Creative Writing

Indiana University High School

Instructor: Courtney Gaylord

E-mail: cgaylord@indiana.edu

Online Office Hours: Monday-Friday 1-2:00 pm ET, by appointment

Zoom office link:  https://iu.zoom.us/j/2480351754

Important: Due to the interactive nature of this course, participants are restricted to being under 19.5 years old. If you do not qualify to participate, please contact iuhs@indiana.edu and ask to be transferred to another section.

Course description and objectives

This one-semester course will focus on the production of a final portfolio of creative writing, including poetry, short stories, and life writing (short memoirs). To learn how to write successfully, we will read and analyze a variety of literary works.

The course is organized into 15 lessons. In each one, you will read about elements of writing, read examples of writing, and produce writing. You will also share your own writing, reflect on your writing, and respond to the work of your peers. 

To the greatest extent possible, this course is designed as an online version of the "creative writing workshop" model, in which student-writers serve as a body of readers for the work of other student-writers. 

It is important that you attend carefully to interactive aspects of the course: your role as a reader of others' writing is just as important as your role as a writer. Each role will teach you important aspects of creative writing.

Course Outline

Module 1: Introduction
 Lesson 1 Worksheet: Getting to know the course
 Module 1 Quiz

Module 2: Poetry
 Lesson 2 Worksheet: Introduction to poetry
 Lesson 3 Worksheet: Figurative language
 Lesson 4 Worksheet: Allusion & remix
 Lesson 5 Worksheet: Sounds of poetry
 Module 2 Quiz

Module 3: Short Stories
 Lesson 6 Worksheet: Creating Characters
 Lesson 7 Worksheet: Plot
 Lesson 8 Worksheet: Setting and Point of View
 Lesson 9 Worksheet: Dialogue & Pacing
 Module 3 Quiz

Module 4: Life Writing
 Lesson 10 Worksheet: What is memoir?
 Lesson 11 Worksheet: Truth-telling & ethics
 Lesson 12 Worksheet: Form & Voice
 Module 4 Quiz

Module 5: Revision and Publication
 Lesson 13 Worksheet: Revising Your Poetry
 Lesson 14: Revising Your Short Story
 Lesson 15: Revising your memoir

Final Project Submission
 Final portfolio

 

Grading

Grade Scale

100-93         A

92-90           A-

89-87           B+

86-83           B

82-80           B-

79-77           C+

76-73           C

72-70           C-

69-67           D+

66-63           D

62-60           D-

59-0             F

 

Grading breakdown

Grading Breakdown

Type of Assignment	Percentage of total grade	Total points possible
Lessons	30%	75 points
Proctored exams and reflections	30%	75 points
Final project	30%	75 points
Annotations	10%	25 points

Please note that the weekly lessons are graded for completion. If your work is not complete, I will return it with no credit and a requirement to resubmit. Please do not submit your work until it is complete. Attempts to cut corners and/or rush through the course will only slow you down and frustrate you as well.

 

Pacing

This course is designed to be completed in a standard semester (about 15 weeks). You may not complete it in fewer than 6 weeks. You may not extend your time in the course for longer than 6 months. Please aim to make steady progress: You will learn more and have more fun that way. In the first lesson, you will create a tentative schedule for yourself, and in following weeks you’ll track your progress. For planning purposes, you should expect to spend between 5 and 7 hours on each lesson, depending upon your skill base and your work habits. (This is approximately the same amount of time you would spend each week in a face-to-face classroom!)

 

Collaboration

An important part of our learning in this course comes from sharing our weekly work. Your work will be visible to other members of our course. However, no grades or private information will be shared during this process. If you prefer, you may identify yourself by first name only in class materials that are visible to your peers. Please be sure that you do not include private information in your weekly assignments.

 

Basic expectations (i.e. Dress code for your writing)

This course is a writing course. Although its focus is creative writing, its purpose is to improve your overall writing skills; therefore, I expect that the writing you submit will comply with academic writing standards. In other words, I expect that all submitted work will follow the rules of standard written English.  Specifically, you must not write “i” when you mean the pronoun “I.” You must not write “u” when you mean the pronoun “you.” You must capitalize the first letter of each sentence and end with an appropriate piece of punctuation. Assignments that do not meet these expectations will not be accepted for credit.