Students examine the rich variety of literature published for young people. They do exercises, write complete stories, critique each other's writing in workshops and meet with the teacher for individual conferences on their work. They also learn how to submit manuscripts to magazine and book publishers. During this seminar-style course, students complete projects begun in 1507.291 or 1507.395. Class seminars discuss student writers' problems and possible solutions to them.
Students learn the art of giving and receiving constructive criticism.
Students continue to build on creative writing skills developed in earlier courses to produce a solid body of work in the genre under discussion. The focus on poetry or fiction alternates each semester. Students continue to develop skill in the art and craft of writing poetry, examining and writing in a variety of forms from the sonnet to the villanelle, the haiku to the sestina, experimenting with metered rhymes and blank verse. Each student produces a manuscript of original poetry, completes an intensive study of one poet's work and submits three poems to magazines for possible publication.