Step Write Up provides hands-on exercises for parents, teachers and for any workshop leader endeavoring to bring 21st century collaboration and writing skills into the classroom or homeschool environment.
To accomplish this, the authors have assembled lessons that can be modified for your own specific personalities, uses, and grade levels. Some are icebreakers that are aimed at promoting communication and collaborative teamwork. Some are lessons that provide for individual creativity and then lead into opportunities for group sharing and critiquing. And the authors go even further, showing how the products of these creative efforts can even carry us into areas of initiative and entrepreneurialism.
“Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as those
that separate students who are prepared for a more and more complex life
and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus
on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is
essential to prepare students for the future.”
—Partnership for 21st Century Skills
CONTENTS
ICEBREAKERS & EXERCISES
COMMUNICATION & EXERCISES
CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
COLLABORATION
COLLABORATION EXERCISES
CREATIVITY
GUIDED OR FREE WRITING PROMPTS
CREATIVITY - POETRY
Using Imagery
Using Metaphors
Poetry - Writing Closed Couplets
Poetry - Writing Open Couplets
Poetry - Writing Ghazals
CREATIVITY - FICTION
Fiction - Senses and Imagination
Fiction - Senses
Fiction - Settings
Fiction - Characters
Fiction - Character Development
Fiction - Plot
Fiction - Plot: Three-Act Structure
Fiction - Plot: Hero’s Journey
Fiction - Character & Plot
Fiction - Point of View
Critiquing
CREATIVE NONFICTION
Creative Nonfiction - Writing Narrative
Publishing Student Work
ARTICLES FOR CREATIVE WRITERS
Writing a Nonfiction Book Proposal
Assessing Our Needs as Writers
Writing a Synopsis
Inventing and Reinventing Ourselves as Writers
Ah, the Writer’s Life!
Writing Suspense vs. Historical Stories
The A-Z of Writing
RESOURCES & AUTHOR’S NOTES
Nikoo and James McGoldrick (Ph.D.) are popular speakers and conduct various interactive workshops stemming from their successful book Step Write Up and collaborating on fifty books over two decades with traditional publishers.
Nikoo was author-in-residence in Northwest Connecticut for a decade, conducting creative writing workshops and making many school visits. Jim has years of experience teaching creative writing and English literature in the high school and college classroom. The two of them continue to develop a variety of programs for all ages on the craft and business of writing.
