Kevin Franz is available for Author-in-Residence programs!
Based on his Creative Writing Workshop for Students, the idea is to expand on the concepts of the workshop to help each student develop, write and edit their own fiction story.
Schools he's worked with in the past have culminated this program with a "Young Author's Night," where students get a chance to read their stories in front of an assembly of parents, teachers and friends.
When working with the students, Mr. Franz uses a simple and effective philosophy:
1.
Break things down into
manageable chunks
2.
Keep things very interactive -
the students must be thinking
all the time, exercising their
creativity "muscles"
3.
Give lots of examples from
real books and stories
4. Stress a "you-can-do-it" attitude
All of these ideas from the workshop flow nicely from a short workshop setting into a multiple-phase learning program. It's a great opportunity to really get into depth with the individual classes, and the students within each class.
The basic program is set up as four full-day sessions, allowing at least a week between sessions. It can be shortened to three days if needed, combining the first two sessions into one. During each session, Mr. Franz works individually with each grade level, either going to classrooms or bringing multiple classes to me in a central location.
Following is a sample of how we might organize the workshop. We can, of course, adjust any of the sessions as you see fit.
|
Session
|
Objective
|
|
Day
1
|
Setting parameters,
brainstorming for ideas and building on them. Students will leave
the first day charged with possibilities, which they will spend time
developing. Assignment: Get a story in mind, and create an outline for it. |
|
Day
2
|
Refine the
Outline - Creating a roadmap for the story. This session is designed
to turn the wealth of ideas into a single concept, with a beginning,
middle and end. Assignment: Write Draft 1 - "Rough Draft" |
|
Day
3
|
With Draft
1 complete, we now work on filling out ideas and developing characters.
We are looking for weak spots to correct and strong spots to build
on. Assignment: Complete Draft 2 - Full story |
|
Day
4
|
Editing and
finishing touches. We work on the words themselves. In an age appropriate
style, we look for spelling, grammar and syntax. In this session of
the workshop I'll answer any questions, and give the students final
advice on making their work look and sound "professional." Assignment: Final Draft complete and ready for presentation |
Since we are dealing with a wide age range, all of the topics will be customized to be grade-appropriate for each class, with an eye towards the individual needs of the writers.
The fee for the workshop is $695 per full day, plus travel expenses.
- Contact Starbell Books with your questions.
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