Writer’s Workshop - Session 2

In this writing experience, students in the CSS creative writing summer camps will engage in a multidimensional process, designed to build strong creative habits that foster a passion for the written word and help them develop capacity and skill as writers. The entire experience is grounded in the notion that writers grow through their tendency to daydream and be imaginative, as well as through practicing habits that will enable them to produce a solid piece of writing. The methods of the workshop are rooted in creative habits of mind that have been variously defined by professionals in an array of disciplines from psychology, philosophy, and composition studies, to business and marketing. These habits include: play, passion, curiosity, intuition, experimentation, engagement, openness, flexibility, mindfulness, empathy, responsibility, and resilience. In the workshop, we aim to hit on as many of these habits as possible through an array of activities. Students will participate in exercises that are both individual and collaborative, in settings both outside and in. They will develop their capacity as writers by engaging with the physical world around them, both in the natural environment and the created. Creative writing summer camps and field experiences and observational activities will help students stock the pond with images and ideas. The use of a journal for multiple activities on a daily basis will help students produce a mass of material that can be gleaned for formal assignments. In these formal assignments, students will have the opportunity to experiment with genre and form. In addition, students will read and discuss writers’ work in various genres to gain inspiration and to expand their knowledge of literature. Students will collaborate in workshop, offering and receiving constructive feedback from their peers and instructor. These creative writing summer camps in turn will enable students to produce honed, final drafts for their final portfolios and a public reading of their work to the larger CSS community. Events and field trips complete the scene. “I don’t have words to describe how glad I am to have joined this class…Thankfully, I chose your class and now I know so much more about writing…I wish I had more time in this class.” – Summer Scholars Student