AJ0328 Creative Writing for English Pedagogy

Faculty of Education
Spring 2023
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 4 credit(s). Type of Completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Steven Rybnicek (seminar tutor)
Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D. (seminar tutor)
Guaranteed by
Mgr. Jiří Šalamoun, Ph.D.
Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Contact Person: Jana Popelková
Supplier department: Department of English Language and Literature – Faculty of Education
Timetable of Seminar Groups
AJ0328/01: Mon 16:00–17:50 učebna 63
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 25 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 4/25, only registered: 0/25, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/25
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
there are 8 fields of study the course is directly associated with, display
Course objectives
Through participation in a model creative writing workshop, students will learn how to direct such workshops themselves—as an engaging tool for English-language instruction. Students will read, write, and critique original poems and short stories—while developing prompts, exercises, guidelines, and practices for their own future use. You’ll also read established writers in each genre in order to discuss craft and how fictions and poems work.
As a tool of language instruction, the workshop aspect often helps drive student engagement more than ordinary lessons, as it involves students creatively and allows them to express themselves through language play, feeling less like dry instruction. Yet it provides practice, which is how one mostly develops grammar and vocabulary, rather than through study alone; and it also allows for communicative performance, in sharing with classmates. In addition, timid students who are self-conscious speaking are often more expressive through writing; they may be engaged and encouraged through creative exercises and thereby build confidence. Poetry workshops in particular can be easily adapted for all ages. (Children’s poems are often quite brilliant.)
Learning outcomes
After completing this course, students will :
- Will be able to implement aspects of writing workshops to help engage English students creatively—particularly helpful for timid and disinterested pupils;
Will have produced a semester’s worth of writing prompts, exercises and examples for their own future use
Will have grasped the dynamics and function of group feedback and discussion
Will improve their ability to close-read and analyze key elements of style: the choices of an author, and the effects such choices produce on a reader.
Syllabus
  • 1: Introduction; Intro to character and POV
  • 2: Elements of Character and POV
  • 3: Scene and Dialogue
  • 4: Plot and Pacing
  • 5: Time
  • 6: Symbolism
  • 7: Endings
  • 8: Introduction to Poetry Unit, Stanza and Form
  • 9: Other Verse Forms and Meter
  • 10: Free Verse and Sound
  • 11: Elegies & Aubades, Odes & Praise Songs
  • 12: Listing and Repetition
  • 13: Prose Poems
Literature
  • LePlante, Alice. The Making of a Story: A Norton Guide to Creative Writing. Norton, 2010.
  • Dunkelberg, Kendall. A Writer's Craft: Multi-Genre Creative Writing. Red Globe Press, 2017.
  • Yeh, Jen. Creative Writing: A Workbook with Readings. Routledge, 2006.
  • Additional materials will be placed in the mood-link-a course.
Teaching methods
Discussion, lecture, in-class writing exercises. Sharing and discussing creative works.
Assessment methods
Participation and writing exercises; the submission of creative works.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
The course is taught annually.
Teacher's information
http://moodlinka.ped.muni.cz/course/view.php?id=683
During the course, students will read, write, and discuss fiction and poetry—both as the audience of a text, and as authors.
  • Enrolment Statistics (recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/ped/spring2023/AJ0328