Creative writing and AP® Lit don’t usually connect. In fact, if you were to examine the AP® Lit CED, the course document which explains the enduring understandings of the course, you likely wouldn’t see it mentioned at all. And because the course is usually used to prepare students for the year-end exam, most teachers can’t find room to fit in creative writing opportunities.
I tend to be one of those teachers. It always seems like there’s a more important text or skill I need to emphasize rather than creative writing.
However, I have found some ways to work creative writing into AP® Lit, some of which are among my students’ favorite activities. Here are some ideas I can share with you.
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Voice Lessons
My most consistent form of creative writing practice are my weekly voice lessons. Throughout semester one, my students return to a portion of their own creative writing (we call it a base story). Each week we study a mentor text, then students mirror it. We spend about 5-10 minutes of class time discussing the mentor text’s tone, literary strategies, diction, and syntax. The assignment is in how well students can replicate this style without changing their base story.
More than any other year, my current students love this assignment. They’ve asked if I can expand the unit to last into second semester, which I might just do! The best thing about it is that while they’re having fun challenging themselves in creative writing, they’re strengthening their skills in analyzing tone, syntax, diction, and literary devices.
Add an epilogue
Another assignment my AP Lit students have enjoyed is to expand a story by adding an epilogue or additional act once a story has finished. One play we’ve done this with is A Raisin in the Sun. How would the Younger family look two years after they move to their new property? Did Beneatha stay with Agasai or go running back to George? Is Walter working hard to support his family, or did he leave? Did Ruth keep her baby? Are they still in the new house? My answers for this assignment have ranged from very happy to very, very sad, but they usually reveal thoughtful understanding of the American dream and the African American experience during the Civil Rights movement.
Rewrite the ending
One assignment I try with Frankenstein is asking students to consider how a story would have ended if the plot had gone in a different direction. For example, what if Frankenstein really had finished work on his female creature? Would the monster have fled with his mate, as promised? Or, would things have gotten worse, as Victor imagined? The responses I’ve gotten for this assignment are so interesting–one rivaled Mary Shelley’s own writing!
Create a Newspaper
If you enjoy the idea of adding more to a story but an epilogue isn’t for you, a newspaper might be a better fit. I use this with The Importance of Being Earnest. Although we don’t get as emotionally invested in the play as we do in A Raisin in the Sun, students enjoy imagining how things worked out with these characters as well. In their newspaper, students write marriage, birth, and death announcements as well as a society page column to tell us all about what the characters are up to after Act III ends.
Poem Models
Another common assignment that teachers use in poem lessons is to write poem models. To demonstrate, I use a lesson that pairs Emily Dickinson’s “I Like a Look of Agony” with Billy Collins’ “Taking Off Emily Dickinson’s Clothes,” which both mocks Emily Dickinson and mimics her style. Not only is this an interesting discussion in appropriate choice (some feel offended by Collins’ poem), but it demonstrates how to create a new work that models a previous one.
Reimagine Tragedies
If you’re studying a Shakespearean tragedy, one fun assignment is to reconsider the plot if the story was to be a comedy. We’ve done this with Hamlet, but it works for any Shakespearean tragedy. What plot elements would need to change to restore a happy ending? While it can seem fun, by attaching certain skills in character and structure, students can really understand how certain elements work to create a comedy versus a tragedy.
I’m sure there are lots of other ideas out there, but these are just a few that I’ve tried. I’d love to hear how you integrate creative writing strategies into your AP® Lit class!