MsBenitezPAHS - A Creative Writing Journey- English 2

A Creative Writing Journey external image PurpleSky.jpg

Weekly Creative Writing Assignments:

Every week an assignment will be posted that you will be required to complete by the end of the week. This will be an additional writing assignment that will focus on the unit and/or work(s) that we will be covering in class. Please check our wiki page regularly for these assignments.

Creative Writing:
Creative writing is writing that expresses the writer's thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique, and poetic way. Creative writing is guided more by the writer's need to express feelings and ideas than by restrictive demands. Specific requirements are not necessary, but what is necessary is for you to write down what you are thinking about a specific topic, action, event, and/or emotion.

Writing is a PROCESS, just like math, one has to practice writing to improve one's writing skills. I know what you are thinking. No, writing is not hard nor boring. To prove this point, we will embark on a brand new journey where all writing will be fun and interesting because this writing journey will be all about YOU!Writing, like life itself, is what YOU make of it. Therefore, YOU need to make sure that your writing is lively, interesting, and most importantly FUN!

"But Ms., I don't know WHAT to write about." - student response
For these assignments YOU know EXACTLY what to write about because it will be about you, with this said, THERE SHOULD BE NO EXCUSES WHY YOU SHOULD NOT BE ABLE TO COMPLETE THESE ASSIGNMENTS.

Have fun writing!
Ms. Benitez

Assignments

I. First Assignment: Nature Writing
Synopsis
For this assignment you are to emulate Henry David's Thoreau nature writing and keep your own field journal! Henry David Thoreau opted to get away from materialistic things and society to find himself and the value of life. He did this by living two years, two months, and two days in a small cabin in Concord, Massachusets and keeping a field journal recording his experiences in Walden pond.

This is a short video about Thoreau and his motives for isolating himself within nature.
http://www.filmbaby.com/films/4024

Assignment:
For this assignment you are to go on an expedition. You may go to a park, the waterfront, your backyard, a field, a friend's house, or a garden. You need to go to a place where you will be comfortably analyzing and becoming one with nature. You are to write four journal logs that describe what you see, how you feel, your thoughts, experiences, and any changes that you see. Be creative, you may start off with a story that led you to your expedition, you may write about how a specific flower,animal, whatever you may see reminds you of someone or something. The purpose of this activity is for you to become one with nature. Try to feel and experience what Thoreau experienced in his expedition to Walden pond.

Requirements/ Rubric:

- Four Journal Logs:_/ 16 points
(Journal must include four logs with a minimum of 2 paragraphs per journal log.)

- Body of Logs:/40 points
(Journal logs contain vivid, descriptive, and emotional language. The logs truly capture the student's connection with nature. Student relates outside experiences to his nature writing.)

- Figurative Language:_/16 points
( Each journal log contains at least 3 examples of figurative language per log. Figurative language must be highlighted and label.)

- Aphorism:_/8 points
(Each log contains an aphorism that goes along with the message of each journal log.)

- Grammar:_ / 20 points
(Proper punctuation, minimal run-on sentences, fragments, and proper subject-verb agreement.)

Total: __/100 points

II. Choices Assignment- The Road Not Taken

The Road Not Taken Writing Assignment.docx

III. Analysis Assignment- Emily Dickinson

Emily Dickinson.docx