Writer's Playground
July 8-12, 2024
9:00am - 12:00pm
for rising 6th-9th graders
Location: TBD, Palo Alto
Tuition: $500
Writer's Playground is designed for students with an interest in creative writing, although no experience is required. For reluctant writers, or for those who want support in academic writing, Creator School recommends Palo Alto Writing Academy.
In Writer's Playground, we will explore different genres of your choice: fiction, memoir, scriptwriting, or poetry. (Students will indicate their preferences on the first day of class, and we will make choices based on the group’s overall areas of interest.) We will also play with a variety of techniques, such as idea generation, dialogue, imagery, character development, and foreshadowing and/or suspense, depending on the class interests.
A typical class will include:
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Improv-style warm-up activities
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Reading of mentor texts
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Writing exercises and drafting time
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Workshopping with peers
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A celebration of our work at the end of the week!
The instructor will provide personal feedback. We will also participate in structured writing workshops, with guidelines and protocols for evaluating our peers' writing and giving each other constructive feedback in a supportive environment.
Each class is capped at 16 students - enough that we will have a wealth of ideas and perspectives - but small enough to create a strong sense of community and ensure personalized attention from the instructors every day.
Meet Your Instructor
Kari Nygaard has taught middle school English for twenty years. She currently works at JLS Middle School in Palo Alto and teaches the Creative Writing elective there. She has also taught in a variety of summer programs for youth all over the Bay Area, developing courses in civic leadership, design thinking, creative writing, Italian, music, and even HIV/AIDS education (in Malawi, Africa, back in 2003). She has worked with the San Jose Area Writing Project both as a participant and an instructor, and in 2015, she co-wrote a staff-student musical for her middle school.
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