3 Creative Projects to INSPIRE Your Reluctant Writer
“I hate this!” your student cries as they slam their pencil on the kitchen table. “It’s so boring and I’m not good at it.”
Oh no.
What do you do when writing tasks become not just a struggle, but a fight?
As students move from middle to high school, developing writing skills is essential—and believe it or not, a reluctant writer can learn to enjoy the process. But it may take a non-traditional approach.
At Clear Water Press, we’ve done just that. We’ve heard testimonies from families of reluctant writers who’ve been transformed by our programs.
Each program is a creative project that gives young writers ownership.
Students are far more motivated to write when they choose their own subject and goals. Rather than assign topics a child has no interest in, (“Today we’re going to write a five paragraph theme about mollusks! isn’t that great?”) Cover Story allows students the freedom of choosing a theme for their magazine, and a subject for each assignment. This approach gives the structure and guidance they need to understand the principles in each lesson, but allows them to create from passion rather than pressure. Check out real examples of what Cover Story students have created!
We’ll let you in on a secret—this journalism course is actually all about essay writing. As students step into the role of a 1930s-era newspaper reporter, they train under Editor-in-Chief, Daniel Schwabauer, who takes students under his wings to teach them everything he knows. Along the way, and before they even realize what they are doing, students learn to write great essays!
On the surface, a journalism course may not seem to teach essay writing, but the truth is, the skill set required for journalism translates to writing strong essays. It translates so well that it can result in better essays than those produced by students consciously concentrating on the formal essay structure. That the connection isn’t obvious is a terrific asset, because many teens balk at the thought of essays, but get them thinking about reporting on fascinating historical events, and they are intrigued.
This is our flagship program! Through 78 video lessons, The One Year Adventure Novel high school English curriculum guides 9th–12th graders step by step in creating an original, fully-structured, compelling adventure novel—in one school year. (Check out our free sample lessons here!)
One Year Adventure Novel Summer Workshop
The program’s unique approach to writing begins where many writing courses don’t go at all, with an exploration of Story. This program doesn’t just walk with your student through the process of writing a novel, but with a valid curriculum license, we offer an online forum, a novel contest, an annual Summer Workshop, and free webinars throughout the year with Dr. Schwabauer! There’s a thriving community with One Year Adventure Novel that your student won’t want to miss!
We hope that you have drawn some inspiration on different ways to approach writing with your student—especially if you have a reluctant writer! With creative projects, young writers have ownership which gives them real application—and, with inspiration, they may even decide they enjoy it.
Check out our 3 tips to transform your approach to language arts!
Questions about our programs? Shoot us an email at info@clearwaterpress.com
