Teen Short Story Writing Circle 2014-05-12

Sharing and Critique

After a couple of students read their short stories this afternoon, I jumped right into sharing my feedback on three of the stories I received on Friday. My comments are highlighted in yellow and are suggestions for further developing each piece. In most cases, I have also made notes when I see punctuation or other minor errors cropping up. Primarily, I want to focus on each student becoming a better writer. They will become better self-editors the more they write and the more time they take to review their own work. In all cases, I have asked the writers to think more deeply about their characters, plots, dialogue, and story details. They may wish to make these changes and send their stories back to me for a second review. There is no deadline for the second review — I’m here and ready to help when they’ve had a chance to implement their edits.

This applies to the two stories they sent me on Friday. If they haven’t yet sent me two stories — please have them do so by today, Monday, May 12. Any feedback that I don’t get to by Monday, May 19, will be emailed to you shortly thereafter.

Review and Revision — Final Project

Since today’s class was all about feedback and reviewing and revising our work, we spent some time discussing what edits the students need to make. We talked about macro-editing and what that entails. I provided everyone with a handout which lists different things they should be looking for when revising their final project. Which bring me to…

The Final Project: Students are to select a third piece that they have written during this course and review and revise it based on the macro-editing guidelines. It cannot be one of the two pieces they have already sent me. This final project should be emailed to me no later than Friday, May 16.

To re-cap, by the end of our six weeks together we will:

• Receive feedback on two stories that students may or may not have had time to self-edit. Review that feedback, make any changes and send to me a final time for review. 
• Receive feedback on a revised and self-edited third story which should be sent to me no later than Friday, May 16. They may also choose to implement those suggestions and send to me for a second review.
• At our last class on Monday, May 19, I will give feedback to the four students who did not receive feedback today. We’ll conclude our time together by doing a fun in-class writing exercise (hopefully involving our invented characters).

I have truly enjoyed each and every one of your children, and have so enjoyed getting to know them and listening to their wonderful stories. See you Monday!