How would you award credits for this?

[Chrysalis Academy]

Just looking for opinions for how other people would handle this situation.  Dd did Creative Writing as one of her electives this year. She did two Bravewriter classes, the Great Course Writing Great Fiction class, and she wrote - copiously - several short stories, two of which were submitted to competitions, and she's worked on two novels, one of which is already at ~60,000 words. And she's spent 240 hours so far.  I figured I would just stop counting hours for "Creative Writing 1" when she got to 180, and start counting hours for "Creative Writing 2" but with already 60 hours for CW2, she will clearly have more than 4 credits worth of CW hours if she keeps on at anything near this pace (no reason at this point to think that she won't.)  I know I'm overthinking this, But I'm wondering if I should just let these be "heavy" credits and go by dates rather than hours, or split them by hours, or package them some other way . . . does anybody have any thoughts on this? If your kids have "heavy" credits do you worry about it? Would it be weird for a student to have more than 1 credit per year in creative writing?

 

She has a pretty robust English credit and a Theater & Film credit this year, too. So she's clearly very heavy on the English & Writing side of things. That's who she is. I just want to make sure I'm representing what she's done in the best possible way.

 

if this all just seems silly to you, feel free to ignore. I'm just trying to wrap up this year's transcript and I'm undecided about how to handle this credit/hours situation.

[regentrude]

I might give one credit for Creative Writing in addition to the regular English credit, since there is an instructional component.

I would not give multiple credits per year for creative writing. If she writes extensively, I would count it as an extrcurricular, especially if she just writes, but does not receive multiple credits worth of actual instruction.

 

Also, remember: not everything our kids do needs to end up on a transcript. Some things they just - do!

Edited July 13, 2017 by regentrude

[Lori D.]

Since she still has 2 years to go, probably best to just keep tracking hours, activities, honors/awards, etc., and perhaps at the end of next year it will be more clear to you both as to how best award credit. By that time, DD may have a good idea of where she wants to go to college, or what she wants to focus on in college, which will help you tailor her accomplishments for that college or major. :)

 

However, to have fun thinking about it now, here are 2 options off the top of my head:

 

One option is to let her actual creative writing (the novels and short stories) shine as an extracurricular, where you would be able to highlight the competitions and awards, and list all of the novels, short story titles, films, and plays she wrote.

 

Another possible option is to create a sort of "minor" for her, so the 4 credits of English that are required would be the more traditional Lit & Writing sorts of things she's been doing, and then the rest of the credits would fall under the "minor":

 

English

course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . credit . . grade

English 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 . . . . x

English 10 . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 . . . . x

English 11 . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 . . . . x

English 12 . . . . . . . . . . . 1.0 . . . . x

total credit/GPA . . . . . . . . . . . 4.0 . . . .  x.xxx

 

Creative Writing and Fine Arts "Minor"

course . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  credit . . grade

Creative Writing I* . . . . . .1.0  . . . x

Practicum: Short Story . . 0.5  . . .x

Practicum: Novel . . . . . . 1.0  . . . x

Theater and Film . . . . . . .1.0  . . . x

total credit/GPA . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.5 . . . . x.xxx

 

* = with the Creative Writing I being the 2 Bravewriter classes + Great Course Writing Great Fiction + some of her actual hours of writing -- then if she does other coursework or works with an instructor at some point, that could be a Creative Writing II (or, esp. if it is a dual enrollment college credit course, use the specific course title)

 

 

Just me, but the hours that are "just writing" are a lot like the hours of a student "just practicing" an instrument. Important and needed, but when there is not instruction or workshopping or formal "learning" attached, after 1 credit, it's not something "additional" to count as credit -- it is practicing craft, and that is just something you "do", as regentrude said.

Edited July 13, 2017 by Lori D.

[MerryAtHope]

I would want a significant portion of each credit to include instruction. If she's mainly writing for the joy of writing, that sounds more extra-curricular to me. I did a ton of extra-curricular writing when I was in high school--had poetry published, entered various contests and so on. I think I'd only count some of what she's doing for credit, and see if some of her efforts can be made to shine as ec's.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Ok, that all makes sense. There was a significant instructional component in CW this year (two BW classes plus the Great Course, plus readings on CW in addition to the writing time) so I'm completely comfortable with awarding an academic credit. (In addition to "English 9" which was literature and rhetoric/composition). But I can count writing as an extracurricular, too, incorporating the writing contests she has entered (for one of which she won Best Entry).  That sounds like a good plan for this year. 

 

I guess I'm not clear on how you "count" something as an extracurricular - you list it on the transcript, right? Do you include the time periods covered, hours spent, activities done, awards, etc.? I was also planning to list Drama/Screenwriting as an extracurricular, because she acted in a main stage production, worked Tech (sound & lights) in a second production, and did a Screenwriting workshop where her screenplay was produced and screened at a local movie theater.  

 

 

[regentrude]

I guess I'm not clear on how you "count" something as an extracurricular - you list it on the transcript, right? Do you include the time periods covered, hours spent, activities done, awards, etc.? 

 

No, extracurriculars do not belong on the transcript. The transcript is for academic coursework.

There will be room on the college application to list extracurriculars, describe the activity, and elaborate on time spent, honors received, etc. For now, just keep a record.

Edited July 14, 2017 by regentrude

[Chrysalis Academy]

No, extracurriculars do not belong on the transcript. The transcript is for academic coursework.

There will be room on the college application to list extracurriculars, describe the activity, and elaborate on time spent, honors received, etc. For now, just keep a record.

 

Ok, cool, thanks. This has helped me think this through, so I do really appreciate it.

[Lori D.]

I guess I'm not clear on how you "count" something as an extracurricular - you list it on the transcript, right? Do you include the time periods covered, hours spent, activities done, awards, etc.? I was also planning to list Drama/Screenwriting as an extracurricular, because she acted in a main stage production, worked Tech (sound & lights) in a second production, and did a Screenwriting workshop where her screenplay was produced and screened at a local movie theater.  

 

You create a separate Extracurricular document, a bit like a separate Course Description document. That allows you to write up a description to highlight your student's initiative, accomplishments, involvement, leadership, responsibility, etc.

 

Yes, you can include hours spent, but it's doesn't have to be a formal accounting of time at all -- more like: "Spends xx hours a week on creative writing projects." Or, "Regularly works multiple hours a week on developing creative writing projects that have resulted in short stories entered into national contests."

 

Or, skip the hours entirely: "Participated in the xx-week theater production of Hamlet with XYZ theater group, stage production, specializing in Technical aspects of sound and lighting, but also acted in a main stage production that took place over xx days (weekends, whatever). Responsible for..."

 

 I would list the Screenwriting workshop as a separate extracurricular -- separate from the creative writing or the theater, I mean. It is a very worthy stand-alone extracurricular. Make it shine! :)

[MerryAtHope]

The transcript form I used had a place for awards. You wouldn't list all EC's there, but if there was a nice award she won for writing, you could include it in a place like that.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Thanks a lot, you guys! It's so reassuring to be able to ask questions that make me feel silly ( ;) ) and get such helpful answers.  :001_wub:

 

I probably wouldn't have thought to start a yearly Extracurriculars log if it weren't for this thread, and I can only imagine how hard it must be to remember everything when you are working on applications!

Edited July 14, 2017 by Chrysalis Academy

[RootAnn]

Thanks a lot, you guys! It's so reassuring to be able to ask silly questions and get such helpful answers.  :001_wub:

 

I would have liked this, but it wasn't a silly question. :glare:  It helps that I have a rising freshman DD who will likely have at least a credit of Creative Writing each year, too.

[lisabees]

Agree with all of the above.  I never stressed about hours for a credit.  My kids went above and beyond in hours. 

 

When it gets closer to application time (and guidance counselor letter/school profile/course description time - blech), you can figure out how best to combine and represent it all.

 

ETA:  The writing that she spends hours and hours on - because she loves it - will have plenty of chances to be highlighted in other areas of her apps. She will likely have tons of essays to write, if she applies to a good amount of schools.  Her talent will shine through on multiple levels.  DS spends most of his waking hours learning.  I mentioned it in my guidance counselor letter...

Edited July 14, 2017 by lisabees

[TracyP]

Ditto what RootAnn said. Not a silly question at all. I am in the same boat with a dd who does a ton of creative writing. She would like it to be an elective next year in 9th.

 

Do any of you guys have suggestions for supplying that teaching piece without online classes? I would love to do a Bravewriter class at some point but I don't think I can afford it this year.

[Chrysalis Academy]

S loved both of the Bravewriter classes that she did, so it's worth it if you can swing it. But we also really enjoyed the Writing Great Fiction Great Course. And there is a very cool FutureLearn Writing Fiction class, that's free, so maybe check that out too? 

 

And the stand-out book she read this year was The Fantasy Fiction Formula, which she's read two or three times.

[TracyP]

My library has the Writing Great Fiction GC!!! I'll definitely add that to next year's lineup.

 

Which Bravewriter class was her favorite/most helpful?

 

Thanks for all the recs!

Edited July 14, 2017 by TracyP

[Corraleno]

Ditto what RootAnn said. Not a silly question at all. I am in the same boat with a dd who does a ton of creative writing. She would like it to be an elective next year in 9th.

 

Do any of you guys have suggestions for supplying that teaching piece without online classes? I would love to do a Bravewriter class at some point but I don't think I can afford it this year.

 

For creative writing curriculum (not classes), there's One Year Adventure Novel and NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. NaNoWriMo has free downloadable workbooks to walk students through the process of plotting, character development, etc. There's also a book called Adventures in  Fantasy: Lessons and Activities in Narrative and Descriptive Writing, listed for grades 5-9.

[Lori D.]

Do any of you guys have suggestions for supplying that teaching piece without online classes? 

 

One Year Adventure Novel -- Daniel Schwabauer

NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month; prep activities/prompts; Young Writers program

A Guide to Writing Your Novel -- Lee Roddy, published by IEW (I believe his How to Write a Story is the original edition)

The Creative Writer -- Boris Fishman, published by SWB's Peace Hill Press -- 4-part program for middle/high school

Future Learn: Start Writing Fiction -- (high school/adult) 8 week free online course (option of $39 upgrade)

Learn to Write the Novel Way (gr. 7-12) -- KONOS

 

additional ideas in this blog:

Small World: list of Creative Writing Resources for Students

Edited July 14, 2017 by Lori D.

[lewelma]

Lori, I've never heard of an extracurricular document. Like rose, my ds has big ECs, and I need to make them shine. Is this extracurricular document loaded into the common app somewhere? Or do you just bundle it into a single pdf with the transcript, school profile, and course descriptions? Do you send it to all schools even though some have their own forms with questions about ECs. I just don't have clarity on this.

Edited July 14, 2017 by lewelma

[lewelma]

Rose, so nice to see you smiling face again. You've been quiet this year. You've been missed!

[Chrysalis Academy]

Rose, so nice to see you smiling face again. You've been quiet this year. You've been missed!

 

:grouphug:  Same to you! I've been wondering how you and the boys are doing. We've had a challenging year, S is suffering from a chronic illness that we are still trying to figure out, but it definitely has thrown a wrench into our high school plans. We're still finishing up 9th grade, but the finish line is in sight. Next years plans are 10th grade Lite, for sure.

[lisabees]

:grouphug:  Same to you! I've been wondering how you and the boys are doing. We've had a challenging year, S is suffering from a chronic illness that we are still trying to figure out, but it definitely has thrown a wrench into our high school plans. We're still finishing up 9th grade, but the finish line is in sight. Next years plans are 10th grade Lite, for sure.

 

Thinking of you and S, Rose!   :grouphug:

[Chrysalis Academy]

My library has the Writing Great Fiction GC!!! I'll definitely add that to next year's lineup.

 

Which Bravewriter class was her favorite/most helpful?

 

Thanks for all the recs!

 

She did the Passion for Fiction class, and Writing the Short Story. She says if she had to pick just one, it would be Passion for Fiction. 

 

The GC course was cool, because he refers to so many works of literature, both novels and short stories. We were inspired into many reading tangents by things he discussed - we read most of the short stories, and some of the novels he talked about. Reading like a writer has added so much to dd's appreciation of literature! That's been the biggest side benefit of a focused study of Creative Writing - she's become a more opinionated and incisive reader of both literature and film - she's very focused on story telling, how others do it, what works and what doesn't. 

[lewelma]

I've actually been thinking of your dd's illness as I work with a boy with leukemia.  It is just so hard to get the work done when you are ill!  Hope you find answers soon!

[Lori D.]

Lori, I've never heard of an extracurricular document. Like rose, my ds has big ECs, and I need to make them shine. Is this extracurricular document loaded into the common app somewhere? Or do you just bundle it into a single pdf with the transcript, school profile, and course descriptions? Do you send it to all schools even though some have their own forms with questions about ECs. I just don't have clarity on this.

 

Hi lewelma! How's the process going of applying to US colleges from NZ?! :)

 

 

Lori, I've never heard of an extracurricular document. Like rose, my ds has big ECs, and I need to make them shine. Is this extracurricular document loaded into the common app somewhere? Or do you just bundle it into a single pdf with the transcript, school profile, and course descriptions? Do you send it to all schools even though some have their own forms with questions about ECs. I just don't have clarity on this.

 

Absolutely a great addition to the pdf packet you upload. :)

 

It's a document similar to a work resume. See an example here. Or, you could mimic the layout/style of your course description document if you needed to go a little bit more in-depth on key activities. Make it a separate document from the course description document so it won't get lost at the end of that document. Give it a clear heading, like "Extracurriculars and Awards", or "Additional Activities and Accomplishments", and then under that, the student's name & contact info. Same as with the course description document:

 

Course Descriptions

for High School Academic Work of

John Smith

phone / email / address

 

 

Good luck as you fight your way past the paperwork dragon to get to university!  :laugh:

 

Colleges prefer to see depth in extracurriculars (like, activities done weekly for several years, which shows genuine interest), rather than a long list of one-time extras.

[TracyP]

For creative writing curriculum (not classes), there's One Year Adventure Novel and NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program. NaNoWriMo has free downloadable workbooks to walk students through the process of plotting, character development, etc. There's also a book called Adventures in  Fantasy: Lessons and Activities in Narrative and Descriptive Writing, listed for grades 5-9.

 

I had totally forgotten about NaNoWriMo - great idea. That book looks good too. Thank you!!

 

 

 

One Year Adventure Novel -- Daniel Schwabauer

NaNoWriMo -- National Novel Writing Month; prep activities/prompts; Young Writers program

A Guide to Writing Your Novel -- Lee Roddy, published by IEW (I believe his How to Write a Story is the original edition)

The Creative Writer -- Boris Fishman, published by SWB's Peace Hill Press -- 4-part program for middle/high school

Future Learn: Start Writing Fiction -- (high school/adult) 8 week free online course (option of $39 upgrade)

Learn to Write the Novel Way (gr. 7-12) -- KONOS

 

additional ideas in this blog:

Small World: list of Creative Writing Resources for Students

 

 

Thanks, Lori, I'll check these out.

 

She did the Passion for Fiction class, and Writing the Short Story. She says if she had to pick just one, it would be Passion for Fiction. 

 

The GC course was cool, because he refers to so many works of literature, both novels and short stories. We were inspired into many reading tangents by things he discussed - we read most of the short stories, and some of the novels he talked about. Reading like a writer has added so much to dd's appreciation of literature! That's been the biggest side benefit of a focused study of Creative Writing - she's become a more opinionated and incisive reader of both literature and film - she's very focused on story telling, how others do it, what works and what doesn't. 

 

Good to know. I will keep Passion for Fiction in mind for 2018. That GC sounds... great :p. I think she'll get a lot out of it. Thank you!

[lewelma]

Thanks so much, Lori! That example was perfect.

 

So is this a standard document that all kids have?  I haven't seen it listed before on the list of homeschool documents I need to get done.  So now I need:

 

Transcript

School profile

course descriptions

Extracurriculars and Awards

Counselor recommendation

 

My ds's ECs are huge so I'm not going to have trouble filling out a page. Where do I look to see if a school will accept such a document.  For example, MIT has a limited space for ECs to force you to pick your best ones.  Does that mean they don't want an EC/Awards document?  How would I find out?

 

And you are right, it is a paperwork nightmare.  But I'm almost there!  

 

 

 

[regentrude]

My ds's ECs are huge so I'm not going to have trouble filling out a page. Where do I look to see if a school will accept such a document.  For example, MIT has a limited space for ECs to force you to pick your best ones.  Does that mean they don't want an EC/Awards document?  How would I find out?

 

If it is not clear after perusing the admissions website and the instructions that come with the college application for this particular school, email the admissions office and ask.

 

ETA: The MIT website says: 

 

Please use our form, not a resume, to list your activities. There is only enough space to list four things - please choose the four that mean the most to you and tell us a bit about them. This will tell us more about you than any "laundry list" of everything you've ever done in high school.

 

You are welcome to submit a supplemental resume, but submitting a resume instead of filling out our activity list can hurt you (so don't).

Edited July 15, 2017 by regentrude

[quark]

Doesn't MIT use Slideroom?

Remember, that everyone or almost everyone applying to these schools will have a huge list of ECs. I can understand why MIT only wants to see 4. Did you have a chance to play with the application last year? There were limited characters to fill in each field as well. A was able to reword some of the accomplishments in a creative way to combine a few under one umbrella label.