With dozens of innovative and dynamic classes that NC offers, a certain course remains underrated. Only offered to seniors, Honors Advanced Composition stands as a versatile class: fulfilling both academic and elective requirements. This course serves as a proper creative class to finish off students’ high school journey.
“This class is my favorite class I’ve ever taken in all my years of school. I’m so happy that I found this class because it has sparked my creativity and passion for writing. This class genuinely feels like a fun hobby rather than a rigorous work-loaded class. I personally am taking this class as my senior English academic course, but anyone can take it as an elective if they just want a fun and interactive class to finish off their senior year,” senior Tessa Saunders said.
This course, also referred to as dramatic writing, covers everything from the basics of creative writing to working on TV and Film scripts. This year’s first-time instructor, Dr. Krista Wilson, prepared to teach this class by tailoring all of the English standards found in other typical English classes to fit dramatic writing and screenwriting fields.
Learning prose, dialogues and monologues, students in this class dive into the world of their envisioned characters. Starting days off with a journal prompt, Dr. Wilson encourages her students to write consecutively for 10 uninterrupted minutes. By enforcing the four commandments of writing— “write from the heart; write before you write; write small; and write real,” Dr. Wilson allows her students to let off steam. Then, she continues the remainder of class encouraging the creation of precious writing pieces.
“I love helping students learn how to play God: create characters, create scenarios, write stories, make things happen. Creative writing is something that is so largely ignored in the standards. There’s one standard that mentions narrative writing, but it includes real or imagined events. Imagined; that one tiny word is the only little nod to creative writing. This class opens up that word, imagined, and the whole course is now about that,” Dr. Wilson said.
Dr. Wilson also incorporates factors from her personal life into this class. As a member of her writers’ group, Dr. Wilson and the other wordsmiths carve out time to meet, read and critique each other’s work. Usually scheduled at the end of every unit, Honors Advanced Comp students similarly form groups to workshop. Workshopping allows students to share their work with their peers, and receive praise and constructive criticism to better their work.
People who enjoy writing as a hobby, or even just as a pastime, can consider taking this class as a way to channel their literary passions. While some students may receive low grades in other English classes, possibly due to low inspiration, this class reaches students who hold an interest in writing but want to direct it to something creative rather than a conventional English class curriculum.
This hidden gem of a class gifts students a preview of the fabulous film industry. Because Georgia contains numerous film and TV job opportunities, even if not interested specifically in writing, this class can help nudge students in creative career direction. Honors Advanced Composition helps students gain experience in any writing-related career path and also serves as a perfect, niche creative outlet for passionate seniors interested in a safe space to wrap up their high school education.
“I hope there are more classes like this in other disciplines. I think there needs to be more opportunities for students to investigate the careers they can have without going to college first. This class is a good first step for those interested in English outside of high school, without the whole research paper and standard literature stereotypes they’d find in English departments,” Dr. Wilson said.
