Guest Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 What are your favorite writing books that help the students have more creativity, and develop their writing voice? I am currently reading Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly, and I am really enjoying it. I have mostly used WWE and IEW over the years, but I am enjoying learning how to teach my children how to write a little more freely, and creativity. Has anyone read these two, and found them useful: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1590308123/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/159643628X/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kathie in VA Posted November 16, 2014 Share Posted November 16, 2014 The core books from Classical Writing are written to the teacher, at least for the Aesop, Homer, & Diogenes levels. The higher levels are written to the student. All do a nice job of explaining the process from the concept, outlining, writing, and right through the editing stage. The core books have the lessons and the workbooks are just one way to implement the lessons. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 We have Rip the Page. It's okay. I feel like it's really only for the kid who's super into writing and literature already. The format is a little wordy so the ds who received it as a gift didn't get a huge amount out of it. And it's written to the student, not the teacher. For me as the teacher, The Writer's Jungle has been the gold standard in terms of helping kids develop voice and be more creative. In second place, definitely If You're Gonna Teach Writing, You've Gotta Have This Book by Marjorie Frank. I haven't had it that long, but I really like it. Lots of quick tips and quick activity ideas. Beyond that, I've found a lot of inspiration in the books about writing for adults like Bird By Bird and If You Want to Write. You know, the classics. I do get a different kind of inspiration from things like SWB's writing lectures, but they're not entirely my cup of tea and they're not about that sort of creativity you're talking about anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 The core books from Classical Writing are written to the teacher, at least for the Aesop, Homer, & Diogenes levels. The higher levels are written to the student. All do a nice job of explaining the process from the concept, outlining, writing, and right through the editing stage. The core books have the lessons and the workbooks are just one way to implement the lessons. Serious question... I'm really not being snarky... I'm actually sort of thinking about this... is outlining ever a really creative, opening up sort of process for kids? I know adult writers who really enjoy it (I had someone in my writing group who was an outlining fanatic). I'm just sort of thinking about this recommendation through the lens of the OP's question... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted November 17, 2014 Share Posted November 17, 2014 Dh is doing a creative writing unit with our oldest (6th grade) now. He's using Writing Magic by Gail Carson Levine (author of Ella Enchanted) as a spine. It has 30 really short chapters that talk about some aspect of writing and then each chapter ends with a brief writing assignment/prompt. It's working well for them, especially as ds is normally a reluctant writer. There is also one I have seen that looks intriguing called Spilling Ink, but I haven't actually read it so can't give a review of it. ETA: Oops, I just saw that Spilling Ink was one you linked to. It looks interesting to me also but we haven't actually used it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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