Coach Cook’s Classroom Edit display name

About my class

Creative writing students are quick to write their own experiences into narratives, but often need guidance shaping their narratives into emotionally affecting texts. To help students manipulate the emotional swings of a story, I have them plot out emotional shapes of their stories before drafting. Picture a sweeping line that soars to great heights (a protagonist achieves a goal) followed by that line crashing to the bottom of the canvas (the protagonist loses a loved one). These lines can guide writers to create emotional swings that engage readers. Creating a line does not often inspire writers, but color and dynamic movement do. This is where our flow paint supplies will come in to guide our writing process and inspire our students. We will make two mixes of complimentary color schemes and allow the paint to flow into each other, producing an uneven and dynamic line across the middle of the canvas. The dividing line will then be used as the emotional arc of the students' short stories. Students enjoy the mess, which I contain with newspapers and cardboard boxes, and the colors and shapes inspire them to write bright and shifting narratives.