Step Write Up provides hands-on exercises for parents, teachers and for any workshop leader endeavoring to bring 21st century collaboration and writing skills into the classroom or homeschool environment.

To accomplish this, the authors have assembled lessons that can be modified for your own specific personalities, uses, and grade levels. Some are icebreakers that are aimed at promoting communication and collaborative teamwork. Some are lessons that provide for individual creativity and then lead into opportunities for group sharing and critiquing. And the authors go even further, showing how the products of these creative efforts can even carry us into areas of initiative and entrepreneurialism.

“Learning and innovation skills increasingly are being recognized as those

that separate students who are prepared for a more and more complex life

and work environments in the 21st century, and those who are not. A focus

on creativity, critical thinking, communication and collaboration is

essential to prepare students for the future.”

—Partnership for 21st Century Skills

CONTENTS

ICEBREAKERS & EXERCISES

COMMUNICATION & EXERCISES

CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

COLLABORATION

COLLABORATION EXERCISES

CREATIVITY

GUIDED OR FREE WRITING PROMPTS

CREATIVITY - POETRY

Using Imagery

Using Metaphors

Poetry - Writing Closed Couplets

Poetry - Writing Open Couplets

Poetry - Writing Ghazals

CREATIVITY - FICTION

Fiction - Senses and Imagination

Fiction - Senses

Fiction - Settings

Fiction - Characters

Fiction - Character Development

Fiction - Plot

Fiction - Plot: Three-Act Structure

Fiction - Plot: Hero’s Journey

Fiction - Character & Plot

Fiction - Point of View

Critiquing

CREATIVE NONFICTION

Creative Nonfiction - Writing Narrative

Publishing Student Work

ARTICLES FOR CREATIVE WRITERS

Writing a Nonfiction Book Proposal

Assessing Our Needs as Writers

Writing a Synopsis

Inventing and Reinventing Ourselves as Writers

Ah, the Writer’s Life!

Writing Suspense vs. Historical Stories

The A-Z of Writing

RESOURCES & AUTHOR’S NOTES

Nikoo and James McGoldrick (Ph.D.) are popular speakers and conduct various interactive workshops stemming from their successful book Step Write Up and collaborating on fifty books over two decades with traditional publishers.

Nikoo was author-in-residence in Northwest Connecticut for a decade, conducting creative writing workshops and making many school visits. Jim has years of experience teaching creative writing and English literature in the high school and college classroom. The two of them continue to develop a variety of programs for all ages on the craft and business of writing.