Lyle Weis
A More
Detailed Description of My Workshop Contents
I offer workshops for students of all ages, from Kindergarten to
university. These are the general descriptions of my writing
workshop
contents for schools:
The Elementary Residency
-- In a residency which spans multiple grades, I guide students through the process of producing a publishable literary work. Depending on the age grouping, the publication is either in-house or for an outside audience such as the Internet. During the residency, my overall goal is to create a community of readers and writers in the school.
Sessions for ECS, Gr 1:
I offer one kind of module for younger students: storyboarding.
1. I give storytelling examples, introducing the concept of structure by emphasizing the Beginning, Middle and End of a tale. Assignment: students to go home and ask parents for help in recalling an exciting or funny incident in the home or school.
2. Some sharing of the personal stories; reinforcement of the Beginning, Middle and End of the stories. Assignment: beginning in-class, a storyboard depiction using drawings of the three steps of the students' own stories. I reinforce with another humorous story of my own.
3. Sharing of the three-part storyboard drawings; discussion of keywords which capture the essence of each drawing. Keywords should be action-based, or sensory-based (the five senses). Assignment: Students to add key words, phrases or sentences to their storyboards.
GOAL FOR RESIDENCY: To produce a finished 3-part storyboard drawing, complete with key words or (in the case of the Grade Threes) a topic/summary sentence for each of the three major plot steps (Beginning, Middle, End).
Sessions for Grades 2 and 3 :
For the transitional grades, I offer instruction in the writing of Chapter Books. Typically, the process follows these steps:
1. Examples of the beginning, middle and end structure. Assignment: to bring an oral story from home, featuring the student's own experience.
2. Sharing of above; another author-directed example of structure. Assignment: Students draw three separate pictures, depicting the three stages of plot development.
3. Discussion of drawings; instruction in written interpretation of the drawings. Assignment: Writing the opening scene of the story, identifying characters, setting and initial situation.
4. Discussion of middle Problem sequence. Assignment: Writing the middle, followed by the ending.
GOAL FOR THE RESIDENCY: To produce a mini-Chapter Book, complete with three chapters and an illustration for each chapter. A title page and author bio sheet to be included.
Sessions for Grades 4, 5, 6:
Division Two fiction workshops begin with an overview of the Mystery, (with references, if desired, to other forms such as Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, High Fantasy and Humor). Specific instruction keys on the Mystery as one of the most popular sub-genres, with the following kind of process:
1. Introduction of Idea Sources; discussion of the three parts of a mystery (Crime, Clue and Solution) and how these correspond to the Beginning, Middle and End of any story. Assignment: Students will outline a mystery plot, create an initial character list, and briefly describe the setting.
2. Discussion of Characterization (the three major kinds of mystery characters) and a setting map. These will allow the students to more readily visualize the tools of writing. Assignment: Characterization sketch sheet and completion of setting map.
3. Discussion of good opening scenes. Assignment: Write the opening scene for the mystery.
4. Review of opening scenes, using transparencies of student work. I will tell a detailed, true story involving a real clue and ask students to speculate on the mystery and solution it suggests. Assignment: Students are to write a detailed description of the central clue to their proposed mystery.
5. Other steps include discussion and assignments relating to dialogue, suspense, and revision. Further use of transparencies of ongoing work is a key component.
GOAL FOR RESIDENCY: A short story, 3 -8 pages in length, that is a mystery (or other category that has been chosen for the workshops).
The Junior and Senior High Residency
Artist's Statement of
Objectives
In my residency I hope to inspire young writers by example, to instruct
beginning writers in the joys and techniques of craft, and to help
create a
community awareness of literature in action. Students will produce a
work of
writing suitable for viewing within the school, or by the public
through the
internet.
Following each writing assignment, students can read their work-in-progress aloud, if they wish, to their peers. As well, the writer will review the stages of the writing, and give a manuscript evaluation when the work reaches a conclusion. Manuscript evaluation is an important part of this process and should be figured in as part of the allotment for scheduling. Transparencies will be used to guide evaluation sessions on student work-in-progress.
Presentation -- The initial meeting may include an informational presentation, where I tell students about the writer's life, about how he or she gets ideas, and how observation of daily events is important.
Fiction Workshops - During regular classroom gatherings, I focus on specific writing concerns. We will begin with a recognition of the specific genres: mystery, sf, historical fiction, suspense and romance. Plot, characterization, dialogue, and suspense are core issues. The process typically follows stages:
a) a brief writing assignment, where the students learn to how put a spin on a mundane situation to a get a seed idea;
b) a slightly longer writing assignment, where students use specific guidelines to create character sketches;
c) another brief assignment, where students show how suspense in a story enhances the reader's appreciation of the work;
d) a combining assignment, concentrating on dialogue or revision and submission of the work.
We will examine transparencies of student work-in-progress, to teach editing and revision techniques.
Specifc Goal: A short story in the specified genre, of between 1500 and 2000 words.
Poetry Workshops -- My aim is to show students how poetry is a relevant vehicle of expression in contemporary life. The progress of class meetings is from the general to the specific, from incident or situation to the use of imagery and patterns. The process typically follows stages:
a) an initial assignment, emphasizing the sources available for poetic inspiration;
b) a follow-up assignment, using guidelines to transform the prose description of emotions or events to poetic expression;
c) an exercise detailing the movement from image to narrative or lyrical expression;
d) suggestions on how to use figurative language to enrich the expression;
e) optional: an assignment using
hypertext concepts to create linked suites
of poems.
Specific Goal: A suite of poems, unified by theme and image, of three shorter poems.