Teaching Creative Writing

Tony Wilson has written a couple of songs to help teach kids how to write better. The first song is designed to help young kids remember the 5 basic questions of story writing - who, what, where, when, and why (to learn more about the importance of these questions, take a look at our How to Teach Creative Writing to Kids (and adults) Tutorial. Here is how Tony describes this song:

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Having demonstrated to us the power of using props to teach kids how to write a good story, Tony Wilson now takes those very same props and tells a totally new story. His aim in this exercise is to show us how to relate to kids of different ages and writing abilities.

In the previous video the story was a rather simple one. In this example the story writing becomes more sophisticated, albeit that the story itself is still rather simple (which, Tony explains, is not necessarily so bad).

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Having discussed the theory of how to write a good story as well as some of the crucial elements that a teacher needs to convey to students of creative writing, let’s now get down to the nitty gritty of actually teaching creative writing.

In this video Tony Wilson demonstrates a rather creative technique to help kids tap into the power of their imagination in order to start telling a creative story.

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There are two crucial elements to teaching creative writing to kids. The first is that you have to model for them that which you are trying to teach them. It’s not enough to talk techniques, they need to hear and ‘live’ the techniques.

Secondly, you must convey to kids that their goal is to help other people see the story from their perspective. An author is attempting to open up their mind’s vision to other people, to share with them their imagined experienced. It is crucial that kids understand that if they are to be successful authors.

In the second video of Tony Wilson’s series of videos on how to teach kids creative writing Tony discusses these two important teaching elements.

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We all love a good story.  Some of us can even write a good story.  Very few of us, though, know how to teach other people the (seemingly) difficult art of creative writing.  And to teach it to kids?  Most of us would just throw up our hands in defeat.  Tony Wilson, however, is not one to give up so easily.  Not only does he know how to tell a good story, but he also knows how to impart that priceless gift to others - even to little kids!

What’s more, Tony doesn’t think that he is uniquely talented in this regard.  He thinks that other people can also learn the art of teaching others (in particular kids) how to write a good story. In this series of videos Tony explains step-by-step how to teach kids to write interesting and compelling stories.   With that said, though, many adults can learn quite a bit from these lectures themselves.  The principles involved easily transfer from child to adult, it’s just the method of explanation that needs to change.

So, if you want to teach (or learn) the fine art of creative writing - then check out this insightful series of videos from master story teller (and teacher) Tony Wilson.

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