Crafting a Creative Fiction: Writing Unit for 8 th Grade English

Session design by Stormy Lynn Knaak

LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Content Standards

English Language Arts grade 8: Text Types and Purposes Writing Standard 3a
o Engage and orient the reader by establishing a context and point of
view and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event
sequence that unfolds naturally and logically.
English Language Arts grade 8: Text Types and Purposes Writing Standard 3d
o Use precise words and phrases, relevant descriptive details, and
sensory language to capture the action and convey experiences and
events.
English Language Arts grade 8: Production and Distribution Writing Standard5
o With some guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and
strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting,
or trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience
have been addressed.
Enduring Understanding

Students will understand that they are able to express themselves and their
creativity by utilizing a short story crafted by their own imagination.
Key Knowledge

Students will know the basic structure of a plot line is exposition, rising
action, climax, and resolution.
Students will know the differences in first, second, third person limited, and
third person omniscient.
Students will know that a tableaux is a frozen image created using your body.

Skills

Students will be able to introduce a narrator and/or character and develop

this character to create a dynamic rather than flat character.
Students will be able to apply the literary devices of simile, metaphor,
personification, oxymoron, hyperbole, litote, synechdoche, and metonymy to
a passage of writing.
ASSESSMENT
Performance tasks

Students perform in a short scene (2-5 minutes) in which they improvise

appropriate dialogue for the character they have created in class and are
assessed based on the Character / Dialogue Rubric (see attached) in order to
introduce a narrator and/or characters and develop this character to create a
dynamic rather than flat character.
 Students create and perform a dynamized tableaux to demonstrate the
exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution of various childrens
storybook tales in order to demonstrate their knowledge of the basic
structure of a plot line.
Other assessments

Students turn in a rough draft of their 800-1000 word creative fiction piece
and give/receive peer reviews based on the Peer Review Worksheet (see
attached) that entails questions regarding purpose, audience, and topics
discussed in class whilst in small groups (3-4 students) in order to develop
and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or
trying a new approach, focusing on how well purpose and audience have
been addressed.
Students turn in a revised rough draft of their 800-100 word creative fiction
piece and are graded on their figurative language/setting details/descriptions,
central tension and organizational structure, point of view, character
development, spelling and grammar, and their ability to follow instructions
and are graded on the Creative Writing Unit Rubric (see attached) in order to
demonstrate all content standards.
Students write an authors note detailing their creative process in writing
their short fiction piece, what the student likes about their short story, what
they would like to further progress in later revisions, and how this story is
important to them/why they chose the topic they did in order to demonstrate
their understanding that they are able to express themselves and their
creativity by utilizing a short story crafted by their own imagination.
MATERIALS NEEDED
Teacher Materials

Character / Dialogue Rubric (see attached)

Creative Writing Unit Rubric (see attached)

Student Materials

Peer Review Worksheet (see attached)

Circle of Life (see attached)
Creative Writing prompt (see attached)
Ball with words written all over it (e.g. red, blue, dog, pumpkin, etc.)
Literary Devices handout (see attached)
Pen / pencil
Paper

LEARNING PLAN
Day OneIntroduction to Brainstorming and Creative Writing
Framing / Hook
 1. Fast write
a. Students receive a Creative Writing prompt (see attached) and have
three minutes to write a short story based on the prompt.
i. NOTE: Encourage the students to keep writing the entire three
minutes and to focus less on spelling/grammar and more on
keeping their pencil going the entire time.
b. A few students volunteer to read their story aloud to the class.
Process
2. Reading examples
a. Students read a few (2-3) teacher-selected examples in class of
successful creative writing pieces.
i. NOTE: A resource for some examples is Sudden Fiction
International by Shapard and Thomas, however there are many
examples online of creative fiction pieces that can be used as an
example in class.
b. Students discuss the elements of a creative short story that make the
piece successful.
3. Word Association Creativity-Generator
a. Students sit in a circle, bringing their paper and writing utensil with
them.
b. Students pass around a ball with words written on it. When the student
catches the ball, whatever word is closest to their right thumb upon
catching it, the student must brainstorm one story idea that is related
to the word. (e.g. if their right thumb is closest to the word dog, they
might suggest a story about a dog who gets lost and must find his way
home).
i. As the story suggestions are being made, the teacher may write
the suggestions on the whiteboard so the students can
remember what suggestions have been made.
ii. Students may pass to anyone in the circle, so long as everyone
is passed to at least once.
c. Once every student has gone at least once, the students remain in the
circle and write a short story based on any one of the suggestions that
have been made by the Word Association Creativity-Generator.
d. Students pair up with one person sitting next to them (there may be
one group of three if need be) and share the story they created.
4. Discussion on Brainstorming
a. Students answer the following questions:
i. Did anyone use their location (the classroom) to help generate
ideas for your story? If so, how did this help? If not, why not?
ii. Did anyone use events, people, or locations from your own life
to help generate ideas for your story? If so, how did this help? If
not, why not?
iii. What was challenging about this process?
iv. What could have made this process easier?
1. NOTE: If the students dont make this realization
themselves, point out that sometimes it easier with initial
 brainstorming to take a risk and word-vomit than to
overthink.
Reflection
5. Assign homework
a. Students receive the rubric and Creative Writing short story
requirements that is due at the end of the unit so they can begin
brainstorming and working on their stories.
b. Students are required to brainstorm at least two ideas for their short
story and bring in these ideas written on paper or typed for class the
next day.
6. Video
a. Students watch a video to gain tips and hints on brainstorming ideas.
i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bNvs_qElIw
Day TwoFigurative Language and How to Use It
Framing/Hook
1. Simile / Metaphor Improvisation Game
a. Students stand in a circle and tell a story round-robin style, only every
sentence in the story must consist of only similes and metaphors.
i. If a student is unable to use a simile or metaphor, misuses the
literary devices, or takes too long to craft a sentence with a
simile or metaphor, the student is out and must step out of the
circle and listen to the rest of the story as told by classmates.
2. Define Simile / Metaphor
a. After playing a game using only similes and metaphors, students work
together to create a dictionary definition of both words. The
definition must distinguish between the two devices.
i. NOTE: The teacher and students may work together to establish
a quick definition of a simile and metaphor in order to
participate in the game, but afterwards the students should
focus on an official definition that distinguishes to two literary
devices from each other.
Process
3. Figurative Language
a. After creating a definition for simile and metaphor, students receive
the Literary Devices handout (see attached) with various literary
devices (i.e. personification, oxymoron, hyperbole, litote, synechdoche,
and metonymy) and their definitions.
b. Students read the Boring Paragraph (see attached) as it is projected on
a white board.
c. Students rewrite the Boring Paragraph, implementing each of the
literary devices into the paragraph at least once.
i. NOTE: Inform students that they will be turning in the paragraph
and will be graded on using simile, metaphor, personification,
oxymoron, hyperbole, litote, synechdoche, and metonymy at
 least once. They may add or detract from the paragraph as
needed as long as the original basic idea of the paragraph is still
there. If they cannot fit all literary devices into the same
paragraph, they may rewrite the Boring Paragraph more than
once.
d. When finished, students turn in their paragraph(s).
4. Figurative Language in Tone and Mood
a. Students divide into three groups.
b. Each group is assigned one of three moods (i.e. Happy, scary, sad).
c. Using the same Boring Paragraph as before, students use figurative
language to craft their paragraph according to the mood they have
been assigned.
d. At least one volunteer from each group shares their revised Boring
Paragraph.
Reflection
5. Practice using Figurative Language
a. Using one of the ideas the students brainstormed as part of the
homework from the previous class period, students practice writing
descriptive passages for a possible setting in their stories and
implement various forms of figurative language.
i. NOTE: Give any remaining class time to the students to begin
the writing process for their final short stories, paying particular
attention to the setting and figurative language of the passages
they work on in class.
Day ThreePlot Structure, Organization, and Central Tensions
Framing/Hook
1. Beginning, Middle, and End Tableaux
a. Students count off by threes and divide into three different groups.
i. Group one is assigned to be the beginning group.
ii. Group two is assigned to be the middle group.
iii. Group three is assigned to be the end group.
b. Using tableaux (i.e. an image using only the body, or a statue),
students tell the story of Little Red Riding Hood. The beginning
group creates a tableaux to tell the story of how Little Red Riding
Hood begins, the middle group creates a tableaux to tell the story
of what happens next in Little Red Riding Hood, and the end
group creates a tableaux to tell the story of how Little Red Riding
Hood ends.
Process
2. Basic Plot Line Structure
a. Students work with the teacher to determine the four parts of a
basic plot line structure (i.e. exposition, rising action, climax,
resolution) and what each part entails.
 i. NOTE: While students are determining the four parts verbally,
it may be beneficial to draw an image of a basic plot line
structure on the white board so the students can also
visualize the concept. An example of a basic plot line
structure is attached.
b. Students, given the example of J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the
Sorcerers Stone, verbally determine as a class the exposition,
rising action, climax, and resolution (for the specific book, not the
entire series).
3. Other Plot Structures
a. Continuing the discussion of the plot structure, students discuss
other plot structures they are familiar with from
books/movies/plays/etc. (e.g. Episodic as in The Adventures of Tom
Sawyer).
4. Mapping Out Plot Structures
a. Students draw the plot structure they intend on using for their short
stories and determine what might happen in their story for the
exposition, rising action, climax, and resolution.
i. Students are encouraged to try several approaches and even
several plot structures to explore intriguing ways to organize
their creative fiction short story.
Reflection
5. Journal entry
a. Students reflect in a journal on at least three examples of stories
and the organizational structure of the story. Students are required
to identify in their journal entry the specific exposition, rising action,
climax, and resolution of their chosen story. If any of these
elements are missing or there is more than one instance of any
element, students justify why this is the case (e.g. there are several
instances of rising action in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer because
the plot structure is episodic which means there are several mini
adventures).
6. Homework reminder
a. Students are reminded that they must have a first rough draft of
their creative fiction short stories on Peer Review day and a final
draft by the end of the unit.
Day FourPoint of View
Framing/Hook
1. Perspectives Tableaux
a. Students split into small groups (3-4 students).
b. In small groups, students create a tableaux of Cinderella.
c. In the same small groups, students create a second tableaux of
Cinderellathis time in the Princes point of view.
d. In the same small groups, students create a third tableaux of
Cinderellathis time in the Evil Stepmothers point of view.
 e. Each group has a turn performing their set of tableaux in succession.
i. NOTE: There should be no pause between switch tableaux,
rather the students should fluidly shift from one tableaux to the
next until all three have been performed.
2. Discuss Tableaux
a. Students answer the following questions:
i. How did the characters change based on the point of view we
were using?
ii. Did you find yourself more interested in a certain point of view
than others? Why or why not?
iii. Why might the point of view change the tableaux the way it did?
Process
3. First, Second, and Third Person
a. Students receive a Point of View Cheat Sheet (see attached) that
includes the definition of first person, second person, third person
limited, and third person omniscient.
i. Discuss, explain, and answer questions as needed.
b. Students receive several excerpts from pieces of literature and
determine the form of narration for each.
c. Students discuss the advantages and disadvantages to each form of
narration in writing.
4. Practicing Points of View
a. Students respond to the following prompt based on the creative fiction
piece they are working on: Your protagonist is facing his/her greatest
fear.
i. The first time the student responds to the prompt, they can
respond using first person narrative
ii. The second time, the student must rewrite the prompt using first
person and implementing second person narrative.
iii. The third time, the student must rewrite the prompt using third
person limited.
iv. The fourth time, the student must rewrite the prompt using third
person omniscient.
v. The fifth time, the student must rewrite the prompt from the
antagonists point of view.
vi. The final time, the student must rewrite the prompt from the
point of view of a supporting character.
5. Sharing Points of View
a. A few students (2-3) share two versions of the story they have written
in response to the prompt.
i. Encourage students to share the two most different versions
they have created.
Reflection
6. Comparing POV videos
 a. Students watch two youtube videos (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=dYZm7jB9YA4&t=69s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=0mjcBy_GE7g) and consider the following questions:
i. Which point of view makes for a more interesting story? Why?
ii. How could these points of view become even more interesting?

Day FiveCharacter Development

Framing/hook
1. Party Quirks
a. Five students volunteer to participate in an improvisation game.
b. One student takes on the role of the host and steps out of the room so
they cannot hear the next step as it is happening.
c. The four remaining volunteers, with the help of the class, determine a
quirk for each student to have (e.g. can only speak in song lyrics,
sneezes when asked a question, cannot say prepositions, etc.).
d. Once all quirks have been decided, the party hose returns and the four
party guests exit.
e. One by one, each party guest joins the party, improvising a short scene
with the host whilst taking on the characteristics of their
predetermined quirk.
f. The party host attempts to guess all four party guests quirks.
2. Discussion
a. What quirks made for more interesting scenes? Why?
b. What moments during this game were most intriguing or humorous to
watch? Why?
c. How might these characters become more interesting to watch?
Process
3. Circle of Life
a. Each student receives a Circle of Life worksheet (see attached) and fill
the worksheet out as directed based on a self-selected character from
the short story they are working on for the unit.
i. In the top left corner under Day, students fill out various
activities their character might do during the day (i.e. their
characters daily routine).
ii. In the top right corner under Play, students fill out various
activities that their character might participate in as hobbies.
iii. In the bottom right corner under Home life, students fill out
various aspects of where their character lives, who their
character lives with, the family this character has and how often
they see them, etc.
iv. In the bottom left corner under Physical Attributes, students fill
out the physical appearance of their character (e.g. hair color,
eye color, height, weight, etc.).
 v. In the middle, fill out the characters full name, age, and gender.
b. Students group together in small groups (4-5) based on random
assignment.
c. Students introduce themselves in role as their character based on the
information they documented on their Circle of Life.
4. Thoughts and Actions
a. Students receive the following prompt:
i. It is a normal, average, typical day. You are at home, doing
what you normally do in the afternoon. Suddenly, you hear a
knock on the door and the swooshing sound of paper sliding on
the floor. You approach your front door and notice a folded piece
of paper. You pick it up and open the paper. It is an invite to a
party. Confused as to where it came from and trying to decide
whether or not you would go, you determine the flip of a coin
will be your deciding factor. Heads, you go. Tails, you stay home.
You flip the coin. Heads. You go to the mysterious party. An hour
later, you go to the address that is printed on your invite. Your
stomach flutters with nervous butterflies as you approach the
party. It seems as though there are only a few other people
attending this party. You do the most natural thing for you to do,
of course, which is
b. In the same groups as before, students respond to the prompt by
creating a tableaux as their character at this party doing the most
natural thing for each individual character to do.
c. Students choose a name for their image.
d. Students perform their tableaux to the class, introducing the image by
its title.
e. With the group still frozen in their still image, students are chosen at
random by the teacher to say what one of the characters in the image
might be thinking at that exact moment.
5. Finish the story
a. Working as a group, students work together to finish the story,
answering the following questions:
i. Who invited you all to this strange meeting?
ii. What is the purpose of this meeting?
iii. Why did this person select each of your characters? What do
your characters have to offer/what have they done to receive
the invite?
b. Students select one member of the group to be a scribe. This member
writes the answers to the above questions on a piece of paper, only
when the group as agreed upon the answer.
6. Improvise
a. Students have a few minutes to plan the rest of their scene, beginning
with the tableaux they created earlier.
b. Students reveal their determination on the who, what, and why of the
meeting.
 c. Students improvise a scene for the class, beginning with the tableaux
as their starting positions and ending with some sort of resolution to
the scene.
d. The rest of the students give feedback on the scenes.
e. Students are given time to revise their scene, taking into consideration
the feedback they received from the class.
f. Students re-perform their scene and are graded based on the
Character/Dialogue Rubric (see attached)
i. NOTE: Be sure to emphasis the importance of using dialogue
that is true to their character. Perhaps even go over the rubric
they will be graded on before beginning this step, if need be.
Reflection
7. Discussion
a. Students respond to the following questions:
i. Was your character any different by the end of the day as
opposed to the beginning? If yes, how so?
ii. How did your character become more round once you began
acting as the character as opposed to when you were filling out
the Circle of Life based on your character?
iii. What did you have to do to determine whether or not you were
using realistic dialogue for your character?
Day SixDetails, Names, Setting, and Work Day
Framing/Hook
1. Check in
a. Students discuss the progress they have made, the challenges they are
facing, and give feedback/advice to each other in an informal check in.
Process
2. Work Day
a. Students are given the rest of the class period as a work day for their
short stories.
i. The teacher should be available to answer any questions, give
any advice, or read over passages based on student need.
Reflection
3. Due date reminders
a. Students are reminded that they need 3 copies of their rough drafts for
their short story to be used for peer reviews happening in class the
next meeting time.
b. Students receive an additional reminder of the final due date for their
short story.
Day SevenPeer Review
Framing/hook
 1. Feedback
a. Watch the following youtube video:
i. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdp4sPviV74
b. Discuss strategies to giving valuable, constructive feedback.
Process
2. Peer reviews
a. Students split into groups of four.
b. Each student distributes their short story to the other members of the
class.
c. Once all short stories have been read, each story is discussed and
given constructive feedback on.
Reflection
3. Students turn in a slip of paper with all group members names in order to
receive participation.
Day EightRevision
Framing/hook
1. Yeah
Process
2. Model
a. Students receive a copy of the teachers creative fiction short story to
have as an example of what a final draft should look like.
3. Frankensteining the Model
a. Students watch as the teacher cuts up the model of a short story every
couple of paragraphs or so.
b. Students, by demonstration, learn that Frankensteining is a revision
process where the cut up draft is taped back together in a new order to
explore different organizational structures of the paper.
4. Frankensteining in Practice
a. Students cut up their own short story every couple paragraphs or so.
b. Students reorganize their short story in a new plot structure.
c. After exploring various different structures, students tape their papers
back together in an entirely new order.
Reflection
5. Journal entry
a. Students write down in their journal three pros to the new
organizational structure and three cons to the new organizational
structure of their story that was produced by the process of
Frankensteining.
b. Students write down one interesting product of their Frankensteined
paper that they might want to implement into their final draft.
Day NineRevision
 1. Model
a. Students receive the original draft from the teachers short story model
that was read in class the previous meeting.
b. Students receive a revised draft of the teachers short story model.
c. Students compare/contrast the two versions of the short story.
2. Discussion
a. Students discuss the following questions:
i. What is the purpose of revision?
ii. Why is it important to revise?
iii. In what ways did the teachers short story become stronger after
going through a revision process?
iv. What is the difference between revising and editing?
v. NOTE: Revising is making the piece better, editing is making it
correct.
Process
3. Adding and Subtracting
a. Students are given an example of a piece of literature that is lacking in
detail and work on expanding in certain places, adding detail, etc.
b. Students are given a second example of a piece of literature, this time
one that includes a lot of fluff and unnecessary detail, and omit places
where the story could become more concise.
4. Adding and Subtracting using the Model
a. Working as a class with the teacher, students add valuable extensions
to the model that the teacher crafted.
b. Students subtract any unnecessary detail or fluff from the teachers
example.
5. Adding and Subtracting in Practice
a. Students work on revising their own short stories by expanding and/or
omitting detail in regards to their own short stories.
6. Editing
a. Students work in small groups of 3-4 to edit (e.g. fix grammatical
errors, spelling errors, typos, etc.) each others short stories.
Reflection
7. Reminders
a. Students receive reminders that the next class period they will turn in
their final draft for their short stories along with their rough drafts from
the peer review day and an authors note that details the creative
process for the students.
Day TenFinal Thoughts
Framing/hook
1. Turn in story
a. Students turn in the final drafts of their Creative Fiction short story
along with the rough drafts they brought on peer review day and an
authors note.
 2. Dance Party
a. To celebrate their hard work during the course of the Creative Writing
unit, and to celebrate their near-completion, students participate in a
game called Dance Party.
b. Students gather in a circle.
c. One student volunteers to step out of the room.
d. The rest of the students pick one person to be the leader.
e. The leader leads the rest of the students in a dance whilst listening to
popular music.
f. The volunteer that stepped out of the room returns and steps into the
dance circle and tries to guess which student in the circle is the leader.
i. NOTE: It is a more challenging game if the leader is required to
change their dance move at various points throughout the dance
party.
g. When the volunteer guesses the correct leader (or after three tries,
whichever comes first), the volunteer takes the leaders place in the
circle and the leader steps outside and becomes the next guesser.
h. Repeat steps d-g.
Process
3. Pros/Cons
a. Students return to seats.
b. Students group together with 3-4 students to have a small group
discussion answering the following questions:
i. What were your biggest challenges in this writing process?
ii. What did you enjoy the most or found the easiest during this
writing process?
iii. What do you like the most about your writing?
iv. What do you think are the strengths and weaknesses of your
writing as is?
4. Acting it Out
a. One student volunteers to allow the entire class to read their short
story and work with the story for the rest of the period.
i. NOTE: If no student feels comfortable volunteering their story,
use the teachers example.
b. The entire class reads the story out loud together popcorn style.
c. The class determines what characters, settings, and organizational
structures are prominent in the story.
d. The class casts who will play what character.
e. Based on memory alone, the class improvises a version of the short
story that is filmed by the teacher.
f. Students watch their own filmed performance.
g. Students give each other and themselves feedback based on the
filmed performance.
h. Students re-perform the improvised scene, implementing the feedback
that was given previously.
Reflection
5. Assessment of the Unit
a. Students record on a slip of paper what worked well for them in the
unit and what could have been better in the unit.
i. NOTE: These responses may be turned in anonymously; it is not
an assessment of the students but rather an assessment of the
lesson plan.