how many credits is creative writing in high school

IEW® in High School

The high school years can be daunting, but writing does not have to be. IEW teaches students how to navigate the essays, research papers, and literary analysis that they will need to succeed in high school and beyond. IEW’s pathway for high school is designed to help beginning students gain confidence while continuing to bring new insights and challenges to those who have many years of IEW experience.

High School Materials from IEW

Structure and style® for students: year 1 level c.

In this course, join Andrew Pudewa as he leads students on a 24-week writing journey using IEW’s Structure and Style approach. Students reading at a 9th grade level or higher will take delight in Mr. Pudewa’s humorous, incremental, and effective writing lessons. The curriculum provides clear daily assignments and includes vocabulary words, literature suggestions, and lesson plans for teachers. Easy to use and affordable, Structure and Style for Students brings a successful solution to your writing lessons—guaranteed! Try three weeks free ! Structure and Style® for Students: Year 2 Level C

Take students to the next level in their Structure and Style writing journey! Twenty-four more weeks of incredible writing instruction await with the humorous and engaging Andrew Pudewa. Students who have completed Year 1 Level C and are ready for their second year of the Structure and Style for Students video course will enjoy reviewing and refining the nine previously learned IEW units and response to literature, then pressing on into full literary analysis. The curriculum provides clear daily assignments and includes vocabulary words, literature suggestions, and lesson plans for teachers. Easy to use and affordable, the second year of Structure and Style for Students builds on the skills learned in the previous video course and brings a successful solution to your writing lessons—guaranteed!

University-Ready Writing

In this twelve-week video course, high school and college students learn effective note-taking strategies as they write précis (summaries) and essays, tackling assignments of varying lengths from one paragraph to several pages. With tips and tools for writing an abstract, creating and arranging content, citing sources, applying various style guides, using literary devices, and writing on-demand essays, this curriculum will prepare your students for university writing assignments. Try two weeks free !

Introduction to Public Speaking

In this twelve-week course, middle- and high-school students learn memory and delivery techniques as they write and present five speeches: self-introductory, narrative, expository, persuasive, and impromptu. Students evaluate recorded speeches in preparation for self-evaluation. This self-explanatory program empowers teachers to help students become competent and confident public speakers. Try two weeks free !

Advanced U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons†

Follow the course of U.S. history from Explorers to Modern Times while learning to write with structure and style. Bible-Based Writing Lessons†

Delve into Bible stories and themes while learning to write with structure and style.

Phonetic Zoo Spelling Level C

Looking for a new approach to spelling? This phonics-based program uses auditory input to ensure that the correct spelling of each word is absorbed by the brain. The audio allows students to work independently much of the time while allowing for the repetition needed for mastery.   Windows to the World†

Wondering how to teach high school students to dig into books? With this course they will learn to annotate, analyze, and appreciate literature.

Teaching the Classics, Second Edition

Revolutionize the way you and your students view literature! Learn how to read and discuss works of literature—from children's books to classic novels—and equip students with literary analysis tools that bring literature to life.

† Contains distinctly Christian content

What might a pathway look like for a student starting out with IEW in ninth grade?

If your student is reading at grade level, we recommend starting with the Structure and Style for Students: Year 1 Level C Premier package for you and your student in ninth grade. Tenth grade would be a good time to use Windows to the World taught in conjunction with Teaching the Classics or taught as a one-semester class paired with Introduction to Public Speaking. For eleventh grade, use Structure and Style for Students: Year 2 Level C.  Andrew Pudewa discusses additional options for your high school student in his conference talk Hacking High School: Rethinking the Teen Years . Grammar, spelling, public speaking, and entrepreneurship can be added as well. Call, chat, or email us for additional support with making decisions!  

I have a high school senior. Where should I start with IEW to make sure he gets as much writing instruction as possible before graduation?

Structure and Style for Students: Year 1 Level C provides a solid foundation in writing while also expanding into more advanced essay models such as research papers and persuasive essays. Take it one step further and hone your student’s grammar expertise before he enters college or the workforce. Fix It!™ Grammar will provide you with a full-year grammar course. In the Fix It! Grammar language arts and grammar curriculum, students internalize the rules instead of just memorizing them. That’s because Fix It! Grammar encourages students to critically analyze an ongoing story by searching for and fixing embedded errors, and in the process, students incorporate accurate punctuation and correct grammar more easily into their own compositions. To ensure you start the program at your student’s level of ability, we recommend reviewing the skills listed for each level on the Fix It! Grammar landing page. 

Does IEW count as a full high school English credit?

High school credits vary depending on where you live. Please check with your state homeschool organization for the best way to calculate credits for your particular student. English encompasses communication skills: composition (writing), literature, public speaking, grammar, and may also include vocabulary and spelling. You will need to make sure you are covering all of the requirements for your state .  Lee Binz with www.homehighschoolhelp.com understands the difficulty in creating high school transcripts and is dedicated to providing parents with specific beneficial answers to transcript questions. If you have questions about high school credits and transcripts, we encourage you to contact her . She will be happy to help.

Is IEW for High School? webinar

De-Confusing Essays article

Six Calming Answers to Six Panicky Questions about High School English for Homeschoolers article

Hacking High School: Rethinking the Teen Years – presentation by Andrew Pudewa

Most of us have presuppositions about what high school is based on our own experience. Times are changing, and the opportunities for home educating high schoolers have grown rapidly. Many of these opportunities will save time, help your family avoid higher education debt, and give your teens a head start on their next decade of life. Watch or listen at IEW.com/HHS

Dual Enrollment through CHI – College Credit Using IEW Materials

IEW high school students can receive college credit for English Composition I and II from a fully accredited university through Christian Halls International. Learn more at IEW.com/CHI

Classic Learning Test – Standardized Test

Classic Learning Test (CLT) exams serve as an alternative to Common Core-based assessments and help to highlight the unique strengths of homeschool, private school, or charter school students. CLT exams are accepted at over two hundred colleges! Find out more by visiting IEW.com/CLT and get a CLT discount code!

A Comprehensive High School Writing Curriculum Guide

In this comprehensive high school writing curriculum guide, I explain necessary components of planning a writing for a year. 

Writing is an essential skill that students need to develop in high school. Part of teaching this essential skill is encouraging, inspiring, and mentoring.

However, not all writing curriculums are created equal. A well-structured writing curriculum can help students understand the fundamentals of writing, improve their skills, and explore their creativity.

High School Writing Curriculum: A Comprehensive Guide

Honesty time: I do not suggest one entire curriculum but rather, pieces from several sources. Many tools can get you to meeting standards, encouraging young writers, and working through common struggles. However, as someone who has taught in various capacities for over twenty years, one set curriculum will probably not work. You will need to incorporate pieces of your own to address the learners in front of you and modify it each semester.

Therefore, in this blog post, I’ll explore the components, considerations, and requirements for high school students.

Why are you writing about a high school writing curriculum?

If you have followed me for a few years, you were with me while I finished my second master’s degree, one in English Literature . Now, I teach dual-credit writing courses at my high school in coordination with a local community college. Many of my subscribers teach a similar class for high school credit.

The previous seven years, I taught freshmen and worked with those standards. Therefore, my teaching load focuses on standards for seniors, a shift for me.

As I create and build my high school writing curriculum, these considerations come into play.

Understanding the Essentials of a High School Writing Curriculum

A comprehensive high school writing curriculum will address students’ writing skills and grammatical knowledge. Meeting language skills alongside the writing standards can happen naturally.

A well-rounded high school writing course will also address essential aspects such as argumentative writing (sometimes referenced as persuasive writing), informative, and creative/narrative writing, providing students with a holistic understanding of the writing process.

Here is my teacher’s guide to incorporate all these factors.

Importance of a Structured Approach to Writing

A structured approach to writing is essential in a writing curriculum. In my teaching career, I have taught several semester-long courses like public speaking, creative writing, and English 101. My #1 learned lesson: Have an overarching project that builds community in classes. For public speaking, speakers set goals for public speaking. In creative writing, writers compile a journal with writing prompts.

In a standard writing class, we use images to write about mentor sentences and fun topics . Images help young writers envision their responses, and the images work as a form of scaffolding. An ongoing activity, a habit, allows writers to reflect on their writing process, figurative language use, and sentence structure. Take time to reflect with students.

Diverse Writing Assignments

Instilling excellence in writing skills and grammar instruction is essential for an effective writing curriculum. One research paper and one narrative alongside “drill and kill” grammar will not produce an engaging high school writing curriculum.

A few of my favorite writing assignments for high school:

• Mini-memoirs (narrative standards)
• Response to informational text (an assortment of standards)
• Argumentative RAFT (argumentative standard)
• Researched famous events (expository standards)

If you look at the mentor texts (below) and provide excerpts to your classes, you will also create diverse writing assignments from those inspired pieces.

Calendar of Writing

Map out your calendar of dates. No amount of researching and organizing will help us creators of a high school writing curriculum: We must sit down with a calendar.

My high school writing curriculum contains two large-ish type assignments, one due about six weeks into the semester and another at about fourteen weeks. I space them out so that students understand my expectations and feedback, so that we have worked through our standards together, and so that large assignments are not due when students are already overwhelmed. Spacing out assignments in this manner also provides me time to provide meaningful feedback.

If you are interested in looking at my outline for a creative writing course, you can make a copy on Canva (for free).

Grammar Excellence

If you have floated around my blog for a bit, you’ll realize that my preference is not to teach grammar with worksheets. A grammar workbook and worksheets have their place, sure. But once classes understand the basics of language, I branch into additional resources.

For instance, with my high school grammar activities , students use interactive pieces to practice punctuations, to add types of clauses to sentences, and to experiment with difficult concepts. The pieces allow writers to take their own writing and implement lessons. In doing so, they are experimenting with language.

Another addition to any writing program will be addressing grammatical errors . My suggestion is to assign paragraph writing and while grading, note common errors. Then, provide direct instruction and practice correcting the errors.

Any grammar curriculum will connect grammar to writing. One of my goals is to approach language in a positive way so that my brave writers feel empowered instead of crushed by grammar rules.

Meeting Standards with Writing

Writing standards define the expectations for what students should be able to do at each grade level. These standards aim to develop clarity, coherence, and effective communication through writing.

However, meeting these standards can sometimes be a challenge for both students and teachers. Below, I explain what helps me as my students and I work to meet writing standards.

Importance of Writing Standards

Writing standards are guidelines that outline the skills and knowledge students should acquire in writing. They provide a common framework for teaching writing skills, ensuring consistency across classrooms and grade levels.

Be prepared to breakdown standards with students in sensible ways. For instance, in my creative writing activities, I break down pieces like implementing pacing and external conflicts into smaller lessons. With those smaller activities, we can dive deep into the standards.

Overall, writing standards promote clarity, coherence, and effective communication, which are essential skills in the 21st century.

Implementation of Standards

The more you build your writing curriculum, the more engrained and natural the standards will be.

To start, align writing activities with specific standards. By doing so, you ensure that the writing skills targeted are directly tied to the standards. This alignment helps reinforce the skills and knowledge necessary for students to meet the standards effectively.

Additionally, incorporating a wide range of writing skills into lesson plans allows you to address multiple standards simultaneously, providing a comprehensive writing instruction experience for students. In the example above, pacing and external conflicts will occur in smaller activities and then implemented into larger one.

Don’t fear breaking down a standard with students. (Some teachers call this process “unpacking the standards”). The more you discuss writing expectations that derive from the standards, the more meaningful discussions you and your students will have.

Considering mentor texts.

Mentor texts are simply example texts that work well for providing example of structure, vocabulary, language use, and any other piece of writing. Below, I have included books from which I pull pieces. Included are explanations of ways I use the excerpts.

Plus, university writing courses often use excerpts, so using them is a great way to prepare classes. If you read a publication like the New York Times, keep your eyes open to pieces you can add.

All of these affiliate links will take you to Amazon. You can read my disclosures about affiliate links.

This book might be the most loaned book from my classroom library. Dashka Slater is a journalist who wrote The 57 Bus , a story told from two perspectives of what became a hate crime.

Five Little Indians

Michelle Good’s novel portrays the lives of residential school survivors. The uses for Five Little Indians is diverse. Dialogue, setting, and pacing shine through in this story.

The Forgotten Girls

Monica Potts’ memoir weaves research into a narrative. The story covers rural women and their limited options. When older students write narratives, I encourage them to add research and use Potts’ memoir as a mentor text.

The Sun Does Shine

I’ve written about The Sun Does Shine before. Pieces from Anthony Ray Hinton’s story have been in my American literature class too. For a writing class, chapter two, “All American,” works well for modeling background and flashback.

Chapter twenty-seven, “The Symbols of Caste” works as a model for comparing two situations. Isabel Wilkerson compares America’s response to slavery to Germany’s response to the Holocaust. Her pacing and transitions serve as strong examples.

Slavery by Another Name

Douglas A. Blackmon’s book provides examples of incorporating primary sources into research. The end to the chapter, “New South Rising” has a short piece to analyze with writers.

The chapter, “Took Over the OxyContin Belt” serves as a mentor text for narrative nonfiction. From its hook to its powerful concluding paragraph, this short chapter helps me to model narratives.

Patient H.M.

Patient H. M. is about lobotomies, written by the grandson of a famous doctor who performed them decades ago. Luke Dittrich incorporates interviews into research. You can also use excerpts to model writing about delicate topics.

Excerpts from larger books provide authentic texts for young writers and if they are interested, you can loan them the book. Incorporating mentor texts into your high school writing curriculum provides young writers with inspiration and examples.

For those readers who are designing a homeschool writing curriculum, you can ask your local librarian for suggestions regarding books of varying genres.

In conclusion, a high school writing curriculum should provide a structured approach to writing that covers key components such as grammar, vocabulary, and essay writing. It should also offer options that cater to different learning styles and preferences.

While most writing curriculums have their merits, it is important to incorporate creative elements to engage and inspire today’s high schoolers with your own touch. By tailoring the curriculum to your student’s needs and interests, you can make the learning experience more enjoyable and effective.

Replace a student workbook with excerpts, webinars, and audio pieces to diversity the curriculum.

Remember, the goal is to equip them with the necessary skills to express themselves confidently and effectively in various writing formats. You can see details of my high school writing curriculum as a foundation for your classes.

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Teaching Creative Writing: Tips for Your High School Class

When I was first told that I’d be teaching creative writing, I panicked. While I had always enjoyed writing myself, I had no idea how to show others how to do it creatively. After all, all of my professional development had focused on argumentative writing and improving test scores. 

Eventually, though, I came to love my creative writing class, and I think you will too. In this post, I hope to help you with shaping your own creative writing class. 

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that earn me a small commission, at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products that I personally use and love, or think my readers will find useful.

The Importance of Teaching Creative Writing

Before getting into the nitty-gritty of how to teach creative writing, let’s first remind ourselves why you should teach a creative writing class.  

How often do you see students freeze in your English class, wondering if what they’re writing is “right”? How often do your students beg you to look over their work to make sure that they’re doing it “right”? 

We English teachers know that there’s no such thing as “right” when it comes to writing. But our students really struggle with the idea of there being no one correct answer. Creative writing is one solution to this problem.

By encouraging our students to explore, express themselves, and play with language, we show them how fun and exploratory writing can be. I know there have been many times in my life when writing clarified my own ideas and beliefs for me; creative writing provides this opportunity for our high school students. 

Plus, creative writing is just downright fun! And in this modern era of standardized testing, high-stakes grading, and just increased anxiety overall, isn’t more fun just what our students and us need? 

Creative writing is playful, imaginative, but also rigorous. It’s a great balance to our standard literature or composition curriculum. 

Whether you’re choosing to teach creative writing or you’re being voluntold to do so, you’re probably ready to start planning. Make it as easy as possible on yourself: grab my done-for-you Creative Writing Class here !

Otherwise, preparing for an elective creative writing class isn’t much different than preparing for any other English class .

Set your goals and choose the standards you’ll cover. Plan lessons accordingly. Then, be sure to have a way to assess student progress. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #1: Get Clear on Your Goals

First, what do you want to achieve with your creative writing class? In some school, Creative Writing is purely a fun elective. The goal is create a class that students enjoy with a side of learning. 

For other schools or district cultures, however, Creative Writing might be an intensely academic course. As a child, I went to an arts middle school. Creative writing was my major and it was taken very seriously. 

The amount of rigor you wish to include in your class will impact how you structure everything . So take some time to think about that . You may want to get some feedback from your administrator or other colleagues who have taught the course. 

Some schools also sequence creative writing classes, so be sure you know where in the sequence your particular elective falls. I’ve also seen schools divide creative writing classes by genre: a poetry course and a short story course. 

Know what your administrator expects and then think about what you as an instructor want to accomplish with your students.  

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #2: List Out Your Essential Skills

Regardless of your class’s level of rigor, there are some skills that every creative writing course should cover. 

First, you need to cover the writing process. Throughout the course, students should practice brainstorming, outlining, writing, and editing their drafts. In nearly every Poem Writing Activity that I use in my class, students follow the same process. They examine a model text, brainstorm ideas, outline or fill out a graphic organizer, put together a final draft, and then share with a peer for feedback. 

That last step–sharing and critiquing work–is an essential skill that can’t be overstated. Students are often reluctant to share their work, but it’s through that peer feedback that they often grow the most. Find short, casual, and informal ways to build in feedback throughout the class in order to normalize it for students. 

Literary terms are another, in my opinion, must-cover topic for teaching a creative writing class. You want your students to know how to talk about their writing and others’ like an actual author. How deep into vocabulary you want to go is up to you, but by the end of the course, students should sound like writers honing their craft. 

Lastly, you should cover some basic writing skills, preferably skills that will help students in their academic writing, too. I like to cover broad topics like writing for tone or including dialogue. Lessons like these will be ones that students can use in other writing assignments, as well. 

Of course, if you’re teaching a creative writing class to students who plan on becoming creative writing majors in college, you could focus on more narrow skills. For me, most of my students are upperclassmen looking for an “easy A”. I try my best to engage them in activities and teach them skills that are widely applicable. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #3: Make Sure Your Materials are Age-Appropriate

Once you know what you’re teaching, you can begin to cultivate the actual lessons you’ll present. If you pick up a book on teaching creative writing or do a quick Google search, you’ll see tons of creative writing resources out there for young children . You’ll see far less for teens. 

Really, the content and general ideas around creative writing don’t change much from elementary to high school. But the presentation of ideas should .

Every high school teacher knows that teens do not like to feel babied or talked down to; make sure your lessons and activities approach “old” ideas with an added level of rigor or maturity.

Take for example the haiku poem. I think most students are introduced to haikus at some point during their elementary years. We know that haiku is a pretty simple poem structure. 

However, in my Haiku Poem Writing Lesson , I add an extra layer of rigor. First, students analyze a poem in which each stanza is its own haiku. Students are asked not only to count syllables but to notice how the author uses punctuation to clarify ideas. They also analyze mood throughout the work.  

By incorporating a mentor text and having students examine an author’s choices, the simple lesson of writing a haiku becomes more relevant and rigorous. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #4: Tell Students What They Should Not Write About

You’ll often be surprised by just how vulnerable your students are willing to be with you in their writing. But there are some experiences that we teachers don’t need to know about, or are required to act on. 

The first day of a creative writing course should always include a lecture on what it means to be a mandated reporter. Remind students that if they write about suicidal thoughts, abuse at home, or anything else that might suggest they’re in danger that you are required by law to report it. 

Depending on how strict your district, school, or your own teaching preferences, you may also want to cover your own stance on swearing, violence, or sexual encounters in student writing. One idea is to implement a “PG-13” only rule in your classroom.

Whatever your boundaries are for student work, make it clear on the first day and repeat it regularly.

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Teaching Creative Writing Tip #5: Give Students Lots of Choice

Creative writing should be creative . Yes, you want to give students parameters for their assignments and clear expectations. But you want them to feel a sense of freedom, also.  

I took a class once where the story starters we were given went on for several pages . By the time we students were able to start writing, characters had already been developed. The plot lines had already been well-established. We felt written into a corner, and we all struggled with wrapping up the loose ends that had already been created. 

I’ve done an Author Study Project with my class in which students were able to choose a poet or short story author to study and emulate. My kids loved looking through the work of Edgar Allan Poe, Elizabeth Acevedo, Neil Gaiman, and Jason Reynolds for inspiration. They each gravitated towards a writer that resonated with them before getting to work. 

Another example is my Fairy Tale Retelling Project. In this classic assignment, students must rewrite a fairy tale from the perspective of the villain. Students immediately choose their favorite tales, giving them flexibility and choice.

I recommend determining the form and the skills that must be demonstrated for the students . Then, let students choose the topic for their assignment. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #6: Use Hands-On Activities

If you’re teaching a class full of students who are excited to write constantly, you can probably get away writing all class period. Many of us, however, are teaching a very different class. Your students may have just chosen an elective randomly. They might not even have known what creative writing was!

(True story–one of my creative writing students thought the class would be about making graffiti. I guess that is writing creatively!)

For students who have no long-term writing aspirations, you need to make your lessons and activities a little more engaging. 

When possible, I try to make writing “hands-on.” Adding some tactile activity to a standard lesson breaks up class, engages students, and makes the lesson more memorable.

For example, when I teach students the old adage “Show. Don’t Tell” , I could just give them a scene to write. Instead, I print simple sentences onto strips of paper and have students randomly select one from a hat. (Then they turn this simple sentence into a whole “telling” scene.)

Simply handing students a strip of paper that they can touch and feel makes the lesson more exciting. It creates more buy-in with students. 

Another one of my favorite hands-on activities is a Figurative Language Scavenger Hunt. I hang up posters of mentor poems around the room, each full of different figurative language techniques. 

Then, students must get up and explore the posters around the room in an attempt to find an example of 10 different figurative language techniques.

We could do the same lesson on a worksheet, but having students up and moving increases engagement, collaboration, and gives everyone a break from constantly sitting. 

Teaching Creative Writing Tip #7: Incorporate Mentor Texts

One way to make sure that your creative writing class is rigorous–and valuable–enough for high school students is to use mentor texts . 

Mentor texts are essential for older students because it shows them what’s possible . Many of my students will rush through an assignment just to be done with it. If you ask them what they could do to improve their writing, they say that they think it’s fine. 

But when they’re shown mentor texts or exemplar products produced by their peers, suddenly students see a myriad of ways in which they could improve their own work. They’re quick to make edits. 

I try to always include a mentor text and several examples whenever I introduce students to new ideas or teach a new lesson. You can pull mentor texts from classic writers. However, I also recommend including writing from more modern poets and writers as well. 

Teaching Creative Writing truly is a special job. Your students trust you with writing that many adults in their lives will never see. You’ll be able to watch students grow and bloom in a totally new way.

That doesn’t mean that teaching creative writing is without challenges or difficulties, however. If you want an easy place to start, or just want to save yourself a ton of planning time, I highly recommend checking out my Complete Creative Writing Class . 

Inside this bundle, you’ll receive daily warm-ups, weekly lessons, two projects, several activities, a lesson calendar, and more! It’s truly everything you need for an engaging 9-week elective course!

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High School Students Interested in Creative Writing: How to Build Your Profile

Padya Paramita

January 12, 2021

If you fall under the category of high school students interested in creative writing , chances are, you want to continue honing your writing skills in college. As one of your strengths, writing will not only help you with the components of your college application, but seeing prowess in the field in your activities list and honors section can also help admissions officers understand just how strong a writer you are! To guide you through how to succeed in the college admissions process as a budding writer, I’ve gone through the list of top English programs at colleges, how to take advantage of your personal statement and supplemental essays, ways to boost your extracurriculars, and finally summer programs that can help you sharpen your writing skills and help you get one step closer to admissions at a top humanities college.

School List

High school students interested in creative writing usually major in English or concentrate in creative writing with the English major. Although all colleges have English majors, some colleges are better known for it than others thanks to esteemed faculty, specialized classes, and greater opportunities to grow as a writer. US News’ top 20 English programs are as follows:

As you’re making your college list, look through the course offerings, the list of professors, notable alumni, and opportunities to pursue writing beyond the classroom through the school newspaper, literary magazines, writing internships, and more. While it might not seem like a big deal, strong mentorship from esteemed writers can make a big difference in your development as a writer, as well as for future recommendation opportunities if you want to apply to creative writing Masters programs.

Personal Statement

If you’ve always wanted to be a writer, one of the most obvious ways to showcase your writing skills is through writing a stellar essay. While your personal statement can be a different story about another topic that holds significance to you, the way you write this essay matters. The personal statement is an effective way to demonstrate your creative side—how can you tell a unique story in a unique way. And of course, you can use this essay to write about your journey as a writer and your future goals. If you’ve helped a person or group in your community by writing an article in a newspaper, or you’ve worked hard on a novel about your life, these would make for standout essay topics. Whatever you write about, make sure that the admissions office comes out of the experience knowing that you will be bringing these skills to campus.

Supplemental Essays

While you have less room to be creative, your supplemental essays are the place to discuss what you’ve done to work on becoming a writer. Although there aren’t essay prompts explicitly dedicated to high school students interested in creative writing , there are supplemental essay prompts that ask students to elaborate on why they have chosen a certain major or to expand on one of the activities on their profile. This could be a great opportunity to discuss why you want to study writing, what your specific interests within the field are, and how you’ve developed your craft. Some possible prompts where you can address your writing, for example, are:

New York University : We would like to know more about your interest in NYU. What motivated you to apply to NYU? Why have you applied or expressed interest in a particular campus, school, college, program, and or area of study? If you have applied to more than one, please also tell us why you are interested in these additional areas of study or campuses. We want to understand

- Why NYU? [Max. 400 words]

Harvard University : Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. [Max. 150 words]

Vanderbilt University : Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. [200-400 words]

Essays like this provide you with the chance to write about why you wish to be an English or creative writing major—or to outline how you’ve taken advantage of the opportunities around you and made an impact on an activity of your choice. If you write about why you wish to be an English or creative writing major, discuss how your interest in the topic developed, how you pursued it in high school, and how that specific school can help you achieve your writing goals through specific classes, professors, internships and more. If you choose to talk about an activity, don’t just go on about your interest in writing in general. Pick a specific activity that involves writing and take the reader through your journey, whether it’s elaborating on leadership, collaboration, or how it might have shifted your perspective.

Extracurricular Activities 

Face it: there are numerous high school students interested in creative writing . Saying you like to write isn’t enough. You must ensure that you have gone beyond just writing essays for school in order to develop your writing skills and establish yourself as a strong writer. You could specialize in this field even further through one or more of the following ways:

• Start an activity centered around creative writing: Colleges love to see students who have taken their own initiative and showcased their leadership skills. If your school doesn’t have a creative writing club, here’s your chance to start your own. You can be in charge of creating lessons, bringing guests, facilitating workshops with each other. If your school already has a creative writing club, you could start an activity that’s even more niche, such as a poetry writing club or a mystery writers’ club. Make sure to think out of the box and consult your classmates to see how they would like to work on their writing.
• Write your own novel or collection: This is an independent project that’s pretty straightforward. There are fewer more effective ways to show that you’re a dedicated and strong writer than writing your own long piece of work. Whether it’s a novel, a poetry collection, or an anthology of short stories, take advantage of summers or other long breaks to conceptualize, write, and edit your own original work. High school students interested in creative writing can also take advantage of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) which is a writing challenge that takes place in November of every year. 
• Submit your work to journals: College admissions officers will want to see evidence of your writing skills. No better way to do so than to provide links to publications that have printed your work. Fortunately, the steps it takes to get published in high school actually aren't that hard. While you need to submit quality work, there are definitely journals out there that receive and publish high schoolers’ writing. Check out the list of excellent publications (some online and some in print) that will accept and publish good writing regardless of the writer’s age in this blog .
• Enter writing competitions: Another way to establish yourself as a writer worth paying attention to is to place in writing competitions. The scale of these competitions can be national—but they can also be local, so take advantage of any opportunities in your school or city. If you can win an award in a statewide or national context, that’s incredible. Some well-known writing competitions for high school students are:
• The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
• YoungArts’ National Arts Competition
• Bennington Young Writers Award
• Jane Austen Society Essay Contest
• New York Times Student Contest
• Help others with their writing: Learning how to give feedback is as important a part of growing as a writer as the actual writing is. If you’re looking for extracurricular activities for high school students interested in creative writing , and you’re someone interested in community outreach, think about how you can combine these two passions. You might offer an evening class for members of your community who have 9-5 jobs. Or, you can start a Zoom writing workshop and invite students from any location. Don’t be afraid to get as creative as possible.
• Find a writing-related job: Finally, check out if anyone is hiring! Local newspapers often look for teen reporters, while many other companies need to fill roles such as copy editor, writer’s assistant, journalism intern, content writer and more. Having a job can not only sharpen your writing and editing skills, but you’ll also be able to convey that you’re a responsible and mature individual in your College Application. You can look for jobs specifically for teenagers on websites such as SnagAJob and Indeed .

Summer Programs

High school students interested in creative writing can have the opportunity to learn from college professors and share their work with peers starting early. The following summer programs allow high schoolers to hone and share their writing skills in a variety of degrees. Whether you write fiction, plays, or think pieces, acceptance and participation in one of the following would show that you have worked hard to sharpen your craft.

Iowa Young Writers’ Studio

As an aspiring writer, you might have heard about the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa. While you can’t apply to the prestigious workshop until graduate school, the university does host a summer program for young writers, known as the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio . This two-week-long creative writing experience for high school students interested in creative writing provides an environment to hone your craft through seminars and workshops. Upon choosing fiction, poetry, or a mix of both as your concentration, you will attend courses that encourage you to improve your writing skills through peer-edits, writing exercises and activities, different approaches to writing, and constructive criticism from mentors. 

Interlochen Center for the Arts Summer Arts Camp

If you’re already highly talented and looking for arts summer programs that can enable you to grow as a writer, The Interlochen Center’s summer camp helps artistic students work on their skills in creative writing alongside other fields such as music and theatre design. You will have to show a final project (probably a story or longer piece of writing) to complete the program. You’ll not only have the opportunity to learn from professional artists and instructors, but you’ll also collaborate with other like-minded students and share your writing with each other.

Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute

The Medill-Northwestern Journalism Institute is a journalism camp that allows rising seniors to gain hands-on experience in writing, reporting, and editing for print and digital broadcasting. Especially if you’re hoping to apply to a top journalism program, participation in Medill’s program would look excellent on your profile. As part of this five-week summer institute, you’ll meet aspiring journalists from all over the world and partake in a variety of journalistic initiatives, from conducting interviews to working on stories about trending topics. You’ll also be paired with a mentor who will meet with you weekly to critique your writing assignments. Students are encouraged to pitch their articles and get published in the Daily Northwestern, which you should definitely strive for in order to impress college admissions officers! 

Columbia Creative Journalism Summer Program

Columbia Creative Journalism is a program for high school students hoping to quickly understand the basics of reporting. If you’re among high school students interested in creative writing who wish to pursue journalism, this one-week course gives you the opportunity to learn from esteemed journalist Elizabeth Walters and Columbia writing professor Kristen Martin. Students hone their reporting and interviewing skills through writing assignments such as profiles, op-eds, features, and audio pieces while staying in the journalistic hub that is New York City. You will also be asked to read a variety of articles as well as write a new article draft every night to better understand the landscape of journalism today.

New York University Tisch Summer Program

NYU’s Tisch School of Arts offers students in search of arts summer programs with an array of options at this four-week-long camp, where participants can choose to focus in dramatic writing alongside other performance genres. Tisch emphasizes projects, professional training, and structured classes. To complete the program, you have to turn in all of the intensive assigned coursework and professional training requirements for your chosen track. If you’re concentrating in dramatic writing, you will have to present your work to your peers, which is then reviewed and critiqued by the rest of the workshop members. You’ll have the opportunity to stay in an NYU residence hall and get a glimpse of what college might be like if you plan to attend art school in the Big Apple. At the end of the program you will have a chance to showcase your work—your play, video game, choreography—depending on your track.

Hopefully, you’ve come out of reading this blog with a strong idea of what it takes to succeed as high school students interested in creative writing . Admissions officers want to see students who have gone the extra mile and really dedicated themselves to their field. Don’t just perform well in the classroom. Start a writing club, apply for a writing internship, write your own novel if you have the time. Nothing is too small. You got this!

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Academic Insights: Revisiting Creative Writing in High School

My name is Debbie, and I am passionate about developing a love for the written word and planting a seed that will grow into a powerful voice that can inspire many.

The Importance of Creative Writing in High School Education

Exploring the benefits of incorporating creative writing in the curriculum, nurturing imagination and expression through creative writing, enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills through creative writing, fostering empathy and emotional intelligence through creative writing, strategies for implementing effective creative writing programs in high schools, supporting and encouraging creative writing talent in high school students, frequently asked questions, concluding remarks.

Creative writing is an invaluable component of high school education, fostering a wide range of skills that extend far beyond the realm of literature. By encouraging students to explore their imaginations, express their thoughts and emotions, and develop their own unique voice, creative writing helps students to develop vital communication skills that are applicable in every sphere of life. It nurtures creativity and originality, allowing students to think outside the box and approach problems with fresh perspectives.

Engaging in creative writing also enhances critical thinking skills, as students learn to analyze and evaluate their own work and the work of their peers. It encourages self-reflection and self-expression, helping students to understand and articulate their own thoughts and feelings more effectively. Through writing and receiving feedback, students develop the ability to think critically and improve their own writing, an essential skill in any academic or professional pursuit.

Moreover, creative writing fosters empathy and understanding by encouraging students to develop characters and narratives that differ from their own experiences. By exploring diverse perspectives and cultures, students broaden their horizons and gain a deeper appreciation for different viewpoints. Creative writing provides a safe space for students to explore difficult topics and grapple with complex emotions, enabling them to develop empathy and compassion for others.

In conclusion, cannot be overstated. It equips students with crucial communication and critical thinking skills while fostering empathy and understanding. By allowing students to unleash their creativity and explore new ideas, high schools can empower students to become well-rounded individuals with a lifelong love for learning and self-expression.

Introducing creative writing into the curriculum brings a plethora of benefits that extend beyond just honing writing skills. This expressive form of writing opens up new doors that encourage students to think critically, enhance their communication abilities, and foster their creativity. Here are some key advantages of incorporating creative writing in the curriculum:

• Development of Self-Expression: Through creative writing assignments, students are provided with a platform to effortlessly express their ideas, thoughts, and emotions. This can significantly contribute to their self-confidence and overall emotional well-being.
• Cultivation of Critical Thinking Skills: Engaging in creative writing exercises challenges students to think outside the box, leading to improvements in their analytical and problem-solving abilities. As they explore different perspectives and concepts, students become better at generating innovative ideas and making connections.

With the incorporation of creative writing, educators will witness an improved classroom environment that encourages collaboration and nurtures imagination. Moreover, students will discover the joys of crafting something uniquely their own, allowing their creativity to flourish alongside their academic growth.

Creative writing is a wonderful avenue for nurturing the imagination and fostering self-expression. Through the power of words, individuals are transported to worlds beyond their wildest dreams, exploring new ideas, characters, and emotions. Whether it’s penning a captivating short story, constructing vivid poetry, or crafting a compelling screenplay, creative writing provides an outlet for artistic expression like no other.

When engaging in creative writing, it’s essential to embrace the freedom that comes with it. There are no limits to what one can create on the blank canvas of a page. Encourage your imagination to soar by delving into various genres and experimenting with different writing styles. From whimsical fairy tales to gripping thrillers, let your creativity roam free, unbound by convention. Unleash your unique voice and infuse your writing with your own personal experiences and insights. By doing so, you not only develop your writing skills but also harness the power of storytelling to connect with others on a deeper level.

To nurture imagination and expression through creative writing, consider the following techniques:

– **Brainstorming**: Kickstart your creative process by brainstorming ideas or themes that intrigue you. Jot down words, phrases, or images that come to mind and let your imagination make connections between them. – **Free Writing**: Allow your ideas to flow freely without any judgement or editing. Set a timer and write continuously, exploring different tangents and ideas. This practice helps overcome writer’s block and taps into the subconscious mind. – **Character Development**: Create multidimensional characters by giving them unique traits, backstories, and desires. Explore their motivations and conflicts, allowing them to come alive in your writing. – **Setting the Scene**: Paint a vivid picture by describing the setting in detail. Engage the reader’s senses to transport them to the world you have created. – **Revision and Feedback**: Don’t shy away from revising your work multiple times. Seek feedback from trusted friends, writing groups, or online communities. Constructive criticism can help refine your storytelling skills and enhance your writing.

In the realm of creative writing, the possibilities are endless. By conquering your inhibitions and embracing the world of imagination, you can embark on a thrilling journey of self-discovery while captivating others with your words. So, grab your pen, open your mind, and let your creativity flow onto the pages – there’s a captivating story waiting to be told!

Creative writing is not just a form of self-expression; it is also a powerful tool for enhancing critical thinking and problem-solving skills . Through the act of creating stories, poems, and other forms of written expression, individuals are encouraged to think critically and analyze situations from different perspectives. This process allows them to develop valuable problem-solving skills that can be applied to various aspects of their lives.

When engaging in creative writing, individuals are required to think deeply and imaginatively. They must analyze characters, plot developments, and conflicts, evaluating the consequences of different choices and decisions. By doing so, they begin to develop a greater understanding of cause and effect, honing their critical thinking abilities. Furthermore, creative writing encourages individuals to think outside the box and explore unconventional solutions. This type of thinking can be extremely beneficial in problem-solving scenarios, as it opens up new avenues and possibilities.

• Through creative writing, individuals learn to ask critical questions and challenge assumptions, further strengthening their critical thinking skills.
• By experimenting with different writing styles and techniques, individuals develop their ability to analyze and solve complex problems creatively.
• Creative writing allows individuals to practice empathy, as they deeply connect with various characters and explore different perspectives, fostering a more nuanced approach to problem-solving.

Ultimately, incorporating creative writing into one’s routine can have a tremendous impact on their critical thinking and problem-solving abilities. It not only allows individuals to explore their own creativity but also equips them with valuable skills that can benefit them in academic, professional, and personal domains.

In today’s fast-paced and technology-driven world, fostering empathy and emotional intelligence has become crucial. One effective way to develop these skills is through creative writing. By engaging in the art of storytelling and self-expression, individuals can better understand and connect with the emotions and experiences of others.

Through creative writing, individuals can learn to identify and explore their own emotions, as well as develop a deeper understanding of the diverse range of human experiences. This process encourages self-reflection and introspection, allowing individuals to gain insights into their own emotional world.

• Enhanced empathy: Creative writing allows individuals to step into the shoes of different characters, experiencing their joys, sorrows, and challenges. This practice prompts a more empathetic and understanding attitude towards others in real life.
• Improved communication skills: Writing creatively involves finding the right words to express complex emotions and ideas. This exercise develops effective communication skills that can be utilized in various personal and professional settings.
• Increased self-awareness: By writing about their thoughts and feelings, individuals gain a deeper understanding of themselves. This self-awareness can lead to personal growth and improved emotional intelligence.

Whether through poetry, short stories, or journaling, creative writing provides a platform for individuals to tap into their emotions, expand their perspective, and cultivate empathy. It offers a unique opportunity to explore the human condition and foster meaningful connections with others.

Implementing an effective creative writing program in high schools can greatly enhance the writing skills and creativity of students. Here are some strategies that can be employed to create a thriving creative writing environment:

• Encourage freedom of expression: Allow students the freedom to explore their own unique writing styles and ideas. Avoid limiting them to strict guidelines and encourage them to think outside the box.
• Provide diverse writing prompts: Offer a wide range of writing prompts to cater to different interests and inspire creativity. Include prompts related to various genres, such as fiction, poetry, and non-fiction, to give students the opportunity to explore different writing styles.
• Create a supportive community: Foster a sense of community among aspiring writers by organizing workshops, writing groups, or open mic sessions where students can share their work and receive feedback from peers. This creates an environment that is conducive to growth and learning.

An effective creative writing program should also focus on skill development. Here are a few strategies to develop and enhance the writing skills of high school students:

• Incorporate grammar and language exercises: Dedicate some time to reinforce grammar rules, punctuation, and syntax. Provide exercises and worksheets to help students practice and improve their understanding of the English language.
• Introduce writing techniques: Teach students various writing techniques, such as storytelling, descriptive writing, and character development. Explore different literary devices and encourage students to experiment with their usage in their own writing.
• Review and provide constructive feedback: Regularly review students’ writing and give constructive feedback that focuses on both strengths and areas for improvement. Encourage students to revise and edit their work based on feedback received.

At [Organization Name], we believe in fostering and nurturing the creative writing talents of high school students. We understand the importance of providing a platform for young writers to express their thoughts and ideas through the power of words. Through our various initiatives and programs, we aim to support and encourage these budding authors, helping them unlock their full potential.

1. Workshops and Writing Labs: Our organization hosts regular workshops and writing labs conducted by experienced authors and poets. These sessions provide students with the opportunity to enhance their writing skills, learn different writing techniques, and receive valuable feedback on their work. By participating in these interactive sessions, students can develop their unique writing style and improve their storytelling abilities.

• Gain insights from professional writers
• Learn techniques to enhance creativity and imagination
• Understand the nuances of different genres

2. Writing Contests and Scholarships: To recognize exceptional talent, we organize annual writing contests exclusively for high school students. These contests encourage students to push their boundaries, experiment with different writing styles, and showcase their literary prowess. Winners of these contests not only receive recognition for their skills but also have the chance to win scholarships to further their education or attend writing programs, fostering their passion for creative writing even more.

• Opportunity to compete with other young writers
• Promote healthy competition and self-improvement
• Potential funding for future educational endeavors

Q: What is the importance of creative writing in high school? A: Creative writing in high school is invaluable as it enhances students’ communication skills, fosters creativity, and encourages critical thinking. It allows students to express themselves freely and develop their unique voices.

Q: How does creative writing benefit students? A: Creative writing provides students with a platform to explore their imagination, develop empathy, and gain a deeper understanding of themselves and the world around them. It also helps improve their writing and storytelling skills, which are essential in various academic and professional fields.

Q: What are the key elements of a successful high school creative writing program? A: A successful creative writing program in high school should offer a wide range of genres and writing styles, provide ample opportunities for feedback and revision, and encourage experimentation and risk-taking. It should also expose students to contemporary and diverse voices while promoting a supportive and inclusive learning environment.

Q: How can creative writing be integrated into the high school curriculum? A: Creative writing can be integrated into the high school curriculum by dedicating specific classes or modules to it. Additionally, it can be infused into other subjects, encouraging students to write creatively as part of their assignments or projects across disciplines like history, science, or even mathematics.

Q: What role should teachers play in fostering creative writing skills? A: Teachers play a crucial role in fostering creative writing skills by providing guidance, constructive feedback, and encouragement. They should create a safe space for students to express their ideas and creativity, while also introducing them to various literary works and writing techniques.

Q: How can technology support creative writing in high school? A: Technology can support creative writing in high school by providing students with easy access to online resources, writing communities, and digital tools for drafting, editing, and publishing their work. It can also facilitate collaborative writing projects and allow for peer feedback and discussions through online platforms or writing software.

Q: How can high schools collaborate with local writers and authors to enhance creative writing programs? A: High schools can collaborate with local writers and authors by inviting them as guest speakers, organizing workshops or writing contests, or establishing mentorship programs. Such collaborations provide students the opportunity to learn from professionals, gain insights into the publishing industry, and receive valuable feedback on their work.

Q: How can creative writing competitions and publications motivate high school students? A: Creative writing competitions and publications provide high school students a goal to strive for and a platform to showcase their talent. They create a sense of accomplishment and recognition among students and can serve as a catalyst for further improvement and engagement in the field of creative writing.

Q: Are there any long-term benefits of studying creative writing in high school? A: Absolutely! Studying creative writing in high school can have long-term benefits. It can help students develop their passion for writing, discover career paths in writing and publishing, and improve their college admission prospects. Furthermore, creative writing skills are transferable and applicable in various professional domains, fostering critical thinking and effective communication.

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Our 2020-21 Writing Curriculum for Middle and High School

A flexible, seven-unit program based on the real-world writing found in newspapers, from editorials and reviews to personal narratives and informational essays.

Update, Aug. 3, 2023: Find our 2023-24 writing curriculum here.

Our 2019-20 Writing Curriculum is one of the most popular new features we’ve ever run on this site, so, of course, we’re back with a 2020-21 version — one we hope is useful whether you’re teaching in person , online , indoors , outdoors , in a pod , as a homeschool , or in some hybrid of a few of these.

The curriculum detailed below is both a road map for teachers and an invitation to students. For teachers, it includes our writing prompts, mentor texts, contests and lesson plans, and organizes them all into seven distinct units. Each focuses on a different genre of writing that you can find not just in The Times but also in all kinds of real-world sources both in print and online.

But for students, our main goal is to show young people they have something valuable to say, and to give those voices a global audience. That’s always been a pillar of our site, but this year it is even more critical. The events of 2020 will define this generation, and many are living through them isolated from their ordinary communities, rituals and supports. Though a writing curriculum can hardly make up for that, we hope that it can at least offer teenagers a creative outlet for making sense of their experiences, and an enthusiastic audience for the results. Through the opportunities for publication woven throughout each unit, we want to encourage students to go beyond simply being media consumers to become creators and contributors themselves.

So have a look, and see if you can find a way to include any of these opportunities in your curriculum this year, whether to help students document their lives, tell stories, express opinions, investigate ideas, or analyze culture. We can’t wait to hear what your students have to say!

Each unit includes:

Writing prompts to help students try out related skills in a “low stakes” way.

We publish two writing prompts every school day, and we also have thematic collections of more than 1,000 prompts published in the past. Your students might consider responding to these prompts on our site and using our public forums as a kind of “rehearsal space” for practicing voice and technique.

Daily opportunities to practice writing for an authentic audience.

If a student submits a comment on our site, it will be read by Times editors, who approve each one before it gets published. Submitting a comment also gives students an audience of fellow teenagers from around the world who might read and respond to their work. Each week, we call out our favorite comments and honor dozens of students by name in our Thursday “ Current Events Conversation ” feature.

Guided practice with mentor texts .

Each unit we publish features guided practice lessons, written directly to students, that help them observe, understand and practice the kinds of “craft moves” that make different genres of writing sing. From how to “show not tell” in narratives to how to express critical opinions , quote or paraphrase experts or craft scripts for podcasts , we have used the work of both Times journalists and the teenage winners of our contests to show students techniques they can emulate.

“Annotated by the Author” commentaries from Times writers — and teenagers.

As part of our Mentor Texts series , we’ve been asking Times journalists from desks across the newsroom to annotate their articles to let students in on their writing, research and editing processes, and we’ll be adding more for each unit this year. Whether it’s Science writer Nicholas St. Fleur on tiny tyrannosaurs , Opinion writer Aisha Harris on the cultural canon , or The Times’s comics-industry reporter, George Gene Gustines, on comic books that celebrate pride , the idea is to demystify journalism for teenagers. This year, we’ll be inviting student winners of our contests to annotate their work as well.

A contest that can act as a culminating project .

Over the years we’ve heard from many teachers that our contests serve as final projects in their classes, and this curriculum came about in large part because we want to help teachers “plan backwards” to support those projects.

All contest entries are considered by experts, whether Times journalists, outside educators from partner organizations, or professional practitioners in a related field. Winning means being published on our site, and, perhaps, in the print edition of The New York Times.

Webinars and our new professional learning community (P.L.C.).

For each of the seven units in this curriculum, we host a webinar featuring Learning Network editors as well as teachers who use The Times in their classrooms. Our webinars introduce participants to our many resources and provide practical how-to’s on how to use our prompts, mentor texts and contests in the classroom.

New for this school year, we also invite teachers to join our P.L.C. on teaching writing with The Times , where educators can share resources, strategies and inspiration about teaching with these units.

Below are the seven units we will offer in the 2020-21 school year.

September-October

Unit 1: Documenting Teenage Lives in Extraordinary Times

This special unit acknowledges both the tumultuous events of 2020 and their outsized impact on young people — and invites teenagers to respond creatively. How can they add their voices to our understanding of what this historic year will mean for their generation?

Culminating in our Coming of Age in 2020 contest, the unit helps teenagers document and respond to what it’s been like to live through what one Times article describes as “a year of tragedy, of catastrophe, of upheaval, a year that has inflicted one blow after another, a year that has filled the morgues, emptied the schools, shuttered the workplaces, swelled the unemployment lines and polarized the electorate.”

A series of writing prompts, mentor texts and a step-by-step guide will help them think deeply and analytically about who they are, how this year has impacted them, what they’d like to express as a result, and how they’d like to express it. How might they tell their unique stories in ways that feel meaningful and authentic, whether those stories are serious or funny, big or small, raw or polished?

Though the contest accepts work across genres — via words and images, video and audio — all students will also craft written artist’s statements for each piece they submit. In addition, no matter what genre of work students send in, the unit will use writing as a tool throughout to help students brainstorm, compose and edit. And, of course, this work, whether students send it to us or not, is valuable far beyond the classroom: Historians, archivists and museums recommend that we all document our experiences this year, if only for ourselves.

October-November

Unit 2: The Personal Narrative

While The Times is known for its award-winning journalism, the paper also has a robust tradition of publishing personal essays on topics like love , family , life on campus and navigating anxiety . And on our site, our daily writing prompts have long invited students to tell us their stories, too. Our 2019 collection of 550 Prompts for Narrative and Personal Writing is a good place to start, though we add more every week during the school year.

In this unit we draw on many of these resources, plus some of the 1,000-plus personal essays from the Magazine’s long-running Lives column , to help students find their own “short, memorable stories ” and tell them well. Our related mentor-text lessons can help them practice skills like writing with voice , using details to show rather than tell , structuring a narrative arc , dropping the reader into a scene and more. This year, we’ll also be including mentor text guided lessons that use the work of the 2019 student winners.

As a final project, we invite students to send finished stories to our Second Annual Personal Narrative Writing Contest .

DECEMBER-January

Unit 3: The Review

Book reports and literary essays have long been staples of language arts classrooms, but this unit encourages students to learn how to critique art in other genres as well. As we point out, a cultural review is, of course, a form of argumentative essay. Your class might be writing about Lizzo or “ Looking for Alaska ,” but they still have to make claims and support them with evidence. And, just as they must in a literature essay, they have to read (or watch, or listen to) a work closely; analyze it and understand its context; and explain what is meaningful and interesting about it.

In our Mentor Texts series , we feature the work of Times movie , restaurant , book and music critics to help students understand the elements of a successful review. In each one of these guided lessons, we also spotlight the work of teenage contest winners from previous years.

As a culminating project, we invite students to send us their own reviews of a book, movie, restaurant, album, theatrical production, video game, dance performance, TV show, art exhibition or any other kind of work The Times critiques.

January-February

Unit 4: Informational Writing

Informational writing is the style of writing that dominates The New York Times as well as any other traditional newspaper you might read, and in this unit we hope to show students that it can be every bit as engaging and compelling to read and to write as other genres. Via thousands of articles a month — from front-page reporting on politics to news about athletes in Sports, deep data dives in The Upshot, recipes in Cooking, advice columns in Style and long-form investigative pieces in the magazine — Times journalists find ways to experiment with the genre to intrigue and inform their audiences.

This unit invites students to take any STEM-related discovery, process or idea that interests them and write about it in a way that makes it understandable and engaging for a general audience — but all the skills we teach along the way can work for any kind of informational writing. Via our Mentor Texts series, we show them how to hook the reader from the start , use quotes and research , explain why a topic matters and more. This year we’ll be using the work of the 2020 student winners for additional mentor text lessons.

At the end of the unit, we invite teenagers to submit their own writing to our Second Annual STEM writing contest to show us what they’ve learned.

March-April

Unit 5: Argumentative Writing

The demand for evidence-based argumentative writing is now woven into school assignments across the curriculum and grade levels, and you couldn’t ask for better real-world examples than what you can find in The Times Opinion section .

This unit will, like our others, be supported with writing prompts, mentor-text lesson plans, webinars and more. We’ll also focus on the winning teenage writing we’ve received over the six years we’ve run our related contest.

At a time when media literacy is more important than ever, we also hope that our annual Student Editorial Contest can serve as a final project that encourages students to broaden their information diets with a range of reliable sources, and learn from a variety of perspectives on their chosen issue.

To help students working from home, we also have an Argumentative Unit for Students Doing Remote Learning .

Unit 6: Writing for Podcasts

Most of our writing units so far have all asked for essays of one kind or another, but this spring contest invites students to do what journalists at The Times do every day: make multimedia to tell a story, investigate an issue or communicate a concept.

Our annual podcast contest gives students the freedom to talk about anything they want in any form they like. In the past we’ve had winners who’ve done personal narratives, local travelogues, opinion pieces, interviews with community members, local investigative journalism and descriptions of scientific discoveries.

As with all our other units, we have supported this contest with great examples from The Times and around the web, as well as with mentor texts by teenagers that offer guided practice in understanding elements and techniques.

June-August

Unit 7: Independent Reading and Writing

At a time when teachers are looking for ways to offer students more “voice and choice,” this unit, based on our annual summer contest, offers both.

Every year since 2010 we have invited teenagers around the world to add The New York Times to their summer reading lists and, so far, 70,000 have. Every week for 10 weeks, we ask participants to choose something in The Times that has sparked their interest, then tell us why. At the end of the week, judges from the Times newsroom pick favorite responses, and we publish them on our site.

And we’ve used our Mentor Text feature to spotlight the work of past winners , explain why newsroom judges admired their thinking, and provide four steps to helping any student write better reader-responses.

Because this is our most open-ended contest — students can choose whatever they like, and react however they like — it has proved over the years to be a useful place for young writers to hone their voices, practice skills and take risks . Join us!

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Homeschool Help and Curriculum

High School Writing Requirements: An Authoritative Guide

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Another post in the suite of Authoritative Guides for homeschooling high school: High School Writing Requirements: An Authoritative Guide.

When my youngest son headed off to college (he started out at our local community college ), one of his first courses he had to take was Freshman Composition. After the first writing assignment was graded, his instructor asked him to stay after class for a second. This, of course, was a bit anxiety inducing…was he in trouble for something?

But no, he was not in trouble. Instead, his instructor asked him, “What high school did you go to? This is one of the best papers I’ve ever seen from a freshman.”

My son was able to proudly share that he was homeschooled and learned to write by lots of practice. (He did not mention that the curriculum that he used was 7Sisters! In fact, over the high school years, He completed every single writing guide that we had constructed!

Anyway, the point of the story is that writing matters.

For college-bound teens, it is vital that homeschool high schoolers head to college well prepared to do lots of quality writing . For non-college bound teens, writing is a life skill that will be needed for lots of practical needs.

Because writing matters, it is an important part of every English/Language Arts credit (as you know, homeschooling high schoolers need four ELA credits for graduation ). The components of an English/Language Arts credit include:

• Literature (check out our Authoritative Guide to Literature for Homeschool High School )
• Writing (the topic of this entire post)
• Public Speaking

In this Authoritative Guide we will discuss the writing component of homeschool ELA credits

We will cover the following topics:

• What kinds of writing should be covered for homeschool ELA credits?

Where is the best curriculum for my teen?

• many papers should my teen write each year?
• do I grade papers?
• can I motivate my teen for writing projects?
• do I find resources to help my struggling writer?
• can I teach the writing requirements in homeschool co-op classes?

High school writing requirements: What kinds of writing should be covered for homeschool ELA credits?

To be clear, there’s not ONE right way to look at writing requirements, so you do what is best for your homeschool high schoolers and your family. However, in our years of advising homeschool teens and working with colleges and employers, we have found that there are some writing components that are:

• Good yearly requirements

Yearly writing requirements include:

• Essay writing is important because it trains teens to own their own thoughts and ideas, synthesize them, capture them and defend them. This is the exact process that writing essays takes teens through. It trains their minds on this kind of critical thinking skills and helps them learn to communicate accurately.
• This genre of writing can sometimes feel like boring busywork to teens, but when they understand that essay writing is like going to the gym and building muscles (only they are going to the essay-gym for their brains and building their critical thinking and communication skills) it helps the hard work feel purposeful.
• All 7Sisters essay writing guides include writing prompts, but here are some more prompts that might be relevant to your teens
• For more on critical thinking skills check out this post on c ritical thinking and this post on thinking well .

Research Papers

• Dig for information
• Learn valid information versus bad information (learn to look for good sources of information)

• Citing sources of information
• Choosing research topics
• Developing thesis statements
• If you get confused (it’s easy to get confused, we know) on the difference between essays, reports and research papers, here’s an explanation .

Short Stories

• Have fun with a project (and sometimes this kind of fun builds confidence in writing skills which generalizes to other types of writing
• Exercises the creative part of the brain, which in turn activates other parts of the brain to work better. Creativity is part of a healthy lifestyle (that’s why we include some creativity advice in the health curriculum).
• 7Sisters even has an optional Holiday Family Narrative Writing Guide
• Two: Tall Tale (where teens have a blast getting creative with characters, conversation and storyline)

• Poetry is so very useful for homeschool high schoolers. Because poetry says a lot in relatively few words, it teaches teens how to use words powerfully. It teaches teens to think about the best way or most impactful way to say things. (My teens have told me that their poetry writing gave them word-usage skills that have helped them write more interesting papers in college. More interesting papers get better grades.)
• This genre of writing is also a creative avenue for expression and healing .
• Because many pre-high school writing curriculum include little poetry writing (or get SO serious that it takes the fun out of poetry), 7Sisters recommends starting from scratch in high school (which is what our Introductory Guide to High School Poetry Writing does). Going back to basics in high school gives a chance for poetry to be fun and memorable.

Occasional requirements (those that should be covered at least once before graduation) include:

Professional writing.

• Complaint Letters

• Organizational Newsletters
• Taking and Formatting Meeting Minutes
• Advertising Copy and Press Releases
• Product Reviews
• Book Reviews
• Sets of How-To Instructions
• Professional Bios
• Expository Speeches
• Project Proposals and Abstracts

Out of the box creative writing, for instance:

• Biographies or other non-fiction as a narrative. This Homeschool Highschool Podcast interview with Janet and Geoff Benge tells you how
• It is a delightful combination of scrapbooking and writing! This is such a fun senior-year writing project !

College application essays

• Click here for an excerpt from the college application essay writing guide .

For more specific details, check out these posts about the kinds of writing that should be done by:

• college-bound teens
• non-college bound teens

That’s a trick question!

No, really. There’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school and there’s not ONE right curriculum that is best. However, there are writing curricula and courses out there for just about any need. For instance:

• 7Sisters Writing Curriculum: Essays, Research Papers, Short Stories, Poetry, Professional Writing, Creative Writing…all with the classic 7Sisters NO busywork, adjustable to different levels of rigor, don’t overdo it, style.
• FundaFunda Academy
• True North Academy
• Dreaming Spires Home Learning
• Heavy duty, college prep programs like Institute for Excellence in Writing.
• More traditional courses (lots of grammar) like Time4Writing , Abeka, Bob Jones.

You do what is best for you and your teen!

High school writing requirements: How many papers should my teen write each year?

As you know there’s not ONE right way to homeschool high school, so there’s not ONE right number of papers to write each year. Every family and teen have different needs and goals, so paper writing will vary.

We have found that we can expect that each year:

• More and longer papers from a tenth grader than a ninth grader
• A bit more and longer papers from an eleventh grader than a tenth grader
• And then more and longer papers from a twelfth grader than an eleventh grader

We also have found that writing needs differs by the level of rigor that a student needs:

• Remedial students needs for support, types and lengths of papers will vary by student. (Check the section below on suggestions for special needs students.)
• Average (non-college-bound students) do not need to waste their time on extremely long papers. They should definitely write to increase their critical thinking, communication and creative skills, but there is no need to overdo it.
• Here are more tips for college prep writin g for college-bound teens

If you want a in-depth, year-by-year, leveled breakdown of how many papers we have found work best for the homeschool families we have advised over the years, check out this post: How many papers should my teen write .

How do I grade papers?

We have found over the years, that we have grown to love rubrics . You can easily find one you can adapt on the internet or use our guidelines in this freebie: Tips for Grading Writing.

Also, many writing curriculums, including 7Sisters Writing Guides, include grading rubrics with each guide.

There are more guidelines for grading particular writing projects in these posts:

• How to Grade Poetry
• Grading Papers for History or Science
• Homeschool Highschool Podcast episode on goals and grading writing assignments . (GOOD info.)

How can I motivate my teen for writing projects?

There are lots of things you can do to motivate your teen for their writing projects:

Start with a growth mindset, teens need to:

• know that learning to write skillfully takes practice. The more they practice, the easier and more natural writing becomes.
• talk resiliently. Instead of saying, “I’m bad at writing,” try, “I’m learning to be a good writer.”
• think hopefully. Their brains need to know that they will keep working on their writing in order to improve. Talking hopefully makes a difference in the way the brain works. For more growth mindset ideas, check this post

Take a giant step back

• Remember, you are homeschooling your teens in order to do what is best for them. You get to choose the educational goals. So if you are setting your teens’ goals, then do not pressure yourself to have “grade appropriate” writing to start with. Take a step back:

Make assignments short

Keep them simple.

• And as often as possible, make them interesting, meaningful or fun (believe it or not, there are even fun essay topics- check out this post )

Here’s a post with more practical tips for helping reluctant writers with essays (sometimes this is the writing project that most intimidates young writers).

For teens with struggling with writing because of special needs:

• Feel free to make the compensations they need:
• Dictate writing assignments for first drafts to mom or using Dragon Dictation or other dictation app. (We are not affiliates, btw.)
• Do journaling daily or weekly where students can free write with no need to be graded. This can be done by hand, dictation or dictation app.
• Create a verbal progressive story (instructions in YouTube below)
• Check out SPED Homeschool’s website or Facebook group for lots of ideas and support
• 7Sisters Introductory Poetry and Introductory Short Story Writing (Family Narratives) can be good fits for the short lessons and achievable success
• Here’s more favorite curricula for teens with special needs

How can I teach the writing requirements in co-op classes?

If you are teaching writing high school homeschool co-op classes , you can have SO much fun! We have done some of the work for you, so read these posts then create some plans and a syllabus for your teens.

• Check out these how-to posts:
• How to Teach Essay Writing in Homeschool Co-op
• Using Myth-Fantasy Writing in the Classroom
• How to use College-Application Writing Guide in Homeschool Co-op
• Activities for MLA Research Paper for Homeschool Co-op
• How to Teach Short Story Writing in Homeschool Co-op
• Introducing Poetry in Homeschool Co-op
• How to Teach Writing Co-op Using 7Sisters Comprehensive ELA bundles
• Bonus post: If your teen feels overwhelm with all the writing, here are some helpful tips

Don’t forget we have co-op discounts on 7Sisters curriculum ! (And feel free to contact us with questions at [email protected] or even more fun, throw questions out to the 7SistersHomeschool Facebook group and get lots of ideas from your many 7th Sisters!)

Do you have teens who are homeschooling high school or are planning to homeschool high school soon? Check out 7Sisters Authoritative Guide post on planning high school .

Your homeschool high schoolers can love their writing experiences. High school writing: You CAN teach this!

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Vicki Tillman

Hi Christina, Welcome to homeschooling high school. These are the best years yet! All 7Sisters curriculum are pdf downloads. When you complete a purchase, the screen will show you links to download the curriculum (be sure to remember where you save it- maybe start a “high school” file). You will also receive an email with the links.

I am very interested in this writing curriculum for my daughter and so do I get it in my email and then print it? My daughter is going into ninth grade. Of course I know I need to pay for it. Thanks. . Thanks much.

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Extracurriculars.

Creative Writing Opportunities for High School Students

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If you’re a high school student interested in creative writing, you may or may not have a number of broad extracurricular options to pursue during the school year, depending on your school. You might be a part of your school’s literary magazine, or participate in creative writing workshops. Maybe you are lucky enough to attend a school with dedicated creative writing classes or poetry electives.

But what if your school doesn’t seem to offer much for students who want to pursue creative writing? Or what if you don’t even know where to begin looking? How can you keep your momentum headed towards your goal or otherwise use your time productively if you passionate about creative writing?

There are many activities available to high school students who enjoy creative writing. Some might be available through your school, but many are out there waiting for you to pursue them independently.

In this post, we’ll outline how you can take the initiative to pursue multiple creative writing opportunities both in and out of school. Keep reading to learn more about what opportunities are out there for high school-aged creative writers.

Why Pursue Creative Writing?

There are many reasons to pursue extracurriculars in general. They can serve to strengthen your academic profile, they allow you to pursue interests not otherwise available through traditional classwork, and they can provide valuable, real-world experience.

Creative writing is an extracurricular that is closely tied with your academic coursework in English and Language Arts and in fact is probably a partial requirement of at least some of your English classes. Pursuing it further exemplifies your commitment to the craft and gives you some insight into writing as a possible career path.

It might be easy to think of creative writing as nothing more than a hobby, but in reality many careers exist in which strong writing skills are coveted. By pursuing creative writing, you become well equipped for a career as not only an author or poet, but also in many other fields. We’ll discuss these more in depth at the end of this post.

Opportunities to Pursue Creative Writing

Literary magazine:.

This is the most obvious and most common way to study and produce creative writing in a formal setting at school. Many schools already have a literary magazine established and likely have regular meetings and a faculty adviser equipped to lend insight and advice.

You can usually join your school’s literary magazine at the beginning of a new school year, though you may also be able to join mid-year in some circumstances. Contact the editor or faculty advisor if you want to become involved. Over time you may even be able to take on a leadership role yourself. To learn more about the importance of this, check out CollegeVine’s Your Resume, Revamped: Securing Leadership Positions and Perfecting Your Extracurricular Profile . 

Another way to be involved with the literary magazine, even if you aren’t a part of its team, is to become a regular contributor. This isn’t always easy; some schools have highly competitive literary magazines or only produce one printed edition per year. If this is the case at your school, don’t get discouraged. Submit your best work, learn from feedback, and keep trying.

If your school does not have a literary magazine, you might consider starting one. Begin by talking to other students who have expressed interest in creative writing. Once you have a strong group of interested students, approach a member of your school’s faculty who would make a good adviser.

Your faculty adviser should be someone who has worked closely with you in the past and has some level of expertise in creative writing. Be clear what sort of commitment you are asking for from this person. You may need him or her to be present at every meeting, or you might simply need his or her signature and sporadic stamp of approval. Also remember that you will have some associated costs so having a faculty adviser who can help with fundraising could be important.

Literary magazines provide students interested in creative writing with some general insights into a formal writing publication, a glimpse at the process for submitting work and receiving feedback, and the opportunity to have their writing published for all to see.

Creative Writing Club:

If your school does not have a literary magazine or you are interested in pursuing creative writing in a less formal setting, a creative writing club might be a good bet for you.

These clubs generally operate as regular writing workshops during which students respond to prompts or practice free-writing, and then share their work and offer feedback to others. It is often similar to the submissions approval process at a literary magazine without the stress of possible rejection.

In addition, a creative writing club does not generally produce a publication, though some might print a collection of work at the end of the school year. Again, this differs from the traditional literary magazine because work is selected by the author rather than submitted for acceptance or rejection.

If your school does not have a creative writing club, it is easy to start one. Because there is no associated publication as in the case of a literary magazine, the process is generally less formal. You could meet before or after school and sometimes you don’t even need a faculty adviser; you just need a teacher who’s willing to share classroom space outside of school hours.

Alternatively, you could form a writing club that is completely independent of your school by meeting at the library or a friend’s house. Simply gather creative writing exercises from books or online searches and then gather on a regular basis to respond to them, share work, and offer constructive criticism.

A creative writing club can also be an important accountability tool for students who are working on independent creative writing projects. If you’re writing a longer piece or even a novel, or working on a collection of poetry, meeting regularly with like-minded writers can help to keep you on track and provide outside feedback that might otherwise be unavailable.

Creative Writing Tutor:

If creative writing is your passion and you want to share it with others, you might consider becoming a creative writing tutor for younger students.

Contact a local elementary school and ask if you might be able to volunteer. If so, arrive prepared to lead a small writer’s workshop. Bring any handouts you might need and practice your oral presentation ahead of time. If you need some inspiration for activities, check out the Creative Writing for Children page at PBS parents or the Story Starters page at Scholastic . These kid-friendly writing prompts are sure to inspire even the youngest authors.

If you can’t find a volunteer position at an elementary school, you could try reaching out to other local organizations. Girl or boy scout troops, community centers, or the local library are all possibilities.

Leading a creative writing group for younger students is a great way to hone your own thinking about creative writing, to practice your teaching and leadership skills, and to give back to your community.

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Writing Contests:

If you’re looking for more direction for your writing, and the idea of fame and fortune intrigues you, you should consider entering some writing contests. There are many to choose from, and most offer either cash prizes or scholarship money. Some are also quite prestigious.

For a list of some of the most respected writing contests open to high schoolers, check out The CollegeVine Ultimate Guide to High School Writing Contests .

Summer Programs:

As is now the case for most extracurriculars, there are many strong summer programs to choose from if you’d like to pursue creative writing during your school break. These programs can be competitive to get into and you will usually be required to submit a writing portfolio as a part of your application.

Programs such as these also strengthen your college application and reinforce your commitment to writing. A few of the strongest are:

• Interlochen
• Kenyon Review Young Writer’s Workshop
• California State Summer School for the Arts (Primarily for California residents, but a small number of non-residents are accepted each year.)

Many of these programs have scholarships available, so if finances are a concern, be sure to research a few options before ruling anything out.

In addition, many colleges offer summer programs in creative writing as well. These are usually similar in format to any of the aforementioned summer programs, with the added bonus of allowing you to build connections at colleges or universities that you might wish to attend. 

See if any schools on your list of potential colleges or universities offer summer programs and look into attending those. Otherwise, consider one of the following, which are known for their high quality instruction:

• Duke Young Writer’s Camp
• Carleton College Summer Writing Program
• Stanford Summer Institutes
• Lewis and Clark Fir Acres Workshop
• University of Iowa Young Writer’s Studio

Start a Blog

If you find that you are writing often but have nowhere to showcase your work or have trouble holding yourself accountable for producing work on a regular basis, starting your own blog might be a good fit. A blog is a great way to share your writing on a public platform, it can act as an informal portfolio of your work, and it helps to hold you accountable to a larger audience.

Many blogs are easily set up and hosted for free on websites such as WordPress , Blogger , LiveJournal , or Weebly . Share a link to your blog on your social media accounts or send out a group email to let friends and family know about it. As is the case any time you add to your online presence, be sure to discuss your plans with a parent or guardian ahead of time. 

Get Published Elsewhere

A blog isn’t the only platform for publishing your work. Many magazines and periodicals accept submissions from high school students. A long list of publications reviewing high school submissions can be found in the NewPages Young Authors’ Guide . 

You can also check with local publications like newspapers, smaller regional magazines, or even blogs you follow that might accept a guest post.

There are a myriad of ways to get your work to a bigger audience, and if that’s something you’re interested in doing, don’t be shy about asking or even sending unsolicited submissions. All it takes is one person to take a chance on you before you can call yourself a published author.

Career Aspirations for the Creative Writer

It’s easy to think of creative writing as the entry point to becoming a novelist or poet. You might even think that these are your only long-term career options should you choose to pursue creative writing seriously.

This is definitely not the case. Many, many career paths incorporate writing, and while you may not be writing fictional works the entire time, that does not mean that you won’t be incorporating your background in creative writing. All strong writing benefits from creativity.

Writers are especially valued in the fields of:

• Advertising
• American Literature
• Digital Media
• Educational and Instructional Technology
• Media Studies
• Public Relations
• Radio and Television
• Sports Communications
• Technical and Business Writing
• Webpage and Multimedia Design    

Remember, pursuing creative writing doesn’t necessarily mean you have to write a novel or publish a collection of poetry. Writers have valuable skills that can be applied broadly depending on their others skills and interests.

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Teach Creative Writing In High School With 10 Fun Activities

Creative writing is a meaningful aspect of literature that mandates you to utilize your expertise, ingenuity, and story to depict a critical message, emotion, or plot. It defies the traditional bounds of other forms of writing and is completely subjective to our preferences and experiences. In creative writing, it’s all about imaginativeness!

Using creative imagination and originality to convey feelings and concepts in a unique way is at the heart of creative writing. Simply stated, it’s about infusing your own ‘flair’ into your writing, moving beyond academic or other technical kinds of literature. 

In this post, we will explore the various activities which would be advantageous for a high schooler who wishes to indulge in creative writing!

What Happens When Creative Writing Is Put To Use?

Creative writing is any form of writing that deviates from traditional professional, investigative journalism, educational, or technological forms of literature. It is typically distinguished by emphasizing narrative craft, character development, literary tropes, or various poetic traditions.

Here are the few ways how high schoolers can benefit from creative writing –

1. Imagination

When you write creatively, you expand your imagination by creating new environments, scenarios, and characters. This way, you are also boosting and stretching your imagination, as well as “thinking out of the box.” This allows you to concentrate your energy on many other things and improve your ability to find fresh ideas and alternatives to problems you’re having. Whether you’re a researcher or a businessman, creative writing will increase your imagination and help you think more creatively, and push the boundaries.

2. Empathy and Communications skills

When you create characters, you’ll be constructing emotions, personalities, behaviors, and world views that are distinct from your own. Writers must conceive personalities, emotions, places, and walks of life outside of their own lives while creating universes with fictional characters and settings.

This can give children a good dose of empathy and understanding for those who aren’t like them, who don’t live where they do or go through the same things they do daily. Writers are better equipped to communicate when they have a greater understanding of other points of view. They can come up with creative ways to explain and debate subjects from multiple perspectives. This ability is crucial in both professional and personal situations. 

3. Clarification of Thoughts 

Creating structures in creative writing allows you to organize your impressions and emotions into a logical procedure. You may express both your thoughts and your sentiments through creative writing. For example, if you’re a marketing executive, you could create a short tale in which your clientele reads your promotional emails. You can guess what they’re up to, where they’re seated, what’s around them, and so on.

This enables you to focus on the language and strategies you employ. Alternatively, if you’re a technical writer writing on a new desktop platform, you could create a creative scenario in which a user encounters a problem. 

4. Broadens Vocabulary and gets a better understanding of reading and writing

You’ll learn a larger vocabulary and a better understanding of the mechanics of reading and writing as you begin to practice writing exercises regularly. Even if you’re writing a budget report, you’ll know when rigid grammar standards work and when they don’t, and you’ll know what will make your writing flow better for your readers. Exploring different ways of expressing yourself when writing creatively allows you to extend your vocabulary.

You’ll notice a change in your use and range of language as you improve your writing over time, which will be useful in any professional route and social scenario. You’ll be able to bend and break the rules when you need to, to utilize your voice and make what you’re writing engaging without coming off as an amateur, dull, or inauthentic once you’ve grasped the fundamentals of writing professionally and creatively.

5. Building Self-Belief 

When you write creatively, you’re actively involved in an activity that allows you to fully develop your voice and point of view without being constrained. You have a better chance to investigate and express your feelings about various issues, opinions, ideas, and characters. And you’ll feel more at ease and secure stating your thoughts and perspectives in other things you write as a result of this.

Writers who don’t write creatively may be concerned about appearing authoritative or trustworthy. They accidentally lose their voice and sound like drones spouting statistics by omitting to include their perspective on the topics they’re writing about. As a result, they miss out on using their distinct voice and presenting themselves as an expert with real-world expertise.

Creative Writing Activities That Will Strengthen Your Writing Skills  

Short spurts of spontaneous writing make up creative writing activities. These writing exercises push a writer to tackle a familiar topic in a new way, ranging from one line to a lengthy tale. Short, spontaneous projects are common in creative writing programs, but any writer should make them a regular practice to extend their abilities and learn new tactics to approach a series of stories.

These activities must be performed for ten minutes at a time, several times a week – by creative writers. They’re designed to help you improve your writing abilities, generate fresh story ideas, and become a better writer.

1. Free Writing

Writing is the first and foremost activity that is going to give your creative writing a boost. Start with a blank page and let your stream of thoughts and emotions flow. Then simply begin writing. Don’t pause to think or alter what you’re expressing. This is known as “free writing.” This writing activity is referred to as “morning pages” by Julia Cameron, the author of ‘The Artist’s Way.’ She recommends that authors do this every day when they first wake up. Stream of consciousness writing can provide some intriguing concepts.

Allow your intellect to take the lead as your fingers type. Or write a letter to your younger self.  Consider a topic you’d like to discuss, such as a noteworthy event, and write it down. Give guidance or convey a message that you wish you had heard as a youngster or a young adult.

2. Modify a Storyline – Read

Most of us like to read. However, just reading won’t really help augment your creative writing skills. While reading bestows insight into the deeper meanings of numerous things, you need a more concrete approach to better your aptitude. To do this, you can modify any storyline. Take an episode from a chapter, if you’re feeling brave—from one of your favorite books and recreate it. Write it from the perspective of a different character. Swap out the main character in this exercise to examine how the story may be conveyed differently.

Take Percy Jackson’s thrilling conclusion, for instance, and rework it with Annabeth as the primary character. Another way to approach this creative activity is to keep the primary character but switch viewpoints. Rewrite a scene in the third person if the writer has told a story in the first person. 

3. Add Creative Writing Prompts or Create Flash Fiction

Use writing prompts, often known as narrative starters, to produce writing ideas. A writing prompt is a sentence or short excerpt that a writer uses to start composing a story on the spot. You can look up writing prompts online, pick a sentence out of a magazine at random, or use a brilliant line from a well-known work as the start of your short scene.

Another thing you can do to accentuate your writing is to create flash fiction. Sit down at your desktop or pick up a pen and paper and write a 500-word story on the spur of the moment. This isn’t the same as just writing whatever comes to mind. With no fixed guidelines, free writing generates a stream of consciousness. All of the basic components of a story arc, such as plot, conflict, and character development, are required in flash fiction, albeit in a shortened form.

4. Create a Fictitious Advertisement

Pick a random word from a nearby book or newspaper and create a fictitious commercial for it. Write one ad in a formal, abbreviated newspaper classified format to require you to pay special attention to your word choice to sell the item. Then write one for an online marketplace that allows for longer, more casual text, such as Craigslist. Describe the item and persuade the reader to purchase it in each one.

5. Engage in Conversations 

Engaging in conversations with your friends/family – or simply communicating can help brush up your writing skills. Talk to your loved ones about their hobbies, career, views on societal issues – any suitable topic for that matter. This helps implement others’ points of view and expands your mental ability. Another useful thing that you can do is – make another person’s tale and create it by implementing your own thoughts. Then talk about it in an impeccable manner. Also, talk in complete sentences. This goes to show your Linguistic intelligence proficiency – and helps augment your creative writing skills.

6. Create Your Own Website/Blog

Start your search for blogging. There are a million writing suggestions out there, but they all boil down to the same thing: write. Blogging is excellent writing practice because it gives you a place to write regularly.

To keep your fingers and mind nimble, write a post every day. Like most bloggers, you’ll want to restrict your subject—perhaps you’ll focus on parenting or start a how-to site where you can tell stories from your point of view.

7. Participate in Debates/Extempores  

Participating in debates, extempores – anchoring for your school function, giving a speech, all of these activities help boost your creative spirit. These group events make you understand what other people are envisioning, which in turn helps you generate new ideas, approaches, and methods. Not only do they improve your articulation and research skills, but they also develop critical thinking and emotional control abilities. All of these promote a better creative writing aptitude.

8. Start a YouTube Channel or Podcast 

Starting a YouTube channel or podcast will definitely level up your creative game. YouTube is a never-ending platform, covering myriads of topics. Choose a particular niche for your channel.

Then do your topic research, create content, manage SEO, approach brands, talk to clients and influencers – do all the good stuff. Communicating with other influencers and creating content will take your creative writing skills to another level. Starting a podcast will have a similar impact. 

9. Love them? Say it with your words!

We have many festivals, occasions, birthdays, parties, anniversaries and whatnot! You can employ these special days and boost your creative writing skills. You can make a token of love for them – writing about your feelings. You can also make gift cards, birthday cards, dinner menus, and so on. So let’s say, it’s your mother’s birthday, you can write her a token of love, elucidating your feelings and letting her know what all she’s done for you and that you’re grateful. Do this for all your near and dear ones. This not only spreads positivity and love but helps you develop your creative aptitude.

10. The What-if Game

The What-If game is an incredible way to upgrade your creative abilities. You can play this game with your friends, cousins, relatives, or solo. Here, you need to find links to many interesting hypothetical questions. For instance, what if the sun doesn’t rise for a week? What if there’s no oxygen for one minute? Play it with your peeps, or ask these questions to yourself. It can be anything random but concrete. If you don’t know the answers to the questions, look them up on Google. This way, you’re training your mind to learn new concepts all the while enhancing your visualization process. 

We can conclude that creative writing encourages students to think creatively, use their imaginations, imply alternatives, expand their thinking processes, and improve their problem-solving skills. It also allows the child to express themselves and grow their voice. Besides, it enhances reasoning abilities. The principle behind the creative writing concept is that everyone can gain the qualities that are needed to become a successful writer or, rather become good at writing. Creative writing is all about using language in new and innovative ways.

Sananda Bhattacharya, Chief Editor of TheHighSchooler, is dedicated to enhancing operations and growth. With degrees in Literature and Asian Studies from Presidency University, Kolkata, she leverages her educational and innovative background to shape TheHighSchooler into a pivotal resource hub. Providing valuable insights, practical activities, and guidance on school life, graduation, scholarships, and more, Sananda’s leadership enriches the journey of high school students.

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, what's the standard high school curriculum you should take.

Coursework/GPA

Are you wondering what a typical high school curriculum looks like? Do you want to know what classes you'll be taking as a high school student?

Read this guide to learn about the standard high school curriculum, high school graduation requirements, and what classes colleges expect you to have taken.

How to Find Your School's Curriculum

This is a general guide to high school curricula. It was created by researching national education standards, as well as the curricula of high schools across the country. While the information below applies to many students , not all high schools teach the same courses, follow the same course sequence, or have the same curriculum requirements. Use this information as a guideline to research your own high school's curriculum more in-depth.

To find your own school's curriculum, talk to your academic adviser . You can also look on your school's website, searching for "graduation requirements", "course sequence" or something similar. Your high school's course catalog will also usually contain this information.

Which Subjects Should You Take More Rigorous Courses In?

In addition to explaining typical graduation requirements, each core subject in this guide includes ways to exceed basic requirements and strengthen your transcript . However, trying to go the extra mile in every subject can be exhausting and lead to you getting burned out. Because colleges appreciate depth more than breadth, concentrate on putting extra effort in the area(s) you plan to continue studying in college.

For example, if you plan on majoring in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field, try to follow our guidelines for exceeding expectations in your math and science classes, and worry less about taking advanced courses in English and history (although still work to get solid grades in those courses). Similarly, if you plan on majoring in something like journalism, concentrate most of your effort on taking advanced English classes and additional English electives.

Also, if you are looking at attending a highly competitive college , know that most expect applicants to have taken honors or advanced classes if their school offers them, and most also require or highly recommend completing four years in each core subject (math, science, English, and social studies).

Standard High School Curriculum

Below is information on the typical classes a high school student will be expected to take, organized by subject. Each subject includes classes that are required to graduate high school, classes colleges expect students to have taken, and suggestions for ways to impress by going beyond these expectations.

Requirements:

• Four years of English are required to graduate high school.
• Freshman and Sophomore years: Classes during these years will be primarily focused on developing writing and critical reading skills.
• Junior year: This year will focus on American literature, as well as continued development of writing skills.
• Possible electives include British literature, creative writing, and world literature.
• Colleges will expect all high school graduates to have completed four years of English.

To Exceed Expectations:

• There are two AP English classes: English Language and Composition (usually taken junior year), and English Literature and Composition (usually taken senior year).
• There are three IB literature classes: Language A: Literature, Language A: Language and Literature, and Literature and Performance.
• Also consider taking additional English electives in areas that you're interested in, such as literature or writing.

• At least three years of math, including algebra and geometry, is required to graduate high school.
• Algebra 2/Trigonometry
• Pre-Calculus
• (Not all students start with Algebra 1, and not all students complete all the above courses or follow the above order exactly)
• Most colleges require three-four years of math for non-STEM majors, including algebra 1 and 2 and geometry.
• For STEM majors, most colleges require four years of math, sometimes including pre-calculus and calculus.
• Take four years of math.
• Take math at the highest level offered by your school, such as at an honors or AP level.
• There are three AP Math classes: Calculus AB, Calculus BC, and Statistics.
• There are four IB Math classes that cover roughly the same material but vary in difficulty and speed.
• Take pre-calculus and calculus, if possible.
• Take additional math-related electives such as statistics and computer math.

Requirements

• Two to three years of science, including biology and chemistry, is required to graduate high school.
• Freshman year: Biology
• Sophomore year: Chemistry
• Junior year: Physics or Earth Science
• Students who are more confident in their math and science skills typically take physics, while those who are not take earth science instead.
• Senior year: optional electives
• Potential electives include astronomy, environmental science, and human biology.
• Most colleges require two-three years of science for non-STEM majors.
• For STEM majors, most colleges require four years of science, including physics.
• Take four years of science.
• Take honors or accelerated classes your first three years.
• Take physics instead of earth science your junior year.
• AP science classes include: Biology, Chemistry, Physics (1,2, and C versions), and Environmental Science
• There are seven IB science classes: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Computer Science, Design Technology, Environmental Systems and Societies, Sports, Education and Health Science
• You can also take more career-focused classes if your school offers them, such as job shadowing at a hospital.

Social Studies

• Three years of social studies, including US history, is often required to graduate high school.
• This can be a human geography course or another introductory social studies class.
• Sophomore year: World history
• Junior year: US History
• Possible electives include psychology, US government, and anthropology.
• Most colleges require completing at least two years of social studies, often including US history and World or European history classes.
• For students planning on majoring in a related field, such as political science or history, most colleges require they have completed four years of social studies.
• Take four years of social studies.
• AP options during these three years include Human Geography, World History, European History, and US History
• AP electives include Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Psychology, US Government and Politics, and Comparative Government and Politics.
• IB classes for social studies are offered under the group entitled "Individuals and Societies".
• Ten classes are offered on varying subjects.

Foreign Language

• Foreign language requirements can vary greatly by school.
• Most high schools require students to complete one-two years of foreign language.
• Most colleges require one-two years of a foreign language, and highly competitive schools may require or recommend up to four years.
• Most high schools and colleges require that these credits all come from the same foreign language. For example, if your high school requires two years of foreign language, taking Spanish 1 and Spanish 2 will meet that requirement, but taking Spanish 1 and then switching to Italian 1 often won't.
• Take one foreign language all four years of high school, including AP level if possible.
• You may also want to consider taking a second foreign language.

Other Classes

These are classes that are not part of the core curriculum, but may still be a part of graduation requirements.

• Most high schools require students to complete a certain number of credits in order to graduate. Core requirements (such as those listed above) usually do not fill all these credits, so extra space in your schedule can be used to take electives.
• Electives can be regular, honors, or AP level.
• They can relate to a core subject, such as statistics, creative writing, and zoology, or not, such as choir, drawing, and woodworking.
• Many high schools require students to complete one-four years of physical education. This may be waived if you participate in a school sport.

How to Use This Information

Now that you know what the typical high school curriculum looks like, you can use this information to make more informed decisions about your own high school classes. Some actions to take include:

• Think about your course sequence early, ideally starting freshman year if possible.
• Reflect on your course choices each quarter or semester. Are you on track to graduate on time? Are you taking the classes you need to get into the colleges you want and the major you want? Talk to your academic adviser if you're not sure.
• Think about the subject areas where you want to exceed expectations and choose your classes accordingly. However, don't be afraid to drop to a lower level if you're having a lot of trouble with a particular class.

What's Next?

Wondering if you're taking enough challenging classes? Check out our guide to learn what a rigorous high school course load looks like .

Do you know what colleges look for on your transcript? Learn what a high school transcript is and why it's so important to colleges.

Want to get more detailed information about the classes you should take? Check out our guides to choosing classes for English , Math , Science , History , and Foreign Languages !

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Christine graduated from Michigan State University with degrees in Environmental Biology and Geography and received her Master's from Duke University. In high school she scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT and was named a National Merit Finalist. She has taught English and biology in several countries.

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Iowa Young Writers' Studio

Creative writing programming for high school students

2-week Summer Residential Program and 6-week Online Courses

2-Week Summer Residential Program

At the Summer Residential Program, you will choose a single core course—Poetry, Fiction, Creative Writing, Playwriting, or TV writing—as your focus for the two weeks of the program.

6-week Online Courses

We offer asynchronous 6-week online creative writing courses for high school students every winter and summer.   You can study creative writing with us your own schedule, from anywhere in the world!

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Teachers and counselors at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio are chosen, with rare exceptions, from among the students and graduates of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa.

Experience the Iowa Young Writers' Studio

Watch this short video for an inside look at the Iowa Young Writers’ Studio experience.

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Home » Course descriptions » Language Arts courses » Creative Writing 

Creative writing is designed to aid students in their creative expression. Students will explore the basic elements of writing including voice, tone, dialogue, setting, and plot. They will also work on using descriptive and figurative language. Students will read a variety of mentor texts and essays, as well as view videos, on writing craft and literary conventions in order to develop the essential tools to effectively analyze and write various pieces including a memoir, fictional narrative, several pieces of poetry, and a children’s book.

Course materials : A variety of online resources

Standards met : This course can be taken for Language Arts elective credit only.

Credit : 0.5

Honors Opportunity : Yes

Prerequisites : None—this course is appropriate for students at all levels.

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What to Know About Creative Writing Degrees

Many creative writing degree recipients pursue careers as authors while others work as copywriters or ghostwriters.

Tips on Creative Writing Degrees

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Prospective writing students should think about their goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Many people see something magical in a beautiful work of art, and artists of all kinds often take pride in their craftsmanship. Creative writers say they find fulfillment in the writing process.

"I believe that making art is a human need, and so to get to do that is amazing," says Andrea Lawlor, an author who this year received a Whiting Award – a national $50,000 prize that recognizes 10 excellent emerging authors each year – and who is also the Clara Willis Phillips Assistant Professor of English at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts.

"We all are seeing more and more of the way that writing can help us understand perspectives we don't share," says Lawlor, whose recent novel "Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl" addresses the issue of gender identity.

"Writing can help us cope with hard situations," Lawlor says. "We can find people who we have something in common with even if there's nobody around us who shares our experience through writing. It's a really powerful tool for connection and social change and understanding."

Creative writing faculty, many of whom are acclaimed published authors, say that people are well-suited toward degrees in creative writing if they are highly verbal and enjoy expressing themselves.

"Creative imaginative types who have stories burning inside them and who gravitate toward stories and language might want to pursue a degree in creative writing," Jessica Bane Robert, who teaches Introduction to Creative Writing at Clark University in Massachusetts, wrote in an email. "Through formal study you will hone your voice, gain confidence, find a support system for what can otherwise be a lonely endeavor."

Read the guide below to gain more insight into what it means to pursue a creative writing education, how writing impacts society and whether it is prudent to invest in a creative writing degree. Learn about the difference between degree-based and non-degree creative writing programs, how to craft a solid application to a top-notch creative writing program and how to figure out which program is the best fit.

Why Creative Writing Matters and Reasons to Study It

Creative writers say a common misconception about their job is that their work is frivolous and impractical, but they emphasize that creative writing is an extremely effective way to convey messages that are hard to share in any other way.

Kelly Caldwell, dean of faculty at Gotham Writers Workshop in New York City, says prospective writing students are often discouraged from taking writing courses because of concerns about whether a writing life is somehow unattainable or "unrealistic."

Although creative writers are sometimes unable to financially support themselves entirely on the basis of their creative projects, Caldwell says, they often juggle that work with other types of jobs and lead successful careers.

She says that many students in her introductory creative writing class were previously forbidden by parents to study creative writing. "You have to give yourself permission for the simple reason that you want to do it," she suggests.

Creative writing faculty acknowledge that a formal academic credential in creative writing is not needed in order to get writing published. However, they suggest, creative writing programs help aspiring authors develop their writing skills and allow space and time to complete long-term writing projects.

Working writers often juggle multiple projects at once and sometimes have more than one gig, which can make it difficult to finish an especially ambitious undertaking such as a novel, a play for the screen or stage, or a well-assembled collection of poems, short stories or essays. Grants and fellowships for authors are often designed to ensure that those authors can afford to concentrate on their writing.

Samuel Ace, a published poet and a visiting lecturer in poetry at Mount Holyoke, says his goal is to show students how to write in an authentic way that conveys real feeling. "It helps students to become more direct, not to bury their thoughts under a cascade of academic language, to be more forthright," he says.

Tips on Choosing Between a Non-Degree or Degree-Based Creative Writing Program

Experts note that someone needs to be ready to get immersed in the writing process and devote significant time to writing projects before pursuing a creative writing degree. Prospective writing students should not sign up for a degree program until they have reached that sense of preparedness, warns Kim Todd, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts and director of its creative writing program.

She says prospective writing students need to think about their personal goals and figure out if a creative writing degree will help them achieve those goals.

Aspiring writers who are not ready to invest in a creative writing degree program may want to sign up for a one-off writing class or begin participating in an informal writing workshop so they can test their level of interest in the field, Todd suggests.

How to Choose and Apply to a Creative Writing Program

In many cases, the most important component of an application to a writing program is the writing portfolio, writing program experts say. Prospective writing students need to think about which pieces of writing they include in their portfolio and need to be especially mindful about which item they put at the beginning of their portfolio. They should have a trusted mentor critique the portfolio before they submit it, experts suggest.

Because creative writing often involves self-expression, it is important for aspiring writing students to find a program where they feel comfortable expressing their true identity.

This is particularly pertinent to aspiring authors who are members of minority groups, including people of color or LGBTQ individuals, says Lawlor, who identifies as queer, transgender and nonbinary.

How to Use a Creative Writing Degree

Creative writing program professors and alumni say creative writing programs cultivate a variety of in-demand skills, including the ability to communicate effectively.

"While yes, many creative writers are idealists and dreamers, these are also typically highly flexible and competent people with a range of personal strengths. And a good creative writing program helps them understand their particular strengths and marketability and translate these for potential employers, alongside the more traditional craft development work," Melissa Ridley Elmes, an assistant professor of English at Lindenwood University in Missouri, wrote in an email.

Elmes – an author who writes poetry, fiction and nonfiction – says creative writing programs force students to develop personal discipline because they have to consistently produce a significant amount of writing. In addition, participating in writing workshops requires writing students "to give and receive constructive feedback," Elmes says.

Cindy Childress, who has a Ph.D. in English from the University of Louisiana—Lafayatte and did a creative writing dissertation where she submitted poetry, says creative writing grads are well-equipped for good-paying positions as advertising and marketing copywriters, speechwriters, grant writers and ghostwriters.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual compensation for writers and authors was $63,200 as of May 2019.

"I think the Internet, and writing communities online and in social media, have been very helpful for debunking the idea that if you publish a New York Times Bestseller you will have 'made it' and can quit your day job and write full time," Elmes explains. "Unless you are independently wealthy, the odds are very much against you in this regard."

Childress emphasizes that creative writing degree recipients have "skills that are absolutely transferable to the real world." For example, the same storytelling techniques that copywriters use to shape public perceptions about a commercial brand are often taught in introductory creative writing courses, she says. The ability to tell a good story does not necessarily come easily to people who haven't been trained on how to do it, she explains.

Childress says she was able to translate her creative writing education into a lucrative career and start her own ghostwriting and book editing company, where she earns a six-figure salary. She says her background in poetry taught her how to be pithy.

"Anything that we want to write nowadays, particularly for social media, is going to have to be immediately understood, so there is a sense of immediacy," she says."The language has to be crisp and direct and exact, and really those are exactly the same kind of ways you would describe a successful poem."

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2023 Creative Writing Degree Guide

Rapid growth in creative writing degrees awarded.

Creative Writing was the 120th most popular major in the 2020-2021 school year. Colleges in the United States reported awarding 6,817 degrees in this year alone. This is a difference of 231 over the prior year, a growth of 3.4%.

This year's Best Creative Writing Schools ranking compares 214 of them to identify the best overall programs in the country. Explore this or one of our many other custom creative writing rankings further below.

Best Creative Writing Schools by Degree

Requirements for getting a degree in creative writing.

A major in creative writing prepares you for careers in which understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents is crucial. Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience and giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times are all required skills for careers related to this major.

Creative Writing Degree Program Entry Requirements

New students will need to have completed high school or a GED program and each school will have their own minimum GPA and SAT/ACT test requirements. In addition to these basic creative writing program qualifications, to serve in some creative writing careers, special certification may be required outside of your degree.

Types of Creative Writing Degrees

There are various different levels of creative writing degrees. You can get anything from a in creative writing to the highest creative writing degree, a . Different creative writing degrees vary in how long they take.

A bachelor's degree is the most common level of education achieved by those in careers related to creative writing, with approximately 42.2% of workers getting one. Find out other typical degree levels for creative writing workers below.

82.7% of creative writing workers have at least a associate. The chart below shows what degree level those who work in creative writing have obtained.

This of course varies depending on which creative writing career you choose.

Creative Writing Careers

Growth projected for creative writing careers.

Want a job when you graduate with your creative writing degree? Creative Writing careers are expected to grow 6.7% between 2016 and 2026.

The following options are some of the most in-demand careers related to creative writing.

How Much Money Do People With a Creative Writing Degree Make?

As you might expect, salaries for creative writing graduates vary depending on the level of education that was acquired.

Highest Paid Creative Writing Careers

Salaries for creative writing graduates can vary widely by the occupation you choose as well. The following table shows the top highest paying careers creative writing grads often go into.

Getting Your Creative Writing Degree

With over 704 different creative writing degree programs to choose from, finding the best fit for you can be a challenge. Fortunately you have come to the right place. We have analyzed all of these schools to come up with hundreds of unbiased creative writing school rankings to help you with this.

Top Ranking Lists for Creative Writing

Best schools creative writing, best value colleges creative writing, creative writing related majors.

One of 4 majors within the Writing Studies area of study, Creative Writing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Creative Writing

View All Creative Writing Related Majors >

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Essentials in Writing

Where learning to write well has never been so easy

By: Matthew Stephens April 30, 2020

How to Earn an English Credit for High School Students?

One of the main questions we get here at Essentials in Writing is, “What is required to make up an English Credit for my middle school or high school student?”

Credits for Math, Science, and Social Studies are easy to calculate. You take one class for the year and it counts as one credit respectively. For English, reading and writing are required. To earn one English credit students need to complete both composition and literary analysis.

Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature together would be considered a high school English class. Most English classes in public/private education consist not only of composition but also literary analysis. However, many states have different requirements for homeschooling. If the requirement is English I, II, III, and IV for each grade of high school, then students would need to complete Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature for that level to earn 1 English credit. If the state requires a composition course AND a literary analysis course separately, then each would count as 1 credit each.

Here is a suggestion on how to count for credit hours:

Essentials in Writing = 1 credit for English Composition Essentials in Literature = 1 credit for Literary Analysis *Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature Together = 1 Credit for English.

*most common

Title accordingly for transcript purposes: Essentials in Writing can be counted as English Comp or Composition I or Composition II, III, etc. Essentials in Literature can be counted as Literature I, Lit II, III, etc. Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature together can be counted as English I, II, III, or IV. An important suggestion we give parents is to keep your planner and workbook, copy of tests/assessments and examples of work.

Please note that while levels of Essentials in Writing and Essentials in Literature are indicative of grade level, students can complete 1-2 levels above or below current grade level and still earn one credit of English. See example below:

9 th grade student earning ONE English credit:

Essentials in Writing Level 9

Essentials in Literature Level 9

Essentials in Writing Level 8

Essentials in Writing Level 10

Stay tuned for an in-depth blog post related to what high school students study in composition and literary analysis respectively. 

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By: Essential in Writing January 2, 2018

Welcome to Our New Blog

Welcome to our new blog! We are very excited to launch a new addition to our website that we believe will be beneficial for students, teachers, and home school parents. This blog will be devoted to all aspects of writing, literature, and teaching. We are excited to partner with you on your homeschool journey and…

By: Matthew Stephens January 9, 2018

Improving the Homeschool Writing Experience

Teaching homeschool writing can be frustrating especially for those of us who write well and do not have to be bothered by checking for such things as capitalization and punctuation errors. Those writing rules come naturally for us. But, it doesn’t always come easy for our students. What seems to be such an “easy to…

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Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

A Message From the Assistant Director of Content Development 

The Purdue OWL® is committed to supporting  students, instructors, and writers by offering a wide range of resources that are developed and revised with them in mind. To do this, the OWL team is always exploring possibilties for a better design, allowing accessibility and user experience to guide our process. As the OWL undergoes some changes, we welcome your feedback and suggestions by email at any time.

Please don't hesitate to contact us via our contact page  if you have any questions or comments.

All the best,

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