Syllabus
In the Creative Writing course, curriculum will initially cover the basics of sentence structure, paragraph development, punctuation, grammar, spelling, and usage. The course will have an emphasis on creativity, however, with a subtle school-to-career accent, as it is important to have a practical link of creativity to the world beyond the classroom.

Along with writing many descriptive paragraphs, stories, and concentrating on a large segment of poetry, the students will emulate small advertising agencies, having a “product” for which they will conceive an ad campaign. They will create the slogan, write the text, and produce a magazine-style ad for their product - or, working with the film class, an ad appropriate for the next Super Bowl!

The course will cover critique and review writing - a result of field trips to cultural events or movies, or to presentations made by students in other classes at MSA. We will cover the basics of travel writing and/or restaurant reviews, which engender the necessity for concise, descriptive language. The students will learn to write various portions of a newspaper - letters-to-the-editor, articles, op-ed pieces, and will possibly create a one-issue newspaper, including their ads and reviews.

In the second part of the course, students will be prepared to write larger works. They will create short stories, children’s books, one-act plays, and, possibly, sitcoms, screen plays, and portions of novels. The Advanced Creative Writing course will send students to Bay Area businesses and agencies to mesh on-campus learning with practical, hands-on experience as the students take on internships.

Beyond that, there is the possibility of the students’ learning to write speeches, grants, and to create political brochures - skills that would transfer easily to the outside world.

Students will use texts to garner more knowledge of the writings and techniques of others. Texts to be used are Creative Writer’s Handbook, by Philip K. Jason and Allan B. Lefkowitz and An Introduction to Poetry by X. J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia.

Important would be collaborating with other classes in the School of the Arts to produce a cross-curricular result. The writing students would work with the drama classes to produce plays they have written in Creative Writing; the art students would assist in the ad production, and some of the poetry would be set to music, performed by the music department. All of this would work well in concert with the film curriculum.

Perhaps a Spring Fest could bring a final presentation to the community-at-large. This would be a fitting culmination to the year, would give the students a significant goal, and would provide an opportunity for the Marin public to enjoy the work of the Marin School of the Arts.

Sections Offered:
One 6th Period and one 7th Period section

Writing Projects: (sample)
Descriptive Writing Advertising Journalism
Critique and Review Critical Analysis Short Story
Script Writing Poetry Grant Writing

Activities:
• Arts Festivals (in conjunction with other MSA classes)
• Community Presentations of students’ works
• Monthly series of poetry readings, music, monologues & performances
• Student parent writing collaboration projects
• School wide writing room staffed by Creative Writing students, teachers and parents
• Coffee house meetings
• Field trips

The state has no content standards in Creative Writing.