhance their practice.

But have you considered setting up your own for your school’s children? As the example above illustrates, the results can be well worth the effort…

How to set up a writing club

On your own.

Firstly, start writing today! Fix a regular time when you can sit quietly, and aim to write for at least 20 minutes. Sometimes this will be easy, at others hard, but you need to gain confidence to write even when you’re not feeling like it.

Try out the ideas you plan to use with the writing group. Once you’ve done this for a week or so, you’ll be ready to start.

You don’t have to share any of this with your club or class, but it really helps to write alongside pupils, using the same prompts, and to be prepared to show, share and discuss some of the evidence.

With the children

Sound out your individuals and classes. Identify your keen writers. Discuss the idea with them. Establish a convenient time (lunchtime or after school), so that you can meet once a week for at least half a term before you review or change anything.

Engage your enthusiasts by word of mouth, and advertise. In a primary school assembly with about 300 children, one teacher announced the start of her Year 5 and 6 writing club with these words: “I will be doing this in Mrs X’s classroom at lunchtime. If you would like to come along, we’re going to be writing things that we want to write and, you know, it’s for fun, basically.”

17 children came to the first session and 25 to the second. The club is still running after two years.

Get them engaged

Your club should be fun and stress-free, with a range of quick writing games and short challenges.
Meet in a quiet place.
Give each writer a notebook and pen, or encourage them to buy a nice one.
Establish ground rules about privacy, experimentation, practice, sharing and reflection.
Write alongside the children.
Get to know and value the different voices.
Celebrate diversity and withhold judgement.
Be prepared for the membership to change over time, but keep the invitations personal and positive, and keep repeating them.

Quick writing exercises for your writing club

You need something easy to break the ice and ‘loosen up the writing muscles’. And if it’s a lunchtime club you have to have an activity “that they can do while they eat their sandwiches…” noted one group’s leader!

The following list may provide some inspiration:

Newspaper headlines
Opening and closing lines
Lists of words
Word tiles to arrange
A simple stem-structure such as “I like…”, “I hate…”
A ‘scavenger hunt’ of the place you are in
Freewriting for five minutes without stopping

Agree beforehand whether this writing will be shared or not. It’s often good to have a shared and a private piece – that way children can get into the habit of trusting themselves to have a go, and of letting other, more considered, writing ‘brew’ inside them for a while.

Main writing activities

After a while this is best left to individuals to decide, but at first, some children may appreciate some guidance. Try:

Extending your writing from one of the first exercises (take a word, idea or phrase as a starting point)
Writing in voices or from a particular perspective – what the woman in the picture was really thinking; how the artefact came to be here; what the tree remembers
Using snatches of overheard conversations or ‘found’ phrases to launch you into your own writing
Finding an object/picture/view that interests you and write about it twice, moving your writing position/perspective to do so – once from one point of view, once from another

Again, agree beforehand how you will share the writing that takes place.

Establish ground rules, for example, listening to each other attentively and not being afraid just to say thank you. It’s useful to model how to respond to the writing process, rather than the product:

Where did you get your ideas from?
Which words/parts came easily and where did you struggle?
What would you like to do next with your writing?

When children are ready to share, model attentive listening to tone and content (it helps to hear the writing before you see it).

This process may be better in pairs at first, but where possible it’s fascinating to read around the group and hear what different writing has emerged during the session from similar stimuli.

Taking it further

You might like to enhance your group by writing together online. Most schools have a VLE with separate forums that can be closed except to those who are password approved.

This enables all children to see each others’ writing and give feedback. A teacher of one Year 6 class said that the biggest boost to children’s writing confidence came from appreciation and suggestions from their peer group.

Resources for your writing club

The following items will help keep your children inspired for hours…

Small boxes and envelopes, plain and coloured paper, card
A range of writing implements
Collections of postcards, pictures, quotations
A book box with novels, picture books and poetry
Magazines and newspapers to cut up
CD/DVDs: music, short films or clips
Ephemeral texts – newsletters, tickets brochures, catalogues and packaging
A props box, hats and scarves, glasses, glove puppets
A collection of objects – buttons, fir cones, jewellery, toys, bric-abrac, shells, stones

Once the group is established, it’s good to ask children to bring and add ideas, texts, objects, pictures, DVDs of their own.

This article is an edited extract of Introducing Teachers’ Writing Groups by Jenifer Smith and Simon Wrigley ( Routledge ), which is available now. It explains the importance of said groups and offers guidance on setting up your own. Browse more ideas for National Writing Day .

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How to Start a Writing Club

by Lisa Nehring | Clubs | 0 comments

I am leading a Writing Club this year at True North Homeschool Academy and to say I love it is an understatement. I love words, teaching people how to use them effectively and watching the enthusiasm and joy young writers take in expressing themselves and sharing their creation. Happy Sigh.

Have you ever wanted to start a writing club? Check out True North's easy steps for forming, and leading, a fun and engaging writing club.

There is still time to join our fantastic writing club, but if you’d like to start a Writing Club where you are at, here is a simple format to get you started.

First, set goals and time frames.

Set goals for the group or have the kids set their own individual goals . In our group, our students set their goals for the year and then share their writing/reading goals (because writers are readers) for the time between now and the next time we meet.

Set a clear structure for the club so the kids know what to expect and how to prepare . The very nature of a club is less structured than a formal class, but creating set time ensures that you keep moving forward and as many students as possible have a chance to read and share their writing.

Next, add writing prompts to your Club

Start with a writing prompt. The kids love this time, regardless of age or ability. Set a timer- not too long, not too short- 5-15 minutes. Read the prompt and then let the kids write. No talking, just writing. When the timer goes off, give everyone time to read their response to the prompt.

Sit back and revel in how amazing the kids are! You will be blown away at the diversity, ability, and creativity! No critique or formal feedback, though you’ll probably notice that often the kids will give each other unsolicited encouragement and support and cries of “Wow! That was amazing!”

Where can you look for writing prompts?

Pictures from all time periods
Famous Quotes
A sentence or two from a book
A snippet from the news
A few lines of poetry
Snippets from other subject areas
Math formulas
Science facts
Funny photoshops

The sky is really the limit. Last week our prompt was from the news, “This storm can kill!” and the week before a quote, “Absence of faith is not lack of faith, but control.”

Focus on skill building in your Club

I am a poetry writer, reader and advocate from way back, so I often bring in poetry forms and tropes as part of our skill building. Many great writers include poems and songs to develop their characters, and I want the kids to have these tools available to them.

Other ideas include working on dialog, tropes, sentence structure and variations, plot devices, characteristics of genres, humor, applying literary analysis to one’s own writing and so much more! I usually allow for about 20 minutes on this section because I’ll present the skill and then give them time to work on it.

Next, write and share feedback.

Take time to have 2-3 kids share 5 minutes of their writing each week (the writing that they are doing on their own- apart from the writing prompts) and have everyone listen well. Then, allow the class to give feedback and assessment on the writing. I set clear parameters for the kids on this as our goal is to give each other constructive feedback and information that will allow each person to grow and excel as writers.

I teach kids about the “sandwich” method of giving feedback (2 positives, one critique, one positive) and encourage them to find both strengths and areas of weaknesses in the writing- offering possible solutions. This feedback teaches how to give and receive feedback, simple literary analysis, and how to listen well. We also work on presentation skills, and the kids know that they’ll have to introduce themselves and their work to contextualize for the audience before they begin.

Book reviews are also great!

Because good writers are good readers each student shares a book they’ve read, gives a brief critique, what the liked or disliked about the book and gives it a 1-5 star rating. We’ll be publishing our books lists each semester, so stay tuned!

Finally, have plenty of extra resources for your Club

For our Writing Club, I also make sure the kids know about resources like NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) as well as writing and reading contests.

Our writing club has kids ranging in age from 12 to 17, some have written very little, and some have written a couple of books already. What we do have in common in a love of words and a desire to hone our ability to craft with words.

Start a local Homeschool Writing Club , but if you don’t have the time or inclination, we’d love for you to join ours! (you can join any month of the year). Or, if you have a local group, we can work with you too. We are partnering with co-ops and class days to bring quality education TO you, regardless of where in the world you are! We have special prices for groups. And if you don’t see something you are looking for in our catalog, be sure to let us know – we can work together to make it happen!

Have you ever wanted to start a writing club? Check out True North's easy steps for forming, and leading, a fun and engaging writing club. #homeschool #writingclub #TrueNorthHomeschoolAcademy

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Creative Writing

Hone your craft with the pros, start a lifelong apprenticeship in the literary arts.

The creative writing program that nurtured Dennis Lehane ’88, best-selling author and HBO writer/producer, is now accepting applications to earn B.A. and BFA degrees. But you don’t have to be gunning for a Hollywood contract to enroll. Our liberal arts graduates also go on to MFA programs and careers in journalism, media, PR, editing and publishing, counseling and software design.

Only@Eckerd

Writers in paradise.

Spend 8 days in workshops with writers like Andre Dubus III, Anne Hood, Laura Lippman, Lori Roy, Stewart O’Nan, David Yoo and Laura Williams McCaffrey. This writer’s conference is held on our Florida campus every January.

Facetime with famous authors

You’ll also have the chance to meet and talk with other celebrated writers including Stephen King, Carl Hiaasen, Julianna Baggott and Mark Bowden. These and other literary lights give talks here throughout the year.

Get help paying for college

Need help with finances? In addition to the academic scholarships we hand out upon application, you can apply for the Artistic Achievement Award .

In Their Own Words

Without my mentors through the creative writing department, I wouldn’t be in graduate school studying for my MFA with the opportunities ahead of me to teach and write. With their support, I was able to study travel writing in Paris and London, which was instrumental in my growth as a writer and a person. The creative writing department at Eckerd College is a hidden gem—once you find it, you must hold onto it! —Olivia Jacobson ’22

Beyond the Classroom

INTERNSHIPS
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Creative Writing majors have interned on campus with our student newspaper, The Current , and our literary magazine, Eckerd Review . Another recent student was an editing intern at I Love the Burg , a creative agency in downtown St. Petersburg.

Pay it forward by tutoring with Journeys in Journalism . This community program teaches local elementary, middle and high school students how to be reporters, photographers, editors and page designers for their school newspapers.

Spend a term living at our London Study Centre and studying the literature of Great Britain. Includes a week of travel and tickets to epic museums and theatre productions. Or choose from one of 300+ other destinations we offer every year.

Eckerd is just a stone’s throw from some of America’s hottest literary landmarks and events. Check it out:

The Earnest Hemingway Home
The Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings historic site
Miami Book Fair (November)
Zora Neale Hurston Festival (January)

Popular classes

Craft of writing.

This course reviews poetic and narrative language and introduces the concept of literary texture. Present what you write in class at public readings held on campus once a semester.

Writing Workshop: The Personal Essay

Learn about literary essays by reading masters like Harry Crews, Eudora Welty and Joan Didion. This class explores how to use imagination to shape format, technique and your own personal style.

What can I do with a Creative Writing degree?

Business Manager
Educational Assessor
Media and Newspaper Reporter
Software Designer of Interactive Fiction
Technical Writer

Where our Creative Writing majors go to graduate school

Chapman University
Emerson College
Florida International University
George Mason University
Hollins College
Indiana University
Stanford University
The Johns Hopkins University
The University of Miami
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
University of Alabama
University of Iowa Writers Workshop

Where our Creative Writing majors go to work

Bluewater Books & Charts
Dupont Registry
Novelist & Poet
St. Petersburg College
Time Magazine

St. Petersburg, Florida 33711 800.456.9009 or 727.867.1166

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Creative Writing Club!
How a Creative Writing Club Can Help Your Kids be Better Writers
Start Your Own Creative Writing Club
Top 10 creative writing club ideas
How to Start a Creative Writing Club for Kids
100 Creative Writing Prompts for Middle School

COMMENTS

How to Start a Creative Writing Club (with Pictures)
Forming Your Club. 1. Name your club. Even if your name choice is basic for now, don't worry; you can always pick a more creative name with the group later on, during your first meeting. You'll just need some kind of self-explanatory name to help you recruit members as you start out.
How to Organize an Extracurricular Writing Club at School
Establish a time and common place to meet. Meeting in a common area encourages multiple grade levels to participate and avoids the stigma that the writing club is for a certain type or age of student. Our club meets 3 times a month in the library from 8:00 till 8:45. Membership is flexible; any student may join the club at any time.
How to Start a Creative Writing Club for Kids
We have two rules for Writing Club. The first is we are respectful of everyone's ideas; if a fellow student is reading his/her work aloud, we are quiet and listen closely. The second is no one has to read if they don't want to. No pressure. I also give away middle grade books I'm done reading. Winners beam like they've just won the ...
Creative writing
Creative writing club. Before becoming an author, I ran creative writing clubs in 30 schools a week for almost a decade. I hired over 100 tutors, won some awards, teamed up with publishers to arrange author events, and even had requests from teachers in Europe, Dubai and Australia asking to launch a club in their schools.
What should we do in a creative writing club? : r/writing
Reply reply. lockwoodfiles. •. Bring in work you have written and share it. Write flash fiction from the same prompt. Write poems. Watch videos or lectures about writing techniques. Collaboratively outline a book. Learn about writing events in your area.
10 Creative Writing Club Ideas to Support Budding Writers
6. Story settings activities. A good story needs an equally good setting, and the best way to get your writing club members thinking about their fictional locales is with some story settings activities. We've got loads of creative writing club ideas to do with settings, like these Story Settings Photo Prompts.
Getting Started with Writing Clubs
Starting the year in these exciting and joyous ways will lay the foundation for creating successful writing clubs throughout the year. Read Katie Durkin's MiddleWeb review of Lisa and Patty's Writing Clubs: Fostering Choice, Collaboration, and Community in the Writing Classroom.
7 Steps to a Great Writing Workshop
Set up a writing workshop! This instructional approach truly engages students by letting them write, read, interact, mentor, and take risks—all at their own pace. Follow these simple steps to create a writing workshop in your classroom. Step 1: Set up a writing workshop framework. A typical writing workshop session has four parts.
PDF How to Teach Creative Writing
ps of three to four people. Give each student three small pieces of paper: one b. ue, one red and one yellow. Each student should write the name of an interesting place on the blue paper, the name of an interesting person or thing on the red paper and an action o. event on the yellow paper. Have students fold and to.
How to Structure Your Creative Writing Class Time for Middle School
Keep in mind this was high school where I taught a creative writing elective though, so I had older students. ... Get your hands on 75+ Middle School ELA Reading + Writing Essential Lessons Organized by Genre, ready to use ANY time of year . . . Maximum versatility for stations, review, tutoring, intervention, extra practice, whole class, or ...
CREATIVE WRITING CLUB
We have two rules for Writing Club. The first is we are respectful of everyone's ideas; if a fellow student is reading his/her work aloud, we are quiet and listen closely. The second is no one has to read if they don't want to. No pressure. I also give away middle grade books I'm done reading. Winners beam like they've just won the lottery.
Creative Writing Club for Middle School, Welcome Storytellers Ages 10-15
US Grade 5 - 8. In this ongoing course, students can work on their creative writing skills by learning new ways to inspire themselves and improve their writing ability. The four main elements to creative writing are plot, characters, setting, and tone. We will learn and discuss the importance of these elements plus many more in this class.
How to Run a Writing Workshop for Children
10. Be professional. If you're being paid to run the workshop, then make sure you give value for money. Be smart but comfortable in what you wear—you might spend a lot of time crouching by tables for example. Send in your invoice on time. Ensure you have PLI and if necessary, a DBS certificate. 11. Lastly….
How to Create a Middle School Writer's Workshop Your Students Will Love
The writing time part of the middle school writer's workshop is, of course, the most important part. That is because the more students actually write, the better they will become. And the more motivated they will be to continue writing right into adulthood. What the Writing Process Looks Like. This step is actually a two-step process.
6 Activities for Your Kids' Writing Club
Give each student each three slips of paper. On the first, they write a character. On the second, they write a setting. On the third, they write a conflict. I had a basket for each (characters, setting, conflict), and they tossed them all in. They drew one slip of paper out of each basket, then they had five minutes to write a story about their ...
I inherited a high school creative writing club and am very excited
First, as someone who directed an Inter-Club Counsel for a community college, let the group be student lead, student run. Prepare writing prompts for fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction. Use when asked. Better yet, have the students prepare prompts. Advise, council, let them direct.
Writing club
Your club should be fun and stress-free, with a range of quick writing games and short challenges. Meet in a quiet place. Give each writer a notebook and pen, or encourage them to buy a nice one. Establish ground rules about privacy, experimentation, practice, sharing and reflection. Write alongside the children.
How to Start a Writing Club
Start with a writing prompt. The kids love this time, regardless of age or ability. Set a timer- not too long, not too short- 5-15 minutes. Read the prompt and then let the kids write. No talking, just writing. When the timer goes off, give everyone time to read their response to the prompt. Sit back and revel in how amazing the kids are!
Online Writing Clubs for Kids & Teens
Discover engaging online writing clubs for kids and teens to develop storytelling skills, writing techniques, and make new friends in a creative community.
TOP 10 BEST Writing Classes in Saint Petersburg, FL
Top 10 Best writing classes Near Saint Petersburg, Florida. 1 . St. Petersburg College. "Prices are good for the classes. You can now get a 4 year degree here which is good at a much lower..." more. 2 . University of South Florida. Subway and 2017 Chinese New Year Celebration at this location.
Find where to run in Saint Petersburg, Florida
Running in Saint Petersburg. A good way to meet local runners is to participate in a parkrun. Weedon Island Preserve parkrun is held in this area. Bayshore linear park is a route with a asphalt/concrete surface close to Saint Petersburg. It could be suitable in the winter time as it has has electric lighting.
Creative Writing Degree
The creative writing program that nurtured Dennis Lehane '88, best-selling author and HBO writer/producer, is now accepting applications to earn B.A. and BFA degrees. But you don't have to be gunning for a Hollywood contract to enroll. Our liberal arts graduates also go on to MFA programs and careers in journalism, media, PR, editing and publishing, counseling and software design.
Morgan's Creative Writing and Computer Services
Morgan's Creative Writing and Computer Services, Saint Petersburg, Florida. 144 likes. Writing and Design company. Business promotional services such as logos, cards, flyers, and ads. Ads

How to Start a Creative Writing Club

Things You Should Know

Forming Your Club

Holding for Your First Meeting

Keeping Your Club Going

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How to Start a Creative Writing Club for Kids

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Mission Statement

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Building a Foundation for In-Class Writing Clubs

Start with Read Aloud s.

Use Getting-to-Know-You Writing Exercises .

Implement Feedback Structures .

Identify Student Expertise .

Establish Partnerships.

The Natural Next Step: Writing Collaborations

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7 Steps to a Great Writing Workshop

Step 1: Set up a writing workshop framework.

Step 2: Be a writer!

Step 3: Create a writing community.

Step 4: Provide many models and topic choices.

Step 5: Let students work at their own pace.

Step 6: Invite peer responses.

Step 7: Offer your support.

Final Thoughts:

Teacher Support:

Standards Correlations:

Related Resources

BETH MCMU LLEN

Click for mini writing exercises!

How to Create a Middle School Writer’s Workshop Your Students Will Love

What is Writer’s Workshop?

What Lucy Calkins Brought to the Middle School Writer’s Workshop

From Writing to Reading

What are the Four Components of Writer’s Workshop?

Mini-Lesson

A Ready Example

Student Status

Working Out the Details

Writing Time

What the Writing Process Looks Like

When Writer’s Block Threatens to Derail You

Sharing Time

Why Each Step is So Important

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6 Activities for Your Teens’ Writing Club

Here are some activities to get your teens’ writing club started!

Teaching Dialogue:

Color Coding:

Snowflake Method:

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Sensory Exercise:

Here is a FREE printable to use for your writing club!

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