Mrs. Gini Grossenbacher
Fall Term 2008
PLEASE JOIN US
AT BACK TO SCHOOL NIGHT on TUESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 8 FROM 6:30 –
8:00 PM
Come and help us celebrate Sheldon High School! Husky student and parent
incentives!
EGUSD Mission
Statement: The Elk Grove Unified School District will provide a learning community
which will challenge all students to realize their greatest potential.
Course Description: Students will be encountering,
discussing, and practicing writing in a variety of forms. Over the course of
eighteen weeks, students will work with description, poetry, memoirs, short stories, playwriting and screenwriting. Prompted by media, course discussion, fine art integration, and text examples, students will critique the
work of published writers. Students will study the basic elements of fiction and poetry and learn how to incorporate these
effectively in their own work. In a workshop format the class will imitate style,
revise, edit, provide peer feedback, and produce original works. In a performance
format, students will orally share and perform selected pieces. Students will
establish Pen Pals with a Smedberg student culminating in a visitation to read each other’s creative work. Published
authors will visit the class to inform students about writing for publication. In a journal, binder and portfolio, students
will gather, present, and critique their best works as culminating projects for each session. At the end of the term, a class
magazine will be published featuring self-selected best writing and artwork from each student in the course. Students will
be encouraged to follow suggested routes in order to professionally publish their own work. Students often continue to take
Creative Writing courses in college after having this class.
Please note: This
course is open to all students who wish to enhance their reading and writing abilities.
Students will be expected to read and write daily, no matter their beginning level of expertise. Writing homework will be assigned nightly. Sheldon’s Creative Writing students show a high level
of commitment in joining our artistic community of writers-in-progress. Students
will be expected to join in the open-minded, gentle critique which takes place among groups of aspiring writers everywhere,
no matter their ages.
Texts:
A Place Where the Sea Remembers, Sandra Benitez (counts toward 700 pages)
Kindred, Octovia
Butler (counts toward 700 pages)
Personal SSR reading books – 700 pages per Session (may “double dip” with other classes)
Course Binder and Journal
The most important text in this course is your classmates' poems, plays, and stories, which we will
discuss in workshop.
Excerpts and lectures based on:
Models for Writers, Rosa Escholz
selections from Writer’s
Digest Magazine
The Creative Writing
Handbook, Jay Amberg and Mark Larson
The Portable MFA, The New York Writer’s Workshop
Writing Down the
Bones, Natalie Goldberg
Bird by Bird, Anne Lamott
Immediate Fiction, Jerry Cleaver
Flash Fiction
Forward, Thomas and Shapard
Films: Used for elements of fiction, playwriting, screen elements
or writing prompts –
rarely will a film be viewed in its entirety. Not all films
may be viewed.
All films are rated
PG or PG-13.
Star Wars
Finding Neverland
Pirates of the
Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
House of Flying
Daggers
The Color Purple
Rear Window
Edward Scissorhands
Lord of the Rings
The Tuskegee Airmen
The Dead Poet’s
Society
The Legend of
Sleepy Hollow (DISNEY CARTOON VERSION)
The Freedom Writers
What Dreams May
Come
TEXTBOOKS: Please
be advised that students are financially responsible for all textbooks and library books they check out from the library.
This means that students must pay for all books that are lost or stolen from their possession. Students keep textbooks in their classrooms at their own risk. Many times a student gets a textbook mixed up with
another classmate. When this happens, the student is still responsible for the book he/she checked out. If a student needs
to pay for a book, payment plans can be arranged with the library. Call 681-7500 ext. 8088 if you have questions regarding
the textbook policy.
The following is
a partial outline of the course sequence.
Other activities
will be added as we go along.
Term 1 & 2 : Multi-genre creative writing approach
Multi-draft
poetry, story, drama
Writer’s Workshop
Writer’s Journal
Critical thinking
Private vs. Public
Discourse
SSR/Outside reading
Literature Circles & book groups: Novel &
Poetry collections
Library book talks
Book Projects
Freewriting/Dreamwriting
Critique groups
Observation Project
On-campus field trips
Creative dramatics
Simulations
Portfolios
Theme 1: Identity & Voices
Showing writing
Jabber, Jabber, Jabber
Voice
Linguistic Tower
Reading and writing for
two voices and genres
Oral performance: work
for two voices
Author spotlight: Amy Tan and Sojourner Truth
Theme 2: Nature
Landscape & Art
“Seeing in the
Mind”
Color Theory
Contrasting Moods
Point of View Poetry
Word Association Poems
Word Warm-ups
Plato: Allegory of the
Cave
Descriptive Poetry
Description of Person
Author spotlights: William Stafford; Ralph Waldo Emerson
Theme 3: Planet Earth and Beyond
Socratic Seminar: Environmental Issues and Explorations
Objects of Desire
Plot, plot
Olfactory Poetry
Creative Pepper Upper
Found Poetry
Metaphor
Informal Skits
Café Friday
Author Spotlight: Henry David Thoreau
Theme 4: War and Peace
Focus on conflicts home
and abroad
Point of View
Letters, Diaries,
Short story: conflict
Excerpts: The Things
They Carried
The Wrong Brother
Bad Appetites
Author Spotlight: Yousef Koumanyakaa, Tim O’Brien
Theme 5: Future Lives
Journals 2-5-10 years
from now
Your Daily Grind
Art Investigation: “Poet
Leaving Home”
Lost and Found
Small group sharing:
Erikson’s psychosocial stages of development
Poetry; letters to self
and others
Café Friday
Prophecies and predictions
Author spotlight: Barbara Ehrenreich
Theme 6: Best Friends
Where Have You Gone
A Small Snack
U-Up
Walking in Someone Else’s
Shoes
Character sketch
Techniques for Understanding
Literature
Memoir
Author spotlight: Jeannette Walls
Theme 7: Love and Romance
To Outline or Not?
The Sheldon Sampler
If Breakfast Be
The Wrong Date and Time
Character…
Conversation…
Triple Dare…
Techniques for Understanding
Literature
Short story: focus on
dialogue
Café Friday
Cartoon strip
Author Spotlight: Stanley Kunitz
Theme 8: Mistakes – Big and Little
Focused Freewriting
Dear
John
Personal Journals
Letters
Figurative Language
Langston Hughes: “
Mother to Son”
Confessional Poetry
Begin One Act work
Author Spotlight: Tennessee Williams
Theme 9: Dreams
The Stuff That Dreams
Are Made Of
Dream Collage and Poetry
Dreams: Jung, Freud,
and Fritz Perls
Film excerpts: What
Dreams May Come
One Act Play
Lit Circle meeting: A Place Where the Sea Remembers
Café Friday
Author spotlight: Sandra Benitez
Term 1 Final: Perform One Act Play
Term 2:
Theme 10: Myths, Folklore and Fable
Star Wars Investigations:
Focus on archetypes
The Time of Their Lives
Reuse
Film Excerpts: Edward
Scissorhands
Myths, Legends and pop
icons
Greek mythology
Folktales
Tall tales
Parody
Storyboard/graphic myth
Author spotlight: Ovid
Theme 11: Cities
Art Investigation: Wayne
Thiebaud
Don’t Know Much
Geography , But I Should
Travelogues
Advertisements
Travel Brochure
Thirteen Ways Poetry
Multimedia/PowerPoint
to Music multi-genre performance
Café Friday
Author spotlight: Robert Frost
Theme 12: Picture this
Art Investigation: Famous
Photographs
Photographer Edward Weston
Picture This
Writing Songs
Photo Essay Mini-magazine
Photo essay Presentation
Author spotlight: Tim Bellows + Kerby Smith
Theme 13: Masks
Art Investigation: Metropolitan Museum collection of masks
Pay No Attention
Poetry
Masked presentations
Café Friday
Author spotlight: Paul Laurence Dunbar
Theme 14: Japanese Culture
Art Investigation: calligraphy, watercolor + Kimono slides
Poetry: Haiku, Tonka,
Senru
Video clip: Calligraphy
in Japan
Integrated poetry, painting,
and calligraphy panel
Author spotlight: Yu Chang
Theme 15: What if?
X marks the spot
Storytelling
Return to Seeing in the
mind
Class Literary Magazine
contributions
Utopia simulation
Children’s book
on What if?
Café Friday
Author spotlight: Franz Kafka
Theme 16: Freedom
Art investigations: Hung
Liu “Shoemakers”
Class Literary Magazine
assembly
Web page reflecting freedom
Video clips: The Color Purple
Kindred book discussion: time slip novel
Clay sculpture + French scene based on Kindred
Presentations to 7th
grade Smedberg class
Author spotlight: Billy Collins
Theme 17: Wins and Losses
Poetry:
Pantoum
Villanelle
Journals
Storyboard/graphic scene
of wins/losses using your favorite actors from TV/film
Oprah
interview simulations with favorite actors
Letters to favorite actors
Café Friday
Author spotlight: Laurell K. Hamilton
Theme 18: Celebrities
Thumbnail sketches
Biographical sketches
Guess who/what descriptions
Hot seat – role
playing
Ballads dedicated to
celebrities
Satire: Roasting celebrities
Poster display
Theme 19: Gateways
Artwork investigation:
Norman Rockwell Museum Gateway projects
Prepare exhibitions
Term 2 Final: Final exhibitions with selected
portfolio work
