Students will, on these days, have lessons and reminders about what we learned about poetry, the genre expectations of poetry (what does an audience expect), how to best use the form of poetry, and the overall structure of a book (as this is how the research poetry project will be presented). Remember to revisit the poetic terms along the way that students discovered in Day 3.
Have the proposal commented on by Day 8. Hand back the proposals at the beginning of class, and have the students share their proposal at first in small group workshops, then whole group workshop to get more ideas about how the students should approach their project.
Give the students in-class time to work on their poetry research project at various points throughout the project (a teacher may utilize a computer lab to be able to work on their research poetry project, or the teacher can allow the students to use their electronic devices to work on the poems).
As aforementioned, at various points along the way, have whole group lessons about genre expectations, research, how to incorporate research into a poetry project, how to structure poems and examples of poetic structure, how to put together a booklet of poetry, etc.
At various points along the way, students will bring copies of their work for both oral and written feedback from the class via whole group workshop. The whole group
workshop component is essential, as the point of poetry is to see how it resonates with an audience. An alternative is to have students show their project via a classroom projector (depending on the classroom setup), and the students can give oral and written feedback on the work in this manner.
A teacher can choose when to give these whole group workshops: three pages into the project; at the halfway point of the project, etc.. For an online course, a whole group workshop can be implemented using Google Hangouts; however, if this is not possible, or if time does not allow for this, then the same methods can be implemented in a small-group workshop format.
An example week for a MWF course could be as follows:
M: lesson and discussion about the genre expectations of poetry. Answer questions about the poetry project.
W: In-class working day/computer lab working day for the research poetry project. F: Re-visit Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, because I noticed students had questions and confusion about how to structure a book of poetry. Do a whole group workshop of what students have so far in the next class.
An example week for a TR course could be as follows:
T: lesson and discussion about the genre expectations of poetry. Answer questions about the poetry project. In-class working day for the remainder of the time.
R: Re-visit Claudia Rankine’s Citizen, because I noticed students had questions and confusion about how to structure a book of poetry. Break students up into small groups so they can share what they have with their groups so far, and their concerns about the project.
Before the final project is due, either schedule a whole-group workshop day, where students can share their work and get feedback, or schedule a formal presentation assignment before students turn in their final project. An example of such work is in Appendix C.
Note: for an online course, the structure would most definitely vary, depending on the structure of the course. Students can be broken up into groups online, and large group discussions could be done in the student discussion area or via Google Hangouts. Oral feedback and written comments from the instructor could be uploaded and given to the students, and the teacher can give the students that option to give their feedback that way in small groups if they so wish. Lessons and materials could be uploaded to the online course, with the suggestion that the teacher uses visual/audio medium to present it (PowerPoint with narration, YouTube). An online course requires connection with the instructor and presenting lessons in this way will help the instructor to maintain that connection.
The questions teachers have about practical application of creative writing in the composition classroom, again, are not readily discussed because there is not unanimous agreement as to if creative writing even belongs in the composition classroom. Practical application of creative writing in the composition classroom gives teachers the
opportunity to see why it is important, to see why it is valuable, and to incorporate it into already meticulous class standards. By giving a practical application of how to use creative writing and its specific strategies in the composition classroom, I hope that I have alleviated the worries of how to implement creative writing and its strategies in the composition classroom. Composition strategies, as aforementioned, are already valuable in creative writing courses. As composition strategies are important in the creative writing classroom, creative writing and creative writing strategies are important in the composition classroom.
NOTES
1. This, in a sense, contradicts Sullivan’s earlier statement of everyone having the capacity to be creative, if he says creative writing is theorized as being sophisticated. Creativity being seen as sophisticated may lead a teacher or student to believe it is a more advanced form of writing. This could also lead to the teacher or student either embracing it or ignoring it altogether.
2. The standards established in the workshop can lead to the foundation of good writing. For example, if an assignment calls for a student to exhibit a particular skill, such as using metaphors in a poem, and the work does not include the use of that skill, then a teacher would have to try to objectively evaluate the writing in that regard. A teacher would also have to remember to model what he or she expects the students to do, so that the students might better display the need