Teaching a writing workshop

I'm confused as to what you're doing. You're going to a school to teach children about writing? What age group and how long is the lesson supposed to take? Are they getting graded or is this something they're taking for fun?

As a very general rule, I would say avoid worksheets. Worksheets are what every teacher hands out when they don't know what to do. Kids hate them. Do something interactive. Let them be creative. Plan extra activities in case the ones you have planned take less time than you think. Work in games, if you can. If you're going to ask questions, make them open-ended, not stuff that has just one answer. And, unless they're actually getting a grade for this, let them decide if they want to take notes or not.

Those are my best tips from substituting every age from preschool to high school. That and always, always arrive early. Can't count how many times that's saved my sanity.

My question is you're supposed to start this tomorrow and you're only asking for help now?

There's this thing Orson Scott Card does, called 1000 ideas in an hour. google it, steal it (but credit it). it's verbal plotting and it's great fun for all ages.

I'll add this advice, especially for the older set: try not to think of them as kids. They've got less world experience than you, for sure, but talk to them just like you'd talk to a group of adults who are new are writing. Give them plenty of chances to practice their craft in the class. (Also, mini-exercises are a great way to take up time if you find you're running up short.) Respond to what they're saying, and incorporate it into the lesson if you can.

The younger set might need more direction. You might have to guide the discussion a little bit more or be ready to prompt them with questions and suggestions in the event they get stuck. They still don't like being thought of or treated as little kids, but they don't have the self-direction of the college-bound crew. They also might be a little more sensitive to appearing childish in front of their peers.

You do have one big advantage, I'm guessing, in that most of the kids want to be there. But, yeah, in the future? Don't do this stuff at the last second. After your first day, go home and put as much time as you can into planning your second day. Do that every day this week. I spent five years learning how to wing it in a classroom. I still would've been on these lesson plans way, way earlier than the night before. I know you can't change that now, but you can put forth your best effort this week to make each day's lesson better than the last.

Petropunk said:

I was just wondering if there was some big trick to dealing with preteens that I wasn't aware of!

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Apparently, don't tell them that adult gamers actually enjoy Super Mario Brothers. I mentioned that to an 8th grader who thought Mario was for preschoolers and I think I shattered his vision of reality. ^_^

I teach writing to preteens. If you have specific questions please PM me, I'm happy to offer any advice I have.

In general, make sure you leave time for them to share. But try to structure it. Don't just have a share, try to offer discussion after it. For example, I usually frame mine as "I liked....But I would suggest..." Then see if you can get a discussion going based on the comments.

The other thing, make sure when kids are sharing, they don't just share. They should talk about what they're working on, the parts that are going well (aka their favourite parts) and also the parts they are struggling with.

Petropunk said:

So I was approached to present a writing workshop that starts . . . erm . . . tomorrow . . . and I've never done this before and haven't really been to many myself. I've written the stuff I'm going over, well most of it anyway, but I'm not sure about the mechanics of it.

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It starts tomorrow and you've done nothing to prepare for it? Jesus. I won't sign up at your school.

You don't need technical aids. If the 'kids' are there voluntarily, you can get through the first one or two classes by going around the room and asking them to stand up and give their individual writing experience.

Next, have them write a story in the class, giving them a prompt and the option of using their own. This is the 'before'. Some of the things you divine from their writing can be the foundation of the following classes.

If they're there involuntarily, start with the story. Either way, you buy a week or so to put a class together.

I taught chemistry for years, but every year, I revised the syllabus and prepared class notes at least a week ahead.

Hey, kids! My folks have a barn--let's put on a show!

Petropunk said:

I was just wondering if there was some big trick to dealing with preteens that I wasn't aware of! Heh.

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As before, treat them as older than you think they are.

And never, never be alone with any of them without other students or teachers around. This is not a joke. If one of them approaches you for advice when you're alone, move to a public area right away and then have your meeting with them.

Funny...I'm doing the exact same thing in a week and a half! I'm going in mid-week at a writing camp...can't wait. I'm prepared. ;-) Good luck...have fun.

How is your workshop set up? For example, will they do exercises then move on to the next exercise? Or do exercises then go around the room, share, listen for critique, etc?

How long are the sessions?

How many sessions per week?

How many total sessions / how long is the workshop overall?

What is the final goal? Is there a project to turn in? a completed story? world to build? Whatnot?

People think of workshops in different ways. For me, workshop means you jump in, you get maybe one full of how-to and lecture, then someone submits for the next day and we spend some time going over that person's story or pages.

Just curious about the logistics.

This is an UK site but it has loads of stuff! http://www.teachit.co.uk/

The creative writing bit is here www.teachit.co.uk/index.php?CurrMenu=searchresults&keyword=creative+writing&submit.x=12&submit.y=6

I've used some of the resources on the site and most of them worked. I've also been thrown in the deep end and found Teachit to be invaluable! Good luck.

World building can readily fall back on the "What if?" ploy. What if you landed on a really high gravity planet? What if the bacteria-like organisms in a Petri dish sea developed a group intelligence? And so forth, interjecting your bits of information as you go along.

Well ... what you could try if it isn't too late, is to have them come up with the story. Talk it through. I read an example in a book that the author was faced with talking to a class of middle schoolers and the topic was babysitting - what to do in the event you were babysitting and the baby didn't stop crying. They had to come up with reasons why, options, and the author didn't let them get away with "easy" answers. The responses were hilarious.

It's a win-win. They learn writing can be fun, that it's about everyday life, and you get to learn how kids their age think and react.