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The program in Creative Writing is a rigorous,
accelerated discipline for highly motivated students who
want to study the art and craft of writing. CW, in its
eighth year at San Francisco School of the Arts, maintains
a total enrollment of about 28 - 30
students. As with all arts disciplines at SOTA (see
Main Site),
admission is by audition, and activities take place in the
afternoon, following the morning's academic classes and
lunch.
In all grades, CW students have the opportunity to study with
artists-in-residence --
working writers representing a variety of genres. However, freshman and sophomore students, generally placed
in Creative Writing I, will spend about half their time with Program
Director Heather Woodward. After demonstrating the requisite development in both
writing and individual maturity, students normally move in
the junior year to Creative Writing II, where the majority
of instruction is with visiting artists. The two
sections do combine at various times in the year. In
2009-2010, for example, Creative Writing I and II will once
again join for a six-week series of units at the beginning
of the year, and for later units in Playwriting, Writing and Community,
and Writing Your World.
The 2009-10 school year is the fourth in which a Senior
Thesis is required. Working under the individual mentorship of
an established writer in the community, each senior C-dub
will produce a manuscript of substantial length that demonstrates the
writing skills developed while in SOTA Creative Writing. The manuscript can be a collection of poems or short
stories, a play, a novella, or a novel. The thesis will
also be used as the basis for the Department's Excellence in
Creative Writing award.
A typical week in CW begins with
Community Service/Internship day on Monday (excepting
seniors, who work on their theses, and the staff of
umläut,
which is considered to be involved in a form of internship.) This is followed by work in
individual CW I and CW II classrooms on Tuesday through
Thursday. Friday is Full Department day, which might
feature a guest speaker, collaborative work, special
projects, field trips, a relevant film, or joint readings. In addition to the daily schedule, students are presented
with many options -- some required, some optional -- to
attend readings and other literary or artistic events in the
city at large. Creative Writing also has major
performances scheduled on three weekends each year, and
in each case the week prior is devoted to preparation and rehearsal.
Performance nights provide an important opportunity for
parent involvement in CW. Parents usher, sell food,
sell the department's literary review, coordinate students
backstage, and do both videography and photography for the
events. But CW also relies on parents for other needs. Past parent involvement has included grant research and writing,
liaison work between the department and full school, and the
production of this website. Donations to the
department, from parents and others, are essential in
funding artists-in-residence, umläut,
and other special programs; you can download a donation form
as either a Word document or
Adobe pdf. On the
fun side, four or five parent potlucks each year give a chance to kick back,
get acquainted, and get personal updates from department
head Heather Woodward.
See below for a brief syllabus of
the 2008-09 school year. The syllabus can also be
downloaded to print, in either of two formats:
Word
doc or
Adobe PDF.
For reference and information purposes,
you may also download:
**A sample of summer requirements (in this case,
Summer 2009) for all C-dubs:
Word doc or
Adobe PDF
**A sample of ongoing school year requirements
(2009-10):
Word doc or
Adobe PDF
**Sample senior thesis information and
instructions (note: current seniors should consult their
department packet for complete instructions and forms):
Word
doc or
Adobe
PDF
**SOTA has some major schedule changes in place
starting with the 2009-2010 school year. These are
schoolwide changes, and the information should be available
from the school and its website. For C-dub convenience,
however, we're including document downloads here detailing
the new schedule. Here's how the school describes the
documents:
1. "Class Schedule 2009-10" document includes two
schedules: the Professional Development schedule (we meet as
staff at 8 a.m. and students report at 9:30) and the
schedule for the week when we don't have a "Special
Wednesday." All dates are included. Download it in
Word doc
or
Adobe pdf
2. "Student Activity Class Schdule 2009-10" includes two
schedules: the student activity schedule (students meet
after the three academic classes at 11:10 through lunch) and
the schedule for the week when we do not have the modified
schedule. Again, all dates are provided. Download it in
Word
doc or
Adobe pdf
PAGE TOP
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2009-2010 CREATIVE WRITING
DEPARTMENT SYLLABUS |
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| FIRST SEMESTER |
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| Getting Started |
8/24 - 8/28 |
Heather Woodward, Dept. Head |
| |
| Unit 1: "Writing Through the
Arts" (Department) |
| a.) Writing Through Nature/the
Senses I |
8/31 - 9/3 |
Maia Ipp (1 wk) |
| b.) Writing Through Art |
9/8 - 17 |
Kara Maria (2 wks) |
| c.) Writing Through Music and Sound |
9/21 - 24 |
Jeffrey Alphonsus Mooney (1 wk) |
| d.) Writing Through Nature/the Senses II |
9/28 - 10/1 |
Maia Ipp (1 wk) |
| e.) Writing Through Film |
10/5 - 8 |
Isaiah Dufort (1 wk) |
| e.) Rehearsal and Performance |
10/13 - 16 |
H.Woodward/I. Dufort (1 wk plus) |
| Internships, umlaut & thesis work
begin |
10/19 - ongoing |
|
| |
| 10/16/09 Reading Event
1: Bohemian Rhapsody |
| |
| Unit 2: CW I
Beginning Fiction |
10/20 - 11/19 |
H. Woodward (5 wks) |
|
CW II Advanced Fiction |
10/20 - 11/19 |
PK McBee (5 wks) |
| Unit 3: CW I
Beginning Poetry |
12/01/09 - 1/22/10 |
H. Woodward (6 wks) |
|
CW II Advanced Poetry |
12/01/09 - 1/22/10 |
Niloufar Talebi (6 weeks) |
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|
|
|
1/22 and 1/23/10 Reading Event 2:
Poetry Café |
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SECOND SEMESTER |
| |
|
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| Unit 4: CW I TBA |
1/26 - 2/4 |
H. Woodward (6 wks) |
|
CW II TBA |
1/26 - 2/4 |
TBA (6 wks) |
| Unit 5: CW I&II
Playwriting |
3/9 - 4/30 |
Isaiah Dufort (7 wks) |
| |
|
|
|
4/29 - 4/30 Playwriting
Event 3 : Playtypus and
¡Si Se Playde! |
| |
|
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| Unit 6: CW I TBA |
5/4 - 13 |
Woodward (2 wks) |
|
CWII TBA |
5/4 - 13 |
TBA (2 wks) |
|
|
| Unit 7: CW Writing and
Community: |
5/17 - 21 |
Dana Teen Lomax (2 wks) |
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Making it Happen |
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Writing Your World: Literary |
5/24 - 27 |
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Documentation & Activism |
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| Wrapping Up |
6/1 - 6/4 |
Heather Woodward, Dept. Head |
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