Teen Writing Group

This semester I taught a teen writing class in our local family co-op. A few of the kids in the class liked writing, some were on nodding-acquaintance with writing, and one refused to do any writing unless absolutely necessary.

A teen writing group seemed like the perfect choice.

We would explore writing and hopefully, all would go away encouraged and liking writing – at least a little bit more.

The Plan

First, treats were promised… every week.  Sweet memories of this class were a must.

The first day each teen got a notebook, pencil, and writing list. The writing lists included ideas I found online, such as:

• character types to use in stories
• a page of first lines/last lines to encourage inspiration
• interesting ideas to write about

The first 5-10 minutes of co-op were spent free-writing in the notebooks.

Each week one teen would share something having to do with writing, such as, something they wrote or talking about a favorite book or author.

There were discussions about writing:

• What makes a good character?
• How important are words?
• What makes writing good or bad?

Teen Writing Ideas

Each week included several writing games and activities.

Fun writing prompts were explored.

We talked about famous authors and their advice to budding writers.

The kids started a joint writing project online using a shared Google drive file.

The suggested names for this joint story included:

• Bumper Car of Destiny
• The Wart of Doom
• Mustache of Destiny
• and the winner… Blue Wednesday

Next week is our last class and we all voted to end with a pizza party.

It has been a great adventure. Friends were made, laughter was shared, learning happened, and some things got written. Definitely a success!