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I think a writer workshop day would be great for creative writing class. Having it take place on school propert and during school hours just assures people that if they decide to do t its not going to take time away from them. Writers workshop can consist of social media posts, novels, storys and much more. I think it should be a place were kids can free write and not have many guidelines.

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My idea to bring the FlexTech Community together is during the advisory hour once a month or so, the class puts their phone up on the teachers desk, including the teacher. Everyone can take a small piece of paper and write down struggles they maybe having anonymously. then people can help by suggesting helping coping ways or answers to questions someone may have, whether it is personal or about school. I feel like people would be more nice and helpful to one another. A "how to" for this activity is perfectly explained in this website.

https://www.edutopia.org/article/simple-powerful-class-opening-activity

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For my idea, I read about a few different websites that I found interesting, and have proved to be a helpful tool in bringing communities together through writing. After sifting through some different concepts, there were a few in particular that stuck out to me. Namely in the form of writing prompts and storyboarding. I also thought back to some of our previous lessons, such as the Ray Bradbury noun list. I combined these concepts to form an idea that I think could really speak to the people in our community, especially those in our school. I propose we create a website with services that include question prompts, adjective/noun lists, storyboards, visual prompts different genres to pick from and a community page. The idea around the community page would be for students to share their writing, and for a 'weekly highlights' section for the highest voted piece of the week. With this, students would be able to vote on their favorite piece of work (whether a poem, short story or novel, etc.). One thing I wanted to avoid, however, was a lack of feedback. For me, there is nothing more frustrating than seeing your work succeed or fall into obscurity without an explanation of why. This is why I think it would be a great follow-up to require a piece of feedback in order for people to submit a vote. For example, clicking on the 'vote' button, and receiving a pop-up requiring you to give a reason why you feel the way you do before you are able to finalize it.

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15 of the Best Online Writing Communities for Aspiring Authors

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Looking for support from fellow writers from the comfort of your own home? Look no further with this list of some of the top online writing communities.

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So, It's like a math bowl where you get a team and everyone works together to write a story. Each Team will get the same vague prompt and each team member will be given the same amount of time to write. Once the time is up for the first team member the next team member will be given time to read what was written then add to it. this cycle will continue until it's the last teammates turn to write and they will have to conclude the story. each piece is then judged and a winner is awarded.

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For a flextech writing community I think a place to start for highschoolers would be trying to make sure they are exposed to creative writing things. Comics, stories, webtoons are all writing but some people see it as lesser writing sorta speak. Getting kids into these ideas could support a larger writing group. Ways to start this would be having a instagram that recommends books, comics,etc. Having a group of people review and rate these comics, etc.

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The best way i can think of going about this would be creating an online writing community. A large barrier to people joining communities is actually going there. What if that could be no longer an issue? Being able to share your works there publicly, perhaps?

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An idea I had that would help build a communities through reading and writing is going on a field trip to the American Writer Museum.  This trip would be memorable and would teach kids more about historical American writers.

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An idea would be to get an app were a class can share there ideas on stories and make an opinion to see what other people think and have a writing section so you can post your ideas on something and other people can comment there opinion on something you could do to fix it or jut say what they think is interesting about it.

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One idea would be to play the Finish the story game as writing project. This game helps people develop their story telling skills by each member adding on one sentence at a time complete a writing project.

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Kennedy Grant

I think a good idea would be having a writers workshop during the school day. That way students can go during school and not have to worry about it being after school. I also liked the idea I read about having a pinterest board or facebook group students can join to post reading and writing ideas and work.

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I think having a Flextech writers workshop page, like a Pinterest or a Facebook. Where students can recommend stories and publicize their opinion on it. Students can write stories and publish them to the website so other students and teachers can read them. Another idea would be having a Flextech writers group chat where we can share ideas and do personal book reviews and share our ideas on how to improve on this whole situation and what each student can do to make this group the best it can be.

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Critique Circle is a free online collaborative writing workshop for all genres with an extensive array of features. Improve your writing and meet other writers - Sign-up today!

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One thing that came to mind was creating a public document or something similar. Students would be able to share book recommendations, writing pieces, book reviews, and other things pertaining to reading and writing. I think having an outlet for opinions and discussions on literature would be a great way to build a community. This could also work as a way to get feedback on a writing piece you did. It could be a good way to expand your knowledge on certain topics as well as discover new favorite books or authors, having someone to talk to about what different pieces of literature are trying to convey is also super fun.

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I think an interesting way to create a writing/reading community would be having a school-wide story publication. This would consist of students getting together, brainstorming, and each coming up with their own stories. It would be similar to the writing competitions that our school participates in, except just writing for fun and not competition. I found an interesting article that gives some tips on how to create a successful writing group. An idea that the author has is to do a writing swap. It would be interesting to meet up in the writing group and have everyone swap papers and take them home to "critique" them. The article that I linked has some very helpful tips. I think if FlexTech got a bunch of writers together and had them help each other with their writing and each create their own story it would be very beneficial. This is similar to the Writer's Nights that FT already has, but still a fun concept.

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Travis Grandy is a PhD student in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. You can find him on Twitter @travisgrandy or at his website.
I've had a lot of ups and downs as a writer in grad school. When I was making the transition from coursework to working independently, I started having trouble writing and reading at the same pace as I did for my grad seminars. At times it can be hard to stay motivated, especially when some of those external accountability structures fall away. It can also be helpful to know where you work best (i.e. not at home), and be mindful about your writing process. While it's easy for guilt to creep up if you're feeling isolated and/or not making a lot of progress toward your goals, finding other people to write with can really turn things around.

Thanks to encouragement from people smarter than me (i.e. my professors and senior grad students), I started seeking out support from writing groups and it's helped me in making progress toward completing my degree (take that, comprehensive exams!). By having regular due dates and lots of feedback, I found my writing has dramatically improved. If you're not sure how to approach other people to start a writing group, remember, they're probably feeling and working-through the same things as you, so it never hurts to ask!

Last year, GradHacker Kelly Hanson did a great piece on the DIY Writing Group. If you've never done a writing group before, below are a few examples of how you can format a group, and more importantly, how to keep them going.
(Some) Ways to Structure a Writing Group:
Write-on-site

It can help you be more productive to be around other productive people. You might be less inclined to check Facebook and Twitter when there are other keyboards clicking around you. Try making a recurring date with friends to meet at a public place and write together for a couple hours.

Writing swap

Get a group of people together and take turns sharing writing. For example, every Thursday, I get together with four other people from my program where we drink beer, and discuss works in process from one or two writers per meeting. Let me tell you, it's great to get feedback from four different perspectives!

Working at a distance

If you're working on completing your degree at a distance it might not be possible to find people who can meet up in-person. Don't be discouraged! Set up an online exchange with other writers and establish expectations for reciprocal feedback. You can swap writing entirely by email and send back annotated drafts, or set up a recurring meeting to check-in via a video conference.

Social media cheerleaders

Sometimes you just need a little positive reinforcement--tell your friends when you're planning a writing day, and post your goals on social media. At the end of the day, you can check back in about your productivity ("Hey, I wrote 500 words today!"). Reciprocity is really key here--you can't expect people to encourage you unless you're encouraging them back. If you're looking for some online encouragement, be sure to check out Shut Up and Write, a Twitter group that holds an online "meeting" every other week for an hour of intense writing productivity. There are groups for Australia, North America, and the UK.
Planning and Accountability:
Check-in on a regular basis

Ever have a day where you had set aside time to write, but then that time ends up getting canceled or scheduled over by things like lesson planning, meetings, or your bus running late? Your writing group doesn't have to be every week, but it's good to have a regular meeting time in your calendar to encourage you to plan ahead and set aside enough time for writing (because you don't want to let your colleagues down, right?). For example, with my weekly writing group, I'm usually submitting writing every three weeks which is actually plenty of time to process feedback and then make revisions on my work. However, I also need to schedule and keep time to actually do the writing, otherwise I won't show up prepared when it's my turn to share.

Establish concrete due dates or deliverables

Go into your writing group meetings with a clear plan of what you're going to bring, whether that be written feedback for a peer, or a certain amount of progress on your own project. Don't say, "Oh, I'll make progress for next time," say, "When we meet next week I'll have at least 3 new pages." If you're doing a write-on-site, have each group member say what they plan to do during your work time, then check back in at the end of the session.

Set due dates in advance

If you're working toward a big due date or project, backwards-plan and set some intermediate deadlines. This can be the number of pages you want to have written, or sections of an article or chapter. Once you establish due dates, put them into a shared calendar. This way your group members will know what you're working on and where you're supposed to be based on your plan. Group members don't need to enforce your due dates (that's up to you), but they can offer encouragement if you're struggling, and celebrate when you meet those milestones.

Plan a format for your meetings

While you don't need to run your writing group like a timed exam, it is good to have some expectations shared among group members about how you will share writing (in advance over email, at the meeting) as well as how you want to spend time during the meeting discussing each person's project. If you're using the meeting as a chance to just do some writing in a supportive space, consider using the Pomodoro Method to organize your time. This strategy can also be useful to set aside chunks of time in your workday, and there are some handy apps you can use as a timer.

Allow time to talk and catch-up

Writing is hard! Sometimes it can be really productive to talk about your lives outside of school, the trashy reality TV shows you watch, or that funny Channing Tatum .GIF you saw the other day. Consider the social time you get before and after a productive group meeting to be another way to stay motivated.
Have you had success and recommend additional ways to organize a writing group? What helps you make progress as a writer? [Image from Flickr user, Drew Coffman, used under Creative Commons license]

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Making a Writing Group that Works | GradHacker

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Travis Grandy is a PhD student in Composition and Rhetoric at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. You can find him on Twitter @travisgrandy or at his website. I've had a lot of ups and downs as a writer in grad school.

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Somewhat inspired from the presentation by Dave Eggers, the first idea I have could be the establishment of a digital community at FlexTech High School that uses online resources such as Google Classroom or Zoom to get students, parents, and faculty all in one group. This may be a bit extensive and slightly taking from the name of this current project, but this could be one way in which we can organize a schoolwide community online that is open to hosting virtual seminars or events with reading and writing professionals or enthusiasts alike. This could manifest itself as a tutoring hour where people who need help in English literature or composition could seek such help from faculty members or their like-minded peers who may  be able to help. This is definitely taken from what Dave Eggers did with his tutoring and writing space at 826 Valencia, but I believe that a virtual setting such as the one above could offer a level of accessibility and assistance  unlike to just walking into a building to receive. Of course, this requires a large amount of collaboration and contribution that may not be currently feasible.
On a much smaller scale, an additional idea we could do to start fostering a virtual reading and writing community at this school would perhaps be to  highlight unique or exceptional written works posted daily by FlexTech students to their English classes (with their permission) in the school newsletter that gets sent out at the end or beginning of each week. This may already be happening in this email newsletter, but I believe an emphasis of this could be a great way to highlight the unique works being produced by the students. In this way, we can start fostering this digital community just through exposure. (The following image is a screenshot of one of the example email school newsletters sent out a few weeks ago.)

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For this activity, I want you to think about activities or events we can create at FlexTech that help build a community through reading and writing. On this Padlet, you will see our project description and an example from our Writers' Night Event, which you are more than welcome to be a part of! Please do the following:
1. Post ideas for an activity or event. Add title and brief description. (minimum 1).
2. Find some examples of what your ideas could look like and add it to your post.
3. Read posts from other students. This can also be from other hours found on our website for lesson 1.1.
4. Like the ones you find interesting and  would like to be a part of.

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Writers' Night was an event we held four times last school year with our fourth event being online using Zoom. Writers' Night created an opportunity for students at FlexTech to share their work with others. We had a contest each event, we held committee meetings, made advertisements, hosted workshops for aspiring writers, reviewed student submissions, and then staged an event at school or online to share all the writing we collected from students to read aloud and celebrate!

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Attached is a copy of our project description. Please remember our essential question: How can reading and writing build a community at FlexTech?