Creative class is a very interesting experience
I am glad I had to go through. When I first signed for this module, I really
didn't expect anything at all. I thought we would simply learn about some
techniques and activities to implement some creative writing in our classroom,
which is fine. We are still getting there I think, but I loved that we- the
teachers- had to go through the experience ourselves. That came as a surprise
to me, but as we went on with that, it all made sense. We have to place
ourselves in the students’ positions, and we must see how things can be
daunting or overwhelming at certain points. I personally found it challenging
to give feedback to my peers’ because I was afraid they would find it
insensitive. Also, I have learned that creative writing can actually be taught
to some extent of course, but I really loved every technique, and I really
tried hard embrace those techniques, and they took me to places I didn't think
I will get to. I used be way into creative writing, but at some points I gave
up on myself thinking that I don’t have the potential to produce something
remarkable. However, seeing how learnable creative writing can be, I am
seriously considering giving myself a change.
With my flash fiction story, I was very
influenced by Sticks I must say, and I was intrigued by how pre-reading stories
can impact our writing in different ways according to our individual characteristics.
Some completely undermined those stories and went on their own journeys. Some
found some inspiration in the suggested stories as I did with Sticks while
others looked for inspiration from other fiction readings or movies. This
immediately encouraged me to try out giving a fiction piece to read or
something to watch and then have the students start making a story from that
point. How that piece gets them to start is entirely up to them.
Moreover, Flash fiction really appealed to me due
to its short nature even though it requires extreme selectivity, it encourages
an early start with creative writing. I don’t why I had the assumption that it
has to be a novel to count as an eligible story, but I overlooked the options
in between. However, after going through this experience, I started searching
for convenient creative writing activities.
Another task that I really enjoyed was the
scene making. As a fiction reader myself, I have always fully emerged into
scenes that are marvelously written and to even attempting to make such a thing
myself felt rewarding. Many techniques helped such as focusing on a single
object and highlighting it with detailed description using the senses. This
really helps with building vocabulary and descriptive language. Immersing into
the character and describing things the way they would see them also made me
think of several ways this could bring so much excitement and creativity into
my writing classes. Students can all describe a single item but from different
characters' point of view and see how influential the outlook can be on the
very same scene.
The last and the most challenging activity was
writing a story and going through writing workshops to receive feedback and refine
and reshape the stories. It was very interesting to see the different the
backgrounds and the ideas behind each story. Being an online class and having us
come from different backgrounds really allowed for this versatility in style
and language. Thus, it feels that creative writing classes can be taken into
another level when held on international basis. The first drafts were
impressive but raw and lacking clarity as things can be very clear in the author’s
head, but they don’t translate as clearly in the writing. This enlightened me
to the importance of feedback, to actually listen and to the fact that stories
are very editable. They can go through many stages until they form their final
shape.
As easy as it sounds, listening to every single
feedback and trying to please all points of view is kind of impossible. The
story really begins as we write it, and it has its own twists and turns, and it
doesn’t always want the author to manipulate it. Stories do have this sort of
power. In my case, I knew I wanted to write something about my grandmother. My
first draft was flashes from her life before she passed away. As much as the
character was loveable, and the culture seems interesting, there was a clear lack
of action and dialogue. We learned to focus on point of view, so I didn't like
the fact that she was the narrator because that was unrealistic. She was sick,
immobile and unable to communicate. In my second draft, I attempted to change
the point of view to complete strangers who had no clue about what the culture
is like, but my story completely changed. I didn't plan it, and I didn't expect
it to go that way but I loved trusting my instincts and just letting the
stories be themselves. That activity can be a great outlet for creativity and
addressing main issues with fiction. I definitely will incorporate more of that
into my very personal life. I am a part of a book club, and I suggested to the
members to actually discuss our own stories at some point. They are all on
board, but I will pass to them some of the techniques were learned. I also
downloaded three books loaded with great creative writing activities, and I
plan to do them once in a while and have my students do them as well.
In the end, every technique we learned gave me
an ''aha'' moment and really shifted my perspective as a reader and as an
immature doing it for fun sort of writer. Those techniques inspired many
activities that are applicable in classrooms, modifiable to many levels with an
abundance of learning potential. Now I am really looking forward to applying
all of that in class and tweaking things with technology.
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