Innovative lessons/ideas for teaching creative writing, as well as samples of student writing resulting from the lesson. See complete submission guidelines here.
This is a fun out-of-the-box exercise by Frank Ingrasciotta in which we visualize and describe the letters of the alphabet as pictures then write poems that riff on these pictures using the letters of our own names. The lesson works especially well for visual spatial learners and reinforces those skills for other young writers.
Collectively, all over the country and world, we are seeing the effects of what happens when we come together in the name of justice. The death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Nina Pop and so many others has sparked an unprecedented outcry for anti-racist structural change and a complete end to police violence against Black…
In this lesson, read William Blake’s “Tyger” poem, experiment with ekphrasis poetry and dive into writing descriptive poems with questions, about an object of your choice!
Here’s an imaginative writing lesson to follow up on your WOWT “Delight Songs” poems. Write lyric “list poems” and use anaphora with the help of Joe Brainard’s “I Remember”.
Teacher Joanna Fox writes about her experience using typewriters to excite her poetry students and to engage them in generative writing and the power of language.
This lesson introduces the concept of metaphor by inviting young writers to create recipes for abstract things in life.
In this lesson, learn how to create poems that blend the senses. With the help of this fun activity and a poem by Gayway Kinnell, experiment with vivid metaphor and the feel of words.
Inspire the most reluctant writers to become excited about poetry with this lesson, which involves a translation of a poem by Luo Binwang, to get students writing odes about their favorite animals!
Share in the pure joy of language with this lesson which engages word play, collage and poems by Edward Lear and Sonia Sanchez to create original poetry.
A school garden becomes the inspiration for a writing project that combines myth-making and art. Winner of the 2020 Bechtel Prize for an innovative classroom project.