Creative Writing Activities for High School
Are you looking for creative writing activities for high school students?
The secondary ladies of Teach Writing have you covered! This blog roundup of six creative activities can be modified and personalized to fit your needs. I’m Lauralee from Language Arts Classroom, and I love teaching creative writing. These are the best of the best activities, ready for you to personalize for your classes.
Graduation Speech
Betsy from Spark Creativity suggests an alternative to the final exam: the graduation speech exam.
Part of developing life-long learners is teaching students to reflect on what they have learned.
In this speech, Betsy isn’t even looking for flash; she wants students to reflect on the books they have read. Can students draw conclusions and inspiration from literature? If this alternative to the final exam will work for you, check out Betsy’s post.
Creative Responses to Reading
Reading and writing naturally fit together, and Melissa from Reading and Writing Haven provides Five Creative Responses to Reading. She details more than simple reading responses.
For both fiction and nonfiction, Melissa explains how booksnaps, poetry, one-pagers, journal prompts, and music analysis can bring meaning to what students read. These writing activities will not only encourage student choice, but also stretch students’ creativity.
As a reading specialist, Melissa always shares ways differentiated reading and writing strategies will support students.
Embedding Quotations
Embedding quotations might seem dry, but students will need to cite material in creative writing endeavors! Liz from Teach Writing created activities and games to liven the experience of blending quotes.
Her idea of personifying punctuation is a great example of the engagement she brings. For instance, she has her students create a Twitter chat between the period, parenthetical citation, and the quotation marks. (I want to play!)
Comma: Hold on period, not time for you yet! #CommasAreImportant.
Liz has turned a mundane task into a creative writing task all its own. Check out LIz’s idea for bringing freshness to an important skill in her post Creative Activities and Games for Citing and Embedding Quotations.
Prompt Sticks
Meredith from Bespoke ELA uses prompt sticks to review the school year. But! She outlines the process so thoroughly that these creative writing activities can be expanded for various reflections:
peer editing
improving figurative language
correcting punctuation
incorporating quotes
Furthermore, Meredith suggests asking students to create the questions, which make it the perfect opportunity to get students thinking what they learned as writers.
Collaboration Activities
For years, I taught a creative writing course. To make such a class work, students must collaborate. Getting that classroom environment takes intentional practice which is why I love (Amanda Write Now) Amanda’s post about supporting effective writing partnerships.
Amanda includes a sample anchor chart and a conferencing checklist. Students really benefit from that modeling and from simply having a starting point. I also like how Amanda stresses that you must make time for this in class.
Building collaborative space must be intentional!
Creative Writing Overall
As for myself? Aside from writing at Language Arts Classroom, I teach full-time. The first activities I complete in a creative writing course are to set the tone and build a collaborative community. I want students to see creativity in all areas of life, from wardrobe choices on television to the containers at restaurants.
Once we have a strong foundation, we discuss who tells stories. I use “The Danger of a Single Story” to get students talking. My largest message is that I want every single student to write because their thoughts are important.
I cover creative writing activities for high school and build off the idea that we all are creative in our own ways.
There you have it! Six creative writing activities that for you to inspire students.
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About the Author
Lauralee Moss is creator Language Arts Classroom and author of The English Grammar Workbook.
When she is not teaching or writing, she is probably reading, drinking coffee, chasing her three kids and two dogs, or binge-watching documentaries with her husband.
She teaches high school English full-time in Central Illinois. She has worked in a variety of schools for the previous decade. Visit her on Instagram or Facebook.
You may be interested in more of her posts:
My attitude for a creative writing class
How to grade writing as an English teacher