Creative Writing in Literature Study: Using Imaginative Writing Practices to Refine Close-Reading Skills in Secondary English Instruction, Slides of Creative writing

Download Creative Writing in Literature Study: Using Imaginative Writing Practices to Refine Close-Reading Skills in Secondary English Instruction and more Slides Creative writing in PDF only on Docsity! Running head: CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY Creative Writing in Literature Study: Using Imaginative Writing Practices to Refine Close- Reading Skills in Secondary English Instruction Kellie Palmblad Colorado College Rooted at the core of successful literary analysis is the ability to identify literary elements and use inference skills to gain deeper insights about an author’s message in a work. Accepted English instruction often helps students to arrive at a more sophisticated understanding of a literary work through refining analytical writing. This research uncovers insights about how imaginative writing practices help reinforce students’ close-reading abilities and benefit student literary analysis. This work is a descriptive, grade-level analysis that examines the uses and benefits of implementing creative writing instruction to aid literary study, specifically in assessing close-reading skills, at the secondary 10th grade English level. Two sophomore classes produced scored data from three consecutive writing sessions; these sessions prompted both imaginative writing responses and analytical writing responses to reveal how both imaginative writing practices and analytical writing practices were used in a successfully analogous way to assess the close-reading and inference skills used to enhance literary analysis. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 2 Chapter One: Creative Writing as an Asset to Literature Study Overview I owe creative writing. I am indebted to it for the inspiration and motivation it has inspired in my own academic life and for the success it has created in my teaching experiences. I owe creative writing for any of the productivity I have had in my own artistic pursuits. I owe it for the inspiration it has embedded in me to further learn about multiple subjects from science to math, from history to education. It has its own momentum which gives freely to academia and pedagogy. I owe the exploration of its benefits my attention and energy for further investigation. In 2011, I was asked to design and lead a creative writing workshop in my community at a local homeless youth shelter. The hope for the workshop was that the teens residing there, often in the throes of very turbulent lives, might find an outlet for their experience and a way to stay connected to productive expression. The hope was that they survive the transition from teenagers to adulthood and stay engaged enough at the shelter to make it through high school and hopefully into jobs and to community college. The program often solicited volunteers who were active members of the art community and who preferably had some instructional experience. As a volunteer who fit this profile, I agreed. I worked on weekly plans, activities and exercises that centered on individual creative writing and group discussions that honored each participant’s experience and expression. What I discovered was an instructional process that would be continually beneficial to my endeavors as a future English teacher. When I chose to experiment with creative writing workshop techniques at the shelter, it was to supplement another artistic activity for the kids living there. Often, instructors brought in art workshops for painting, sculpting and crafts. We tried to create fun and expressive activities. However, what I quickly observed was how creative writing techniques carried academic assets. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 5 not benefit literature study. We can draw upon postsecondary curriculum’s use of creative writing and any research that relates to this while keeping in mind it is common to look toward the framework of college practices in expectation of secondary targets and goals (Common Core State Standard Initiative, 2012). Whether it is for the purposes of college readiness, the promotion of original higher thinking, or both, looking at college instructional strategies and related research might be valuable to understanding the benefits of creative writing practices in secondary classrooms. It is useful to evaluate some principle insights about how teens engage with and pay attention to tasks. A simple understanding of teenage attention to tasks might shed some light on creative writing’s usefulness in the classroom. In addition to this, reports about how the inclusion of creative writing might affect classroom culture helps us to understand when and how to work with creative writing in instruction. Following the literature review, I will employ creative writing techniques in the classroom to more clearly understand and assess how creative writing can be useful to literature study at the secondary level. Definition of Terms The object of this research is to understand the significance of using imaginative writing for exploring literary content alongside informational writing. Exploring literary content, specifically employing close-reading and passage inference skills, can be done through engaging in both imaginative writing practices and informational writing practices when those practices are designed to meet close-reading criteria. It will be important to clearly define these terms which I hope to explore throughout the literature synthesis and instructional process. One major term that will need further clarification CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 6 is “creative writing.” Generally, we know use of creative writing as writing that exhibits the unique creation of imaginative drama, fiction or poetry. Certain theorists have called creative writing imaginative writing; imaginative writing is considered more ambiguous, intuitive or metaphorical (Bangert-Drowns & Hurley & Wilkinson, 2004). Imaginative writing is more accurately what I will be describing in this research because it can be viewed as a smaller component of creative writing. It serves to accomplish two aspects; it expresses an imaginative experience in literary form and it originates from the inspiration or reaction of the student writer. Imaginative writing is a writing practice; it does not need to be a completed work in the creative writing genres. It is simply a writing experience in an imaginative literary setting. Alongside imaginative writing, there is companion practice which emphasizes writing in the style of a particular author or genre. Like-genre writing first attempts to understand an author’s style or technique and then practices writing in elaboration or imitation of that observed style or genre. This practice reinforces the notion of reading like a writer and the “natural symbiosis” that occurs in processes where reading informs writing as writing informs reading (Knoeller, 2003). In contrast to imaginative writing, we might define informational writing, which is writing that serves to formally report, offer criticism, analyze or summarize ideas or texts. Informational writing can be described as writing used to write critically or analyze information. (Bangert-Drowns & Hurley & Wilkinson, 2004). The term informational writing is appropriate because it adheres to manipulating informational ideas about literature. It differs from imaginative writing in the way that imaginative writing originates from the student writer’s original conception. The difference between these task-related types of writing is significant because the practice of informational forms of writing, like essay and analysis, serves to meet the CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 7 specific criteria of that type of informational writing. Informational writing, as a practice unto itself, may not always correlate with criteria met in imaginative writing assignments. An important practice and idea to define, in relation to writing and learning, is meta- cognitive writing. This is writing that serves to explore reflection on the thinking process. Personal writing or reflective journal writing that aims to help a student better understand his or her own thinking is meta-cognitive writing. Studies show that meta-cognitive writing practices that relate a student’s personal learning process to educational content further enhances comprehension (Bangert-Drowns & Hurley & Wilkinson, 2004). Various types of writing and content study can be greatly aided through meta-cognitive writing. However, it is important to define how meta-cognitive writing is different from imaginative writing. “What do you think…” questions that ask a student to reflect upon a hypothetical situation and projection are ways of reasoning, but they are ways of reasoning in an imaginative form. These are questions that may be specifically tailored toward the imaginative writing process and should be directly distinguished from meta-cognitive practice that asks a student to reflect on how he or she has best learned. Meta-cognitive writing will and should be used to gather information about the student’s learning, but it will not be interchangeable with imaginative writing. Branching between informational writing and the self-awareness in writing is the reader- response theory of writing practice. This is a form of writing that serves to analyze a text through the framework of a reader’s personal response to a work (Dobie, 2002). Reader- Response has devolved into a common practice for literature analysis. It is important to note that this differs greatly from meta-cognitive writing. Reader-response is an approach to literature analysis while meta-cognitive writing is a practice to help a student’s learning. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 10 Imaginative thought processes and questions are used frequently in education across disciplines. Educators ask questions and hold discussions concerning a variety of points of view. They ask, “What do you suppose would happen if….” Perhaps, the imaginative writing is largely missing in instruction research and methodology because it is nebulous in definition. Imaginative writing, largely referred to as creative writing, hovers around specific genre study. Even within these definitions, it does seem that imaginative writing is often overlooked as a useful student practice to literature study as it relates to the reasoning processes inherent to analysis. It has been classified as an extracurricular practice. While imaginative writing is entertaining and engaging, it is also practically useful. When used as writing practice that explores literary content, imaginative writing creates the opportunity to produce higher level thinking. There are a plethora of skills alive and at work in writing and thinking in terms of fiction, poetry, story-telling, plays and prose writing. These are all organic extensions of genre study. Imaginative writing used to expand upon or imitate literature capitalizes on hypothetical reasoning, close-reading, compare and contrast, classification and organizational skills. It provides opportunities to predict and synthesize. In literature and language arts studies, it can be and should be used to explore literary devices and traditional criticism techniques. Imaginative writing techniques are simply an extension of the reasoning thought processes used to comprehend a subject and explore material in a hypothetical way. Imaginative writing can be the medium through which we comprehend the arguments, point of view and critiques of subject matters held by the writers we study. Literature as Conversation Point of view is a literary device that portrays how a story or narration is being told. Understanding point of view is essential to analyzing most literature and successfully understanding a narrator or character. Often, it is the key to unraveling important information CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 11 about the story, its characters and the author’s choices. However, point of view can extend beyond its use by the author of a fictional work. Point of view may be found in essentially any type of writing. A writer chooses point of view because, in storytelling and many other writings, it is a natural extension of creating a conversation. In a conversation, be it an argument or persuasion, there is usually a point of view that coincides with the author’s opinion; understanding it helps us to understand the thinking behind it. Criticism is no stranger to point of view. There is a strong call to action from postsecondary curricula for students to think “in character” as a literary critic while studying literature. This call asks students to consider both the power of a reader’s perspective and active involvement in literature study (Dobie, 2002). Different schools of literature inherently contain a point of view, which, like a lens, serves to focus a written analysis on specific aspects of a literature body with a specific angle in mind. The major schools of literary study include criticisms ranging from Culturalism and New Historicism, Feminist Criticism, Deconstructionism, Psychological Criticism and Reader-Response to Post-modernism and Marxism schools of thought (Dobie, 2002). There are many more schools of criticism; all are important to analyzing a body of work through a particular focus or point of view. As a writer is asked to develop an analysis of works through these criticisms, she is being asked to explore a point of view. These are the ways in which we ask students to elaborate on their knowledge of a work and more deeply discuss literature (Dobie, 2002). It may be reasonable then to understand literary criticism as a conversation between a school of thought and a person attempting to understand that school of thought. The development of that conversation requires understanding point of view, the argument itself and, most important, the experience out of which a point of view develops. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 12 A Literature Critic Mindset Imaginative writing can make use of this conversation between reader, criticism study, and literary work. In imaginative writing, a writer might seek to explore a hypothetical conversation between one person who sees a writing one way and another person who sees that writing another way. Here, imaginative writing serves to explore both point of view and a school of thought within a type of criticism. The conversation about literature is not a simple one, but is fraught with conflicts and disagreement (Dobie, 2002). Imaginative writing, through different techniques, can create a platform to explore this conversation. The capacity for a student to imaginatively develop this conversation demonstrates higher level thinking and displays both content knowledge of literary devices like personification and voice along with the understanding of the literary criticism. It also provides a platform to sharpen compare and contrasting skills, reflective thinking and reasoning about the subject material. A student can act upon the more abstract concepts of criticism through an imaginative writing practice and further explore functions of rhetoric and supporting main arguments (Dobie, 2002). Point of View: Storytelling and Dialogue Point of view is an essential part of conversation. The expression of that point of view exists in relation to experience. The communication of experience is often found in storytelling. Teachers have found exploring point of view through storytelling especially beneficial to literary study and other disciplines. It is, at times, an organic occurrence throughout any instruction. One vibrant example of this is illustrated through an instructor’s impulsive storytelling which arose during the testing of a Socratic instructional method (Garlikov, 2010). The method was to ask questions in place of explaining math content to elementary students. The instructor’s goal was to employ guided questioning to scaffold students’ understanding of binary math. The method CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 15 an author’s decisions requires thorough consideration of the cause and effects in the author’s communication, meaning and literary design. It is another way for a student to enter into a hypothetical learning environment and be a part of the story’s conversation. Like-genre writing is an imaginative way to practice a skill or technique based on external modeling. Educational research suggests learning can be heavily impacted through modeling and imitation; the act of providing a model and scaffolding the process into chunks so that students might attempt an imitation is a useful and successful exploratory way to hone new skills (John-Steiner, Mahn, 1996). Literature may be no different in this regard. Imaginatively writing one’s way into a text is an exploratory way for a student to act upon the material that he or she is learning. Journalist Mindset toward Informational Writing Informational essay writing can be greatly aided by imaginative writing exercises during pre-essay preparation (Cooper, McDonald, 2000). During the course of planning and drafting an essay, it is essential that a writer understand the reader, the writing situation and the points of view involved so that a proper execution of criticism or argument can be logically implemented. To sharpen these organizational and classification skills, imaginative writing provides a way to translate abstract ideas and situations into relatable pieces of information for prioritizing (Cooper, McDonald,2000). Imaginative writing methods can vary from placing the writer into hypothetical careers to writing letters to imaginary audiences, all which help to clarify the opinions and experiences under analysis in the essay. This practice is similar to thinking like a critic or like-genre writing, but differs in that the student assumes more of the mindset of a contemporary journalist. This practice works specifically well when writing argumentative essays on nonfiction text, political or cultural issues, and articles. As Core Standards focus more CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 16 on critical thinking in texts including non-fiction and commentary writing in high school English goals, this mindset is increasingly more important. Imaginative writing can provide a space in the reasoning, between the text and the thesis of an argument, where students can act upon the ideas they are exploring to further understand ideas and meaning (Cooper, McDonald, 2000). Journal Prompts Personalizing Literary Devices Other instructional methods encourage students to find pleasure in writing about fiction through identifying the pleasure in reading it (Meyers, 2000). The goal is to approach writing as an intellectual and emotional opportunity rather than merely making sentences (Meyers, 2000). This approach encourages students to “experience or feel” their way into a work, much aligned with reader-response criticism. Often this occurs in imaginative journal writing. To expand on this reaction, students are encouraged to engage in imaginative writing responses to further explore and understand the text (Meyers, 2000). Students can be encouraged to respond to a moment of imagery in a story or a physical picture that aligns with that imagery and write a description or character narrative to elaborate on the mood or atmosphere of a story. This helps students to interact with the psychology or mood of a story to better understand an author’s description or setting choices (Meyers, 2000) Character Sketches: Exploring A Poem’s Speaker One of the key skills in poetic analysis is identification. It is the skill of identifying the speaker, the situation or state of mind, persons or personas addressed in the poem and identifying meaning and patterns in the form. To a less experienced reader, the confusion of identifying these elements can be particularly tricky, especially in light of the many devices, movements and poetic forms poetry has to offer. It is particularly difficult to respond, discuss or intelligibly elaborate upon the meaning of poetry without identifying and classifying these elements. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 17 Imaginative writing can greatly aid the identification and classification skills that help poetic analysis. One valuable method is to personify the speaker of a poem and create a character sketch of the speaker (Meyers, 2000). This helps to identify the persona of the speaker and that speaker’s point of view and make it accessible or relatable to the student. This method might be particularly helpful to younger students or students new to poetic analysis. Imaginatively interacting with the speaker of a poem through an interview, biography or conversation with other characters can help students make use of key lines in the poem, understand word choice or difficult language and organize the elements of the poem that create its meaning (Meyers, 2000). Imaginative Writing: Guided Learning, Specificity, and Meta-cognition Incorporating imaginative writing techniques in traditional literature study may be seen as problematic for instructors for a variety of reasons. Imaginative writing, often viewed as inferior to informational writing (Knoeller, 2003), is seen as sometimes inaccessible or derailing from learning targets. A discrepancy may lie in the fear that imaginative writing can too easily stray off topic or be simply inaccessible to “non-creative” students. Unfortunately, educators, seeing themselves as not creative, worry about developing an imaginative project and being incapable of guiding or containing imaginative processes (King, 2007). Part of overcoming the resistance met when incorporating imaginative writing by teachers and students who see themselves as not-creative is recognizing that imaginative writing is simply an extension of reasoning; like other instructional processes, imaginative writing can and should be broken down to skills that aid the learning targets of the class (Marzano, 2010). Imaginative writing best serves a curriculum when it is used within the design of a cohesive framework for a unit, semester or year (Marzano, 2010). In light of these controversies, it would benefit an instructor CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 20 cognitive processes that allow the mind to differentiate between frivolous and essential information relies heavily on emotions, meaning flight or fight responses, and can greatly determine the way the mind distributes attention (Wolfe, 2012). Adolescents in the 12-19 year old developmental stages are particularly affected by this. It takes more stimuli to activate the reward center of a teenage mind than it does in younger children or adults (Bronson, Merryman, 2009). Because motivation is a complex structure affected by multiple factors like self- regulation, self-efficacy and attention (Bandura, 2007), it is important to anticipate what challenges a teenage mind might encounter during cognitive tasks such as close-reading and passage inference. Emotionally engaging tasks, in moderation, help to retain attention (Wolfe, 2012). Imaginative writing is largely interactive with students’ emotional responses because it offers the opportunity to draw upon their own lives and experiences (King, 2007). The experiential assets of imaginative writing can engage and motivate students to stay on task during the study of a long or difficult works (Knoeller, 2003). The Motivation of Expressing Original Thought There is much to be said for the motivation and engagement, traditionally speaking, accompanied by original thinking. When students are asked to think originally and not reproduce ideas, their motivation and attention towards a writing task increases (DeSena, 2007). Imaginative writing can provide opportunities for free writing, the “fertile ground of original thinking” (pg. 71). In free writing, students may be free from form, and often this space allows students to take risks and experiment with inference (DeSena, 2007). The space and freedom found in free writing and other imaginative writing can help create motivation for original thinking. It helps to prevent students from repressing original reasoning, and it enhances the CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 21 skills that lead to better literary analysis and reasoning in essay writing through first dismantling formal writing’s parameters (DeSena, 2007). Imaginative Writing in Response to Literature: Students Choosing Imaginative Writing Reader-Response became a popular method for exploring literature in the 1920s and 30s. The movement incorporated the variability in attitudes and interpretations readers might experience in response to a text. Reader-response criticism became a way to honor the personal reaction of the reader (Dobie, 2001). This being said, a reader’s response can be highly indicative of how well a reader understands a text. It is easy to a have a personal response, but more complicated to discuss that response through textual evidence and the author’s choices that led a reader to feel that way. This criticism, when exercised correctly, puts a large amount of responsibility on the reader to accurately support one’s reasoning for a response. It displays evidence of deep reasoning and synthesis (Dobie, 2000). Imaginative writing has been used as a successful tool in the elaboration of reader- response practices. Educators have found that when students have the opportunity to respond to literature through writing original works of poetry or other imaginative writing prompts, they increasingly choose to do so (Knoeller, 2003). In addition to having the opportunity to validate their own response, students also appreciate the opportunity to create an original work with their response (Knoeller, 2003). Techniques in imaginative writing responses include writing a character narrative in place of plot summary, writing poetry for the exploration of a character’s inner life, or fashioning a collage poem that serves as a montage or synthesis of a work’s most pivotal moments and lines. Be it an original work or an imaginative collection of important words within a work, these types of techniques provide opportunities to sharpen close reading CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 22 skills and organize important elements within a text (Knoeller, 2003). Inherent within these writing activities is the opportunity for students to respond to a text and defend an interpretation. Imaginative Writing and Classroom Culture Conversations and the exploration of different points of view also help to cultivate a healthy classroom culture. Creating an environment which promotes the exploration of different ideas greatly aids instruction and learning process (John-Steiner, Mahn, 1996). It promotes awareness and expression in the light of Vygotskian theory that these several different insights between students’ help an individual build upon his or her prior knowledge. Very often, a dialectal notion in the synthesis of ideas, thought of as “verbal thought,” serves to connect ideas and meaning from one individual to the next (John-Steiner, Mahn, 1996). Another way of looking at the exchange of ideas and point of view is that it helps students scaffold ideas for each other. Storytelling, dialoguing and examining a point of view all help to create a classroom culture in which the explorations of individual experiences are valued and encouraged. Imaginative writing, through its exploration and expression of point of view, creates an opportunity for students to develop their writing voice. The individual experience, expressed through imaginative writing, provides a classroom environment celebrating the close analysis of experiences and points of view. Deconstructing language through imaginative writing can be extremely successful in classroom cultures embracing sociocultural awareness. In one such impressive case, an educator used the deconstruction of African-American English Vernacular in The Color Purple and translated passages into Standard English through the use of fictional letters, textual elaborations in passages, and character conversations (Jordan, 1985). This imaginative writing provided students a close reading of the text as well as a thorough walk through the multicultural criticism CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 25 2. Relate to and interact with the text material and subject 3. Help produce a close-reading of text 4. Be guided toward a literary interpretation, learning goals and related skills 5. Be available and revisited if possible 6. Be followed with meta-cognitive writing reflection 7. Be measurable alongside literary analysis to meet rubric criteria CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 26 Chapter Three: Instructional Process “Show or Tell” School Placement Context The placement which hosted the implementation of this instructional process pertaining to research in imaginative writing was a Colorado Springs public high school with is an International Baccalaureate program that offers a Middle Years Program in preparation for the junior and senior Diploma Program. Two tenth-grade MYP (Middle Years Program) classes were selected in second semester 2014 to participate in this small descriptive study. At the location, all sophomore classes were divided into separate block sets occurring every other day in ninety-minute class sessions. This instructional process contained two classes that were held on alternating days and will be described as Class 1and Class 2 pertaining to the bock sections they belonged to. The MYP tracked curriculum, it should be noted, had been applied to all students at sophomore level English regardless of Diploma Program participation; this was a decision made on the part of the school to untrack students in English and promote the inclusion of all students into the education curriculum offered by diploma preparation program. The school placement also involved an AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination) program to assist in college readiness through organization and accountability during high school years. Also, the school placement involved an RTI (Response To Intervention) program to help students with failing grades or compliance issues. The school placement’s socioeconomic background consists of less than 30% on free or reduced lunch. The individual student information on class 1 and 2 who were on free and reduced lunch is protected information; however, these classes represent a typical sample of the school’s overall socioeconomic population. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 27 Class 1 relevant to this research contained 21 students total. Of these 21 students, 9 were male and 12 were female. Eighteen students were in tenth-grade, 2 were eleventh-grade and 1 was twelfth-grade. Three students were repeating the semester course in an attempt to make up the class credit from previous failed semesters. Special accommodations were not needed for this class as only one student was on an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) for students with disabilities. Due to her learning disability, this student was allotted extra time for reading comprehension if necessary; however, this student did not feel the need to take extra time for class assignments and assessments when it was offered, and maintained pacing with the rest of the class, very often, ahead of her classmates. One student out of 21 suffered an academic related injury and was flagged for needing extra time due to missed classes prior to the semester of the research study. This student was in full recovery from the concussion injury during the time of the study. Of the 21 students in Class 2, one student had an RTI file; two students were tagged for having received extra help in English Language Arts. Academically, the class contained traditionally tracked, AVID and IB tracked students. Four out of 21 students were enrolled in the school’s AVID program, 12 out of 21 were enrolled in IB for the following junior year, and 1 of the 21 students in the class was involved in an RTI program. This class contained no ELL (English Language Learners) or students on 504 plans. The second class relevant to this descriptive study contained 26 students; eleven of the 26 students were female and 15 of the 26 were male. Twenty-four students were in tenth- grade and 2 were in eleventh-grade. Two students were repeating the class semester course in an attempt to make up the class credit from previously failed semesters. Three students were accommodated for IEPs through extra time on summative assessments; these students are low in reading comprehension and literacy. These students were offered extra time for in class assignments and CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 30 These three consecutive collections of writing were taken over a three-week period and in varying order between the two classes. This instructional process, eventually named “Show or Tell” after the language of its prompts, aimed to help students more closely analyze passages in a literary work through both showing what they read closely in a literary work and telling about what they read closely in a literary work. Each passage prompt was designed to have students perform skills-based writing responses targeting close-reading and inference skills. The prompts either solicited a two paragraph passage analysis or a two paragraph internal monologue (imaginative writing practice) where both would display students’ close-reading and inference skills. Each prompt varied in accordance to the novel’s chapters and characters, but were virtually identical in task; they prompted students to provide information about imagery, to explain what this imagery symbolized and to infer what the author’s purpose was in including the passage. Each prompt, whether imaginative writing or analysis, targeted these inference skills. One prompt was given per writing assignment over the three week period. The variations of the writing assignments between the two classes were as follows: Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Cl--------- Analysis -----------------Imaginative Writing ----------Student’s Choice/ Survey C2---------Imaginative Writing -----------Analysis------------------Student’s Choice/Survey The rubric used to assess each piece of writing accounted for four criteria targeting evidenced skills that students could infer information about a text and the author’s purpose, and to what degree. The assessment rubric’s criteria for creative writing were analogous to the same skills targeted in analysis. The rubric combined content criteria language and targets from the MYP writing rubric to align research goals with goals important to that of the placement and to show how this instructional process aligns harmoniously with MYP learning goals. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 31 This rubric was especially important because it had to measure specific skills in the writing practices and helped clarify specific writing and learning targets in the student writing. It was divided into four major criteria: insight into the author’s message, inclusion or use of details revealing close reading, student’s use of literary devices, and originality of arrangement. This allowed the data to be separated into specific categories to understand targeted correlations between imaginative and analytical writing. Understanding each criterion separately helped to highlight isolated skills imaginative writing honed in relation to analytical writing. Without a skill-specific rubric, data showing how imaginative writing works in comparison to analytical writing might have been obscured. See Appendix A for rubric. A secondary concern to the study project was to understand if offering the imaginative writing option helped students, specifically which students, to engage in classwork when students were provided a choice between analysis and imaginative writing. The last writing session, students were given a choice between imaginative writing and analysis writing. This session was followed by a student survey designed to collect information about student writing preferences. See Appendix B for survey. Details of The Instructional Process’s Prompt Contents The specific writing prompts, in relation to The Great Gatsby, were essentially concerned with characterization and character inference as evidenced in a novel passage. The class writing prompts served to target the following rubric criteria: A two paragraph writing assignment containing two to three demonstrations of close reading: - Discernment of a character’s inner thoughts and/or feelings based on textual evidence CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 32 - Flow of argument/action or inner dialogue in a logical and deliberate structure - Vivid and/or imaginative descriptive details in either the original passage or in analysis support - Choice of character’s thoughts or words that reflects a critical understanding of passage’s meaning The writing prompts, in relation to the assigned chapters, were aimed to help students achieve a deeper understanding of the author’s style and purpose. The following is an example of the writing prompts for chapter 3 of The Great Gatsby during the collection of data. Both prompts serve to target inference of the passage’s meaning, one through analysis and one through imaginative writing. The first prompt was as follows: Chapter 3 (page 49) Owl Eyes will play a subtle but reoccurring important role in the story. Actually, you have already “symbolically” met him. See page 27, Chapter 2 Tell Character Analysis – Discusses how Fitzgerald uses Nick to draw our attention to old Owl Eyes and what message that creates. Your 2 paragraph analysis can explain: -How are Owl Eyes, the books, and his reaction to them described? (Imagery)Author’s Method_ -What do these descriptions imply about the Gatsby mystery? (Symbolism) Author’s Method__ - Why is Owl Eyes so fixated on Gatsby’s library construction? What could Fitzgerald have meant by including this moment? Author’s Message CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 35 Chapter 4: Results of Implementing Instructional Practice Student Interest in Writing Even after explaining and modeling the imaginative writing process and expectations, students were nervous about originating totally new content, especially in the face of writing like a celebrated author. There were questions, doubts and hesitations within the first ten minutes of the in-class writing sessions. Many students asked if it was okay to include certain kinds of content like feelings or physical descriptions of characters. These notions were encouraged and again it was reinforced that these details were good indicators of reading closely. After several minutes of brainstorming students were quietly and diligently working on internal monologues. Several students reported being intrigued at the process and found it was a stretch to try to get into the heads of the characters. They reported that the imaginative writing process was more challenging than the analytical writing because of originating an experience in character and having to find the language to express it. Students were getting into the text of the passage to construct meaning, find a way to write like Fitzgerald, and “talk” like his characters. Students often inserted inferred information between dialogue quotations and made decisions about how the characters reacted in the novel based on what evidence Fitzgerald provided. They admitted to having to keep in mind what came next and what the author’s purpose was for the novel overall and that these were sometimes tricky parameters to work within. Like a puzzle, students began to embrace the writing and also include personal relation from their lives to the characters to create internal monologues. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 36 Personal Expression in Action Details about the passage, the author’s purpose and knowledge of literary devices emerged in students’ imaginative writing. It became very apparent who read and how closely they understood the passages by reading the internal monologues. Knowledge of literary devices was shown in how many literary devices were used in imaginative writing. On average, students wrote as many original metaphors, similes, personifications and archetypes as they discussed in their analysis writing. They also were able to show what they knew about Fitzgerald’s purpose as well as they were able to tell about it in the analysis through writing the charters’ thoughts and reactions. A successful student writing sample that displays several examples of original literary devices strongly managed to communicate the author’s purpose and predict what would happen in the story. The student scored 5’s on author’s meaning and literary devices: CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 37 The student exhibits at least four solid interpretable moments of inference and insight to the author’s purpose and three motifs (the past, character duality and seasons) along with one original simile and two original personifications. The student also employs like-diction to the voice of the character. The references to the characters past reveal close-reading to the details of previous chapters. This is one example of how a student can demonstrate targeted skills through creative writing. It is also important to note that this student was particularly was resistant to the imaginative writing process and preferred analysis at the beginning of the writing exercise. With exposure and space to explore, the imaginative writing proved to be a successful demonstration of the student’s literary knowledge. The student was surprised to understand how her literary analysis skills translated to imaginative writing and was proud of her work. Many examples can be given of successful imaginative writing practices according to the targeted skills in the rubric. See Appendix D for examples of student imaginative writing alongside analysis writing. Instructional Practice Score Results Regardless of the prompt given, results between internal monologue and analysis remain fairly analogous. This trend shows that imaginative writing, when designed toward a specific 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 Authors purpose Lit. Device Details Close reading Originality Grade Level Analysis Analysis Creative Writing CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 40 In a survey regarding students’ interest in imaginative writing, results show that imaginative writing is a popular choice of writing practice when closely reading and responding to a text passage; 73% of students designated imaginative writing to be more helpful to their close-reading skills than analysis and 78% designated imaginative writing as an engaging practice. Furthermore, analysis represented a less preferred writing practice with only 43% agreeing that analysis was engaging. Interestingly, 50% of students chose analysis when given a choice. This perhaps, could be due to the normality of the practice in the classroom MYP program and a higher expected rate of success with a more familiar practice. The purpose of disclosing these results is not to undermine analysis; analysis is a crucial skill, practice and genre of writing inherently necessary to ELA study. The purpose is to promote that, to better build strong literary analysis skills, instruction must carefully scaffold closely- reading skills and identification of literary elements toward analysis. This close-reading ability can be practiced equally and with great originality through creative writing. In some cases, it can and should be offered as a differentiation practice for students who struggle with analysis while working toward analysis. Sum agree 43% 57% Analysis Was An Engaging Practice CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 41 Chapter 5: Conclusion In light of the data outcome, it is important to understand that imaginative writing is a useful and engaging practice when it is designed to meet learning targets. The reason for the accuracy in scores between analysis and imaginative writing in this process heavily results in that it was intentional about a writing response outcome and targeted specific skills. Instructors should use imaginative writing with a clear idea of what the students should be able to do or know at the end of the task. The skills inherent to imaginative writing are most successfully honed when a clear idea of outcome is in focus. What will internal monologue tell the instructor? How will the instructor understand students’ have demonstrated this skill? How will the instructor measure these variables consistently? It was mentioned in the literary review portion of this research that instructors hesitate to use imaginative writing because the process seems to be nebulous in comparison to literary analysis. Often, the connections to analysis or having ways to measure imaginative writing are not as well defined as they are in expository or informational writing practices. What this research has served to demonstrate is that imaginative writing practices can be as clearly used, through backward design, as any writing practice; it simply needs to be articulated in the mind of the instructor as to how it will be useful and how it will be measured. The hope is that imaginative writing practices will not become further marginalized in classrooms due to this ambiguous perception, especially with increased focus on expository writing, but rather it will be employed for the originality, skill specificity and engagement it inherently offers. Recommendations for Clearer Prompt Formats Future recommendations for implementing this instructional process would be to simplify the prompt formats for greater clarification to students. The prompts for this process were CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 42 designed in effort to be clear with connecting guiding questions analogous between imaginative writing and analysis; however, the prompts could be improved upon by remaining more visually simply and less wordy. Often, students would be distracted or confused by the prompt formats when “author-method purpose” verbiage was included. As long as the instructor understands the process’s connections, the prompts are better left as a series of simple questions. The suggestion could be made that if the “author-method-purpose” connections are to be given to students, they should be given as a graphic organizer separate from the prompt questions. The questions for the writing prompts are best put forth clearly without distracting explanation. Refining Differences between Imaginative Writing and Reader-Response Further detailed instruction on the differences between imaginative writing practices, like internal monologue, and reader-response writing may need to be revisited throughout the instructional process. Often, students fell into a reader-response writing voice when writing imaginatively discussing personal views about the story. Although these differences were initially explained, students were tempted to begin writing about what they felt or thought about the characters using “I” statements throughout the writing. This response often hindered their scores in the “arrangement of details” criteria portion of the rubric. Revisiting the difference between internal monologue and reader-response approaches may need to reoccur often throughout the practice to avoid these minimal but affecting occurrences. Offering Extended Writes Seeing that the process was quite useful in demonstrating close-reading ability, this instructional process could be enhanced by extending writes or offering students the option to do an extended imaginative writing assignment at the end of the unit. This process could be used throughout the book study and scaffold to a larger writing assignment like an additional opening, CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 45 analysis writing, future research might expand on upon these findings to explore how imaginative writing will aid that the ability write analysis, not just aid the skills that uphold it. This study would have to be done in a placement with far more long-term control over groups, participants and ability to collect data; however, it would be extremely interesting to understand how writers, who write creatively, do or not have an advantage to writing stronger literary analysis. Final Thoughts Leading into this research, I wrote that I hoped to honor the creative writing process through articulating and better understanding the role that it has had in my writing and academic work. The most successful part of this project was sharing the imaginative process with students in my placement classroom. The literature was brought to life through participating in a wonderfully imaginative world. Furthermore, my personal instruction has been monumentally enhanced through this research; it has taught help me to understand the importance and have the ability to measure an instructional practice which was initially an act of instinct. Teaching is both an art and science; it is a fine dance between instinct, inspiration and measurable reflection. When these are in harmony, I learned I have the opportunity to grow in my practice through better supporting my students. Once again, the creative process has honed an academic asset and judging on how it has done so, I am sure it will continue to do so in the future. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 46 Appendix A: Rubric Inference Task (Weighted) 1 Very Limited 2 Limited 3 Sufficient 4 Substantial 5 Sophisticated Insight into author’s message (6) Includes strong prediction -displays no reflection of author’s purpose -displays limited or confused awareness of author’s purpose -displays sufficient understand of the author’s purpose -displays a good understanding of the author’s purpose -displays perceptive sensitivity to the author’s purpose Insight into author’s choices/st udents use of literary features (literary devices) (5) -rarely employs/discusses literary features -literary features are used inaccurately -attempts to employ/discuss literary features -literary features are sometimes used inaccurately -generally employs/discusses literary features -literary features are accurate -strongly employs/discusses literary features -literary features are substantial and effective -employs illustrative literary features -literary features are used in an accurate and illustrative way Evidence of close reading through supportiv e details (either identifies or creates detail) (6) -provides little or no details -details are irrelevant or do not reflect close reading -provides limited details -details are somewhat relevant to close reading, but are lacking in specificity -provides sufficient details -details are relevant to close reading -provides strong detail -details reflect solid and substantial close reading -Includes multiple insightful details - details reflect sophisticate d close reading Imaginati on in applying details (provides original arrangem ent of details) (3) -arrangement of details is detached from insight - the use of detail does not aid arrangement is not aligned to prompt style -arrangement of details are slightly off topic -use of detail is lacking direction or are limited in length - arrangement of details are substantial and adequate -arrangement of details is strong and shows some originality - arrangement of details is highly original and displays sophisticatio n Total: Final Score: /15 CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 47 Appendix B: Student Survey In-class Writing Exercises Survey Strongly Disagree Disagree Agree Strongly Agree 1. I Felt that the analysis writing exercise helped my close-reading of the passage more than the creative writing exercises. 2. I felt that the creative writing exercise helped my close-reading of the passage more than the analysis writing exercises. 3. I felt that both the analysis writing and the creative writing exercises helped my close- reading of the passages. 4. I found that the creative writing was more engaging. 5. I found that analysis was more engaging. CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 50 Prompt#3 Please choose one of the prompts, either analysis or creative writing. Then please answer the survey on the back. Chapter 6 pg. 111, 113 In two specific moments placed in chapter 6, Fitzgerald plants a scene with a cinema actress and a film director who are in the garden as Daisy, Tom, Nick and Gatsby tour the party. The two “strangers” seem to be engrossed in a romantic moment together. Tell Character Passage Analysis Gatsby seems eager to both show Daisy the couple and to point out that they are famous. In a short (2-3 paragraphs) analysis, discuss: -How the actress and the director are described (Imagery as Author’s method) -What does this scene symbolize? Are there any connections you can make about these two people and the “roles” they are playing as actress and director? How are these two people (actress and director) symbolic of the story as a whole? (Symbolism as Author’s method) -Why does Fitzgerald include this moment? What message might Fitzgerald be trying to communicate through “staging” this couple at the party and having Daisy reflect upon what she is seeing? (Author’s message) Chapter 6 pg. 111, 113 In two specific moments placed in chapter 6, Fitzgerald plants a scene with a cinema actress and a film director who are in the garden as Daisy, Tom, Nick and Gatsby tour the party. The two “strangers” seem to be engrossed in a romantic moment together. Show Character Internal Monologue Both times Daisy watched the director and the actress together (pg. 111, 113), she remarks that they are” lovely.” What do you suppose she thinks, feels, or experiences when she watches them? Why do you think she remarks that she “likes” the actress? Write a 2-3 paragraph internal monologue that explains: -The interaction between the director and actress as seen through Daisy’s eyes as she admires them (Imagery) -What she feels and thinks about them in relation to her own experience with love (symbolism as author’s purpose) CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 51 Appendix D: Students Writing Samples Student Imaginative Response Prompt #3 CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 52 Student Analysis Response Prompt #3 CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY Neel te fe cuink for days of Ends tly i hi; abou bi by the pores (om 5 gq = dc 4 “ ene ws reales "CL tagura/d, 7S ) Thus Awan & 2 e as TA eel ry, CC cen, the ‘conclusvens that 42 C5 sayurk werbh, abent the b Otc ety : bw. ‘ cee very Pesscble nelusee? Jul € a ; & ruil ne nechl iy be oe L-Eyec through &Y. eehok aloe wr’ re Fach h Ete onl ne teuly vr 55 CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 56 Creative Writing Response Prompt #2 CREATIVE WRITING IN LITERATURE STUDY 57 Analysis Response Prompt #2