Creative Writing Fall 2024
Creative Writing Workshop Fall 2024
Five-Week Series
For students in grades 5-8
When: Wednesdays from 5:00-6:00 p.m.
Dates: 11/13, 11/20, 12/4, 12/11, and 12/18.
Location: Seaverns Building, Kingswood Oxford School
Class Fee: $275
Minimum 6 students, Maximum 9 students
Program Information:
This writing series balances the practice of literary devices: figurative language and dialogue, with personal writing: poetic biography, and personal change. Students will be engaged in both Individual and collaborative writing.
Week 1: Sources of creativity: writing about quiet times.
Week 2: Personal identity: poetic biography.
Week 3: Similes and metaphors: class collaboration.
Week 4: Dialogue: writing dialogue in pairs.
Week 5: Writing and personal change: I used to be, but now I am…
- We begin by exploring themes of quiet moments, but the topics can evolve based on the writing students create.
- In each session, writers have the freedom to set aside the prompt and explore their own ideas.
- Every week, we will engage in discussions and/or read brief pieces of writing that connect to the prompt.
- There will be an optional, supportive space for students to share their writing during class.
- At the end of each workshop, we will spend time on language games, storytelling, and quick creative exercises.
Instructor: David Pontrelli
David Pontrelli is a graduate of Wesleyan University, a certified Connecticut English teacher, and a certified Amherst Writers and Artists workshop leader. His participants represent a wide range of ages and abilities, from inner-city children to adult professional writers. The workshops he leads stress participant safety and create an enhanced sense of community. He has been a featured reader at Art Works Gallery, the Hope Out Loud Peace and Arts Festival, and Word Forge. He is the author of two chapbooks of poetry and a full-length collection, Poems for Streets and People, published in 2023.
