Fiction!

EXTRA CREDIT: When you are done look up the meaning of your name and write a response about what you find. Is it accurate? What does your name say about you?

What would you do?

Your 15 Things

Read About it HERE!
http://grist.org/list/2012-01-04-this-guy-only-owns-15-things/
Assignment: Respond to the prompt above. Please don't just list your 15 things. Explain the why. Add details and develop your ideas!

Writing Prompts for 7th Grade Only

8th Grade Students
Please finish working on your Ekphrastic Stories this week.

7th Grade Students
When you are finished writing your Dear Me Letter, print it and turn it in. Then begin the next assignment below.


Write 1 1/2-2 pages responding to one of the prompts below. Try to write as much as you can by adding details to your writing. Don't forget to use paragraphs and SPELL CHECK!

• If I could live anywhere in the world, I would choose...
• The thing I regret most about my life is...
• If I could accomplish one more thing, I would...
• My favorite childhood memory is...
• The saddest/happiest moment in my life was when...
• The thing that scares me the most is...

Ekphrastic Storytelling

Ekphrasis: Writing that comments on another art form. For example, a poem written about a painting or a story about a photograph. 


Essential Question: Do I know what ekphrastic storytelling is? Can I write a story based on a picture one of my classmates provides?

Bellwork: Take some time to find an interesting image on the internet to serve as a starting point for a story!

Work Time:

1. Find a partner and show them the picture you found.

2. Discuss the pictures and brainstorm some story ideas.

3. Begin writing your first creative writing story by using the image provided.

Hint: If you do not like the picture you were given, try to find an angle to take the story where you want to go. For example, take your character to a new setting.

Welcome to Our Blog!

Welcome to middle school creative writing! I will post a great deal of information for the class right here, so be sure to check the blog often!

You are welcome to comment and ask questions on the blog, but please make sure that your posts are school related and appropriate. Thank you!

Here is today's agenda: 

Bell Work: Find and bookmark the class blog!

Essential Question: Am I prepared to start the new school year?

1. In your notebooks, brainstorm about the following: 

• Goals
• Expectations
• Feelings about starting a new school year.

2. Task: Write a Dear Me Letter. 
Here are some guidelines on how to get an A: 

• Write yourself a letter discussing your feelings about starting a new school year.
• What did you love and hate about last year?
• What are your goals and expectations for this year?
• How do you feel about being at SOTA?

*Note: These guidelines are here to get you started. You may add to the them as well!

* If you type your letter, please use Microsoft Word and SAVE YOUR WORK! Don't know how? ASK!

Assignments 17-20

17. Map of Life: Draw a stylized map, beginning with your birth and ending with the present. Along the

way, include little labels or diagrams of what you remember as important events, places, and people in your life.
Keep all items in order, but leave enough space between individual items to fill in as you think of additionalinformation. Write small since it must fit on ONE page. You may use branching paths or a legend.

18. A Mysterious Place: Describe in a FULL page some place that seemed mysterious, exotic, or fearful to

you. Concentrate on creating the same impression on your reader by a careful selection of sensory details which
recreate the setting. Help us recognize what was special about this place. Or make up a fantasy place that has
these qualities…just describe it well enough for us to believe in it too.

19. Synectics: Synectics makes the familiar strange and the strange familiar. It is the basis of all metaphor

and involves the process of creative problem-solving. Each of the following sets of questions ask for choices
between unrelated answers — answers which can be logically related somehow — and yet, there is no single

correct answer. BUT correct answers would rephrase the question as part of the answer.

Think carefully about the choices offered, make a choice, and then explain your reasons for choosing as

you have. It is your explanation which proves your answer “right” or “wrong.” Answer at least TEN.

1. Which is wiser? a pen or a pencil?

2. Which is easier to forgive? a street or a sidewalk?

3. Which is smarter? a clock or a calendar?

4. Which is easier to teach? a question or an answer?

5. Which is like a contest? a cloud or a sunset?

6. Which is more fearful? new or old?

7. Which is like a promise? mathematics or science?

8. Which is more difficult? a dream or a nightmare?

9. Which is braver? an hour or a year?

10. Which has more pride? an entrance or an exit?

11. Which is easier to close? a road or a map?

12. Which is like a legend? a mirror or glass?

13. Which is more suspenseful? rain or snow?

14. Which has less charm? a signature or an autograph?

15. Which is more trustworthy? history or literature?

16. Which is more useful? a friend or an enemy?

17. Which is sadder? seek or find?

18. Which costs more? a home or a house?

19. Which is happier? music or art?

20. Which is like a valentine? the truth or a lie?

20. A Day in the Life: Write about a part of your life as if it were a passage from a novel. Refer to yourself

in the THIRD PERSON — not “I woke up” but rather “she woke up.” Exaggerate, elaborate, and prevaricate if
you wish — there’s truth to be found in fiction, too.