creative writing lessons ks4

Creative essay writing

I can plan an essay that is matched to audience and purpose.

Lesson details

Key learning points.

• An essay will require a formal register and language.
• An essay structure should include an introduction and conclusion, with three paragraphs developing the argument.
• An essay does not have a direct recipient, therefore the argument needs to be widely applicable.
• An essay could have lengthier clauses and paragraphs to develop ideas thoroughly.
• Figurative language can be used in extended analogies - and metaphors or similes - to clarify smaller details

Common misconception

There is no place for elements of creative writing in essay writing.

Even though we are writing non-fiction essays, there are still opportunities for us to incorporate creative elements within them to boost their readability. Incorporating extended analogies can be a great starting point for this.

Formal register - a type of language that is used for important or official pieces of writing

Clause - a group of words in a sentence that contain a subject; clauses are the building blocks of language.

Extended analogy - a comparison between two things to develop a point, that is extended across a piece of writing

Colloquial - informal language, typically used in speech amongst friends

Contraction - in writing, when two or more words are combined to form a shortened version (e.g. don’t vs do not)

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited ( 2024 ), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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Lesson plan: KS4 English – creative writing

• Subject: English
• Date Posted: 09 October 2015

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Sometimes it’s very hard in English lessons to encourage students to be creative, especially when it comes to writing. Often in class there are a few students to whom this comes naturally; the majority pipe up with the phrase, ‘‘how do I start?’’ whilst some just look scared at the prospect and begin planning their escape.

There is a need to inject spontaneity and fun into developing ideas for writing and to encourage students to take risks. Students need to begin to see writing as an art form, constructing narratives and piecing together ideas until they form rich literary narrative, not sticking to a predetermined layout. They have to do as Dorothy did and take a journey down the yellow brick road, exploring new characters, finding the unexpected, and learning things about themselves they didn’t know before. As teachers we need to open up space for this.

As suggested to me in a conference I recently attended, a good way to start this process is to put an emphasis on reading for change, and to mould students into dynamic readers who share their ideas in constructive ways. There is a lot to be said for high quality talk translating into the same level of writing (Dialogic teaching, Alexander, 2006).

WHY TEACH THIS?

We all know the government changes to the structure of the English GCSE in September 2015 will be the perfect opportunity for departments to look at the use of curriculum time and perhaps consider different approaches to teaching the new style exams. With coursework now gone and exams becoming more rigorous, it seems important that we take more of an exploratory and ‘workshop’ style approach to some elements of the course, allowing students to build confidence in exam technique and feel prepared to tackle questions independently.

STARTER ACTIVITY

Colouring from the inside out.

Here I refer to an article written by my colleague Caroline Saunders in issue 4.4 of Teach Secondary (Beyond the lines); just as she was encouraging art students to draw without using lines, we should encourage English students to do the same when developing ideas for story writing, in other words colouring their narrative from the inside out.

At the start of the lesson have a series of images displayed on the board and printed out in colour for students to look at. In small groups students should draw out meanings and come up with a range of narrative possibilities.

You may want to support this by encouraging each student to come up with one ordinary, one daring and one ridiculous idea for each image, bringing in an element of risk early on. Students should have 5-10 minutes to look at the stimulus. Then ask one student from each group to move around in a carousel, and share ideas. Students should aim to find as many different ideas that link to the images as possible and report back to their original group. Give students roughly three minutes in each group before moving and repeat as many times as you desire. Hear as many of the ideas as possible.

MAIN ACTIVITIES

1. the lion – finding the courage to write.

Teachers may feel at this stage it is appropriate to pick up on one of the ideas from the starter activity and aim to complete a whole class writing piece, using the initial idea as a starting point.

In small groups or as whole class give out 6-8 pieces of A3 paper. Ask students to write a line of the story, inspired by the main idea. Then fold over and pass on. Repeat this 4-8 times. To make it more challenging on each turn display a selection of techniques students should aim to include.

After completion get one student to read out the narrative. Then as a class try to group together ideas from the exercise that fit together, beginning to form the ‘bones’ of the story.

The next step is to flesh out the story; they could do this as a class, in small groups, in pairs or individually. Or write one paragraph as a class and then get the students to explore and play with the narrative, taking it in different directions.

2. The Tin Man – learning to love writing

If you would like to take this path, then get students looking at a range of literature. Ask them to look at summaries and extracts of stories and plays. Here are a few suggestions:

• Metamorphosis (Franz Kafka)
• Mr Stink (David Walliams)
• Great Expectations (Charles Dickens)
• A Monster Calls (Patrick Ness)
• The Famished Road (Ben Okri)
• Enduring Love (Ian McEwan)
• Matilda (Roald Dhal)
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Neil Gaiman)

In groups, ask students to explore different themes in the extract they are given. This could range from the obvious to the more subtle depending on ability. Ask students to evaluate how well each of these work.

Next ask students to pick out where the writer has used ordinary, daring and ridiculous ideas within their work. Get them to explore how the writer uses a range of ideas and devices to move the narrative on.

3. The Scarecrow – discovery of imagination

These activities are about getting students to explore their imagination and become more confident writers.

• Give students scenarios or sentence starters that they have to extend into a short narrative. For example ‘The gate swung slowly open…’ One student of mine wrote ‘The gate swung slowly open, for the last time…’, which became an imaginative ‘hook’ into their writing.
• Use ‘story cubes’ with students; get them to roll the dice to determine an imaginative mix of things to include in their writing.
• Have a class box of random objects which students can use as starting points for their work. n Ask students to develop a range of narrative options in response to the activities above, and throw in things that could happen, encouraging them to write in more than one direction.

Ask students to evaluate each other’s work to determine what works best. Ensure they don’t get fixated on one idea and direction; enable them to have a choice. And reassure them that even if it doesn’t work, the process of finding that out is valuable. Once students start thinking in this way about creative writing they will start to “think about the imagination and how it works, of where it might come from, and where it might take you. Then [they’re] in useful trouble.” (Hanif Kureshi).

HOME LEARNING

• Students begin to explore an eclectic mix of art, films and music and generate a stream of consciousness whilst doing this. Students should write down any thoughts/ feelings/ inspiration/ characters that come to mind. They then use these as a basis in the next ‘writing workshop’.
• Students should be given two stock characters (e.g. Miss Havisham and Mr Stink) and they have to write part of a narrative based on their meeting.
• Reading. Students should be constantly challenged to read different types of texts, both fiction and non-fiction. Give them whole texts/ extracts / poetry to read. They could track this by keeping a record in their ‘workshop’ books. Ask students to read a piece ready for discussion in the next workshop.

Get students to reflect back on their work and evaluate the following:

• Have you included daring or ridiculous ideas?
• Have you taken a risk today?
• Did it work? Why? Why not?
• Which ideas did you like the best? Why?

From these teaching strategies students should find themselves walking down roads less travelled and begin to view creative writing in a different light. It should open up their eyes to the idea of literature as art, not so that it takes away the magic but instead (to borrow some words from Grayson Perry, Reith Lectures, 2014) so that “people like the scarecrow and the tin man and the lion might enter the Emerald City of the art world a little smarter, a little braver, and a little fonder.”

ABOUT OUR EXPERT

Caroline Parker is in her fifth year of teaching, having completed her PGCE and Masters degree at the University of Exeter. Caroline is the newly appointed Head of English at Hazelwick School in Crawley.

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Creative Writing Building Tone

Subject: English

Age range: 11-14

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

29 September 2020

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AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5- Tone is an important element of descriptive and narrative writing, but it is a concept some students find difficult to understand. This fully differentiated and resourced lesson for both KS3 and KS4 students focusses in on building a consistent tone within creative writing. Students look at pace, symbolism and synonyms to help create particular tones within their own writing. Really useful for AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A and Question 5.

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AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5

TWENTY fully resourced hour long lessons to prepare students for Section B or Question 5 of the AQA English Language Paper 1 exam, but easily adaptable for other specifications. The lessons provide students with modelled examples, mark scheme analysis, visual stimuli, sentence starters and differentiated activities to prepare them for writing their own pieces in exam conditions. 1) Descriptive Writing Introduction 2) Descriptive Writing - Zooming in 3) Sentence Types 4) Building Tone 5) Using Colour 6) Dashes, Semicolons and Colons 7) Past and Present Tenses 8) Language Techniques 9) Sentence Openers 10) Sentence Openers (Lower ability) 11) The Middle of Narratives (Structure) 12) Descriptive Writing Examples and Analysis 13) Descriptive Writing Practice 14) Improving Descriptive Writing Review 15) Understanding Genre 16) Understanding Character Through Description 17) Narrative Writing - Narrators and Perspectives 18) Endings to Narratives and Descriptions 19) Exam Practice Pack 20) FULL scheme of work **Check out our [English Shop](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/Lead_Practitioner) for loads more free and inexpensive KS3, KS4, KS5, Literacy and whole school resources.** [AQA English Language Paper 1 and Paper 2 Knowledge Organisers](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12063979) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11757237) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Sections A and B package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11747224) [AQA English Language Paper 1 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11561370) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11899610) [AQA English Language Paper 1 Question 5 package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11483869) [AQA English Language Paper 2 Section A package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11828984) [AQA English Language and English Literature revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11449199) [An Inspector Calls whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11711589) [An Inspector Calls revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/an-inspector-calls-gcse-9-1-exam-practice-11850503) [Macbeth whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11702645) [Macbeth revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904820) [A Christmas Carol whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11718691) [A Christmas Carol revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-12080244) [Jekyll and Hyde whole scheme package ](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11607362) [Jekyll and Hyde revision package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11904852) [Romeo and Juliet whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11903624) [Power and Conflict poetry comparing poems package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843215) [Power and Conflict poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11563766) [Love and Relationships poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11924178) [Unseen Poetry whole scheme package](http://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/-11843275) Or check out some Citizenship, RE, PSHE + RSE resources at [EC Resources](https://www.tes.com/teaching-resources/shop/EC_Resources)

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Memory-inspired creative writing

A lovely resource building upon the idea of forgotten memories. Students consider how to reflect on past memories via objects, writing descriptively and retrospectively. 

The activities take students step by step through the process of writing, with tasks building up from vocabulary level work, using poetry as inspiration, and includes ideas for support and extension. This could easily be built upon in subsequent lessons with students bringing in photos and objects, by reading the opening chapter of 'The Go-Between' or through playing 'missing object' memory games.

Sample content

• For the next step, you need to think of four or five of these memories that you would be happy to focus on in a piece of imaginative writing.
• Decide which you want to work with and, then, in the table below think about these memories in more detail as well as an object that you might associate with the memory. An example has been done for you.

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