Haverford Creative Writing

CLASS EXPECTATIONS

Visiting Authors

Poet Cameron Conaway met with students on Tuesday, January 13th and share his personal journey with poetry and how he creates and crafts his art.

Dave Patten, singer, song writer, novelist, and actor, talked with students on December 22nd about living a creative life.

Students used Skype to speak with the senior editor of Philadelphia Stories and Philadelphia Stories, Jr., Ms. Christine Weiser, about what editors look for in creative writing pieces seeking publication,
We virtually connected with Ms. Leah Nicholson of the Jenkins Publishing Group to learn about ghost writing.
We Skyped with founder and senior editor of Teen Ink, Ms. Stephanie Meyer, to get some advice for submitting our work for publication.
We invited three talented YA authors - E.C. Myers, Marie Lamba, and Ellen Jensen Abbott - to come to our school to speak with us about their inspiration and advice for writing stories.

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CLASS EXPECTATIONS

RESPECT

When you post, it is important to be respectful; be respectful of other people posting and respect yourself. This means that personal attacks, inappropriate language and content, insults and harassment of any kind are strictly forbidden. Consider this an online classroom and ask yourself if your comments would be acceptable in our physical classroom setting.

BE PREPARED

Always come to class prepared. This means coming into class and being seated when the bell rings, bringing your Writer's Notebook and writing folder each day, and completing assignments on time. Your presence in the classroom is essential to your success. Tardiness and unexcused absences will have a negative effect on your grade.

EXPECT GREAT THINGS

Your attitude plays an important role in your education. If you believe you can succeed – you can! Encourage your classmates to succeed too.

TAKE OWNERSHIP

Take personal responsibility for your learning: set goals, evaluate progress towards those goals, adhere to high standards and revise your performance when needed. You can also take responsibility for your learning by asking questions when something is unclear, participating in classroom discussions and asking for extra help if you need it. This is your education – get everything you can out of it!

PRIVACY

As a rule you are to maintain relative anonymity while using this web resource. These steps ensure your privacy and that of others in class. Please follow these rules:

Do not use your last name. Use your last initial after your first name.
Do not use your address or any other geographically identifiable information.
Do not indicate our school in any place on your account or in your postings.
Do not include pictures of you, your friends, or your family. Use an avatar.

REMEMBER: treat everything you post on this site as an extension of what you do in the classroom. If you cannot say it in class, you should not post it online. Know that EVERYTHING that you do on this site (even emails through this site) are viewable by the teacher.

WHAT DO I NEED TO BRING TO CLASS EACH DAY:

Something to write with
Your writing folder will be online, so there is no need for a binder. As much as possible, we will be going paperless in this course. You will need to access your school Google account regularly.
Your Writer's Notebook
Your student planner to help you keep track of homework assignments and upcoming projects.

HOMEWORK AND ASSIGNMENT POLICIES:

Assignments will be listed on a weekly calendar posted to this site. Students should keep track of assignments in their Haverford planner.
Copying, cheating, or plagiarizing are grounds for failing the assignment and/or the course.
In order to receive full credit on all assignments, students must turn in their work on the designated due date. Late assignments will not receive full credit.
In the case of an excused absence, students have two days to make up work missed while out.

Our Writer's Notebook Prompts

Looking for something to write about?

Take a peek at some of these prompts and ideas for inspiration:

Follow Jennifer's board Where Writing Hides - Finding Prompts for High School Writers on Pinterest.

WELCOME!

This is our space to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and help grow our writing in our Creative Writing course. Adding content and sharing has never been easier! We will be using this site to:

Reflect on our writing using blogs,
Keep track of our assignments and projects using our online resources,
Customize a personal page (My Page), and
Participate in our online Writer's Workshop.

Overall, this site should help us reflect on our writing endeavors, celebrate our accomplishments, and streamline how we share and learn information.

Write With Us!

Join us each day at 1:00 pm ET as we share our daily writing prompt. Write along with us and use the hashtag #havwriters on Twitter to share your connections and creations.
Live streaming video by Ustream

Writing Our Children's Books:

We've Been Published!

Check out the first issue of eXpress magazine

-our digital magazine for creative writers and readers-

Are you an aspiring writer?

Whether its poetry, short stories, blogs, or news writing, check out some of these resources for writers:

"Ultimately, the point of learning about revision is to learn how to help our writing match more accurately what's in our hearts." --Georgia Heard, The Revision Toolbox

BOOKS:

Writing Toward Home: Tales and Lessons to Find Your Way by Georgia Heard is a beautiful reflection on the writing life and the process of finding home and voice in one's writing. Each chapter ends with a prompt to get you writing.
The Writing Life is Annie Dillard's reflection on the life and power of the writer. Known for her nature writing (notably Pilgrim at Tinker Creek), Annie Dillard's insights into writing are poignant and meaningful.
Poemcrazy by Susan G. Wooldridge is a wonderful resource for poetry writers, filled with reflections on writing and writing ideas for your own poetry.
The Market Guide for Young Writers, a book written by Kathy Henderson, includes market and contest listings as well as a section profiling nine published writers between the ages of 9 and 18. Also included are a glossary ("Words Writers Use"), an encouraging chapter on getting started, and a list of "Answers to Questions Young Writers Ask Most."

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"We do not write because we want to; we write because we have to." --W. Somerset Maugham

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WEB RESOURCES:

The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing is a website and book put together by Professor Michael Harvey. Use the menu across the top of the page to find many great resources designed to help young writers with the thinking, style, structure, evidence, and mechanics of writing.
Advice to Novice Writers a web page put together by Mr. Dee Rimbaud that is filled with advice about how to submit your writing for publication. A great deal of excellent advice for new writers.
The AA Independent Press Guide is a listing of over 2,000 reputable American literary magazines and their submission guidelines. If you are interested in publishing your poetry or short stories, this is an amazing resource.
Young Writer's Society - Dedicated to writers between the ages of 13 and 25, the Young Writer's Society is the world's largest website for young writers. The members-only community encourages submissions and offers tips that will help anyone become a better writer.
NaNoWriMo Program - NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month. Every November, people write a 50,000 word novel.
Writing.com - Boasting resources for everyone from novice writers to published authors , this online writing community is a great place to store and display your work online. Free memberships are available to all.
MIT Writing OCW - The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers a number of free college-level writing courses through their OpenCourseWare program. You can see the full listing of courses at this website.

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"We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand." -C. Day Lewis

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WRITING PUBLICATIONS AND COMPETITIONS:

Teen Ink is an excellent publication sponsored by the Young Authors program. It is a web and print publication written by and about teens from all over the United States. You can submit essays, reviews, short stories, poetry, and artwork online.
Figment has a tagline of "write yourself in," encouraging teen writers to share their work in all its form. The site also hosts monthly writing contests with a variety of prizes for poetry, fiction, and non-fiction writers.
Creative Communications has already published the poems and essays of a number of Haverford High School students. It does not cost anything to submit; however, if you are published, you may be asked to pay a small fee to receive a copy of the book your work will appear in.
The River of Words Project sponsors an annual, international, environmental poetry and art contest for children and teens. The contest's grand prize winners, students ages 5-19, receive a trip to Washington, D.C., where they are honored at an awards ceremony and public reading at the Library of Congress. Entry forms and complete rules can be found on their website.
Next Step Magazine is an online magazine for teens which sponsors an essay writing contest about the teen experience.
The Scholastic Art and Writing Contest, sponsored by Scholastic Publishers is open to students in grades 7-12. Contest information and entry forms can be found on the Scholastic website.
Student Science Fiction and Fantasy Contest is a short story contest sponsored by the World Science Fiction Convention. Rules and information can found on their website.
Resources for Teen Writers Interested in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing is a large listing of short story writing contests put together by writer and student David Barr Kirtley.
Winning Writers is both a writing resource and a listing of writing contests. This site offers many helpful writing suggestions and interesting articles.