More CHoice? No Grades? Peer Feedback? -- Yes, Yes, YeS
By David Kelley
Creative writing is a subject that can be fun for some kids, and is also very helpful for learning. While we do have a creative writing class at this school, I also think that we should think about having an after-school club for the subject, for several reasons.
First, I am going to list some reasons that creative writing has been found to be good for kids. Among other things, an article from the University of Sydney said that it has been found to improve the writing quality of children's writing, which is something that almost everyone can use.
Creative writing is a subject that can be fun for some kids, and is also very helpful for learning. While we do have a creative writing class at this school, I also think that we should think about having an after-school club for the subject, for several reasons.
First, I am going to list some reasons that creative writing has been found to be good for kids. Among other things, an article from the University of Sydney said that it has been found to improve the writing quality of children's writing, which is something that almost everyone can use.
The same article also said that it has been found that children will be engaged in the writing for longer, which is something that a lot of kids struggle with, and the English teachers too struggle with keeping everyone engaged, as English is not everyone's forte.
However, when it is creative writing rather than the typical structured writing that takes place in most of the English curriculum, the student can write what they want to write about, in a way that they want to make it happen, leading to them being more engaged and invested in the writing, than when they write an essay on a topic that they don't really care about.
I also want to put in as an aside some personal experience with creative writing. I personally like to do creative writing as an outlet for my thoughts and ideas, and to write about things that affect me in a different light. Impossiblities in the current real world can easily be written off to make an incredible piece of work. I think that when you think of it as a way to create whatever you want, you can become very invested in the work as I have, and that sometimes it can feel that having to work it into a school piece can feel like it is restraining you from writing what you truly want it to be.
Now this is all well and good, but why do I recommend an after-school club while we already have an elective course that you can take? Why it's simple really, if it is a elective like it is, it van be hard to work it into the schedule, especially with something like creative writing which typically is only taught for one or two blocks a year.
Two, as an elective, it's still an in-school subject, and therefore is going to be graded. While it may be fine for some, other students may be constantly worrying about if the work is going to be good enough to get an A, or if the teacher will agree with and like what is being said, while if you were to be a part of an afterschool club, there is no pressure about your grade, and you can see even more of what your peers think about your work, and get more feedback than you may otherwise, as people who take the club are more likely to be more invested in what they do as a personal piece of work than as something to get a good grade on.
When it is something that is not part of the school I believe that more people will be invested in writing their own work as they want it, and be much more lax and easy going about it than if they were working to get it done by a certain deadline, and to certain point as they may in school.
I myself would fully enjoy a club on creative writing, getting the chance to work writings over with other people who also enjoy different types of writing. I think that because they have different opinions than mine, it would really aid me to work things over with others.
I also hope that if you like to write on your own creatively, that you would join the club as well, though sadly, there is no current club. However, if we were to get enough people together who would be invested, then we could start one. So if you would be interested, or if you know someone who would be, talk to your English teacher or talk to me and let's see if we can get one started.
Source: https://www.sydney.edu.au/news-opinion/news/2015/10/20/creative-writing-boosts-kids-confidence-and-creativity.html