Online Learning Activities, Writing Activities
Myths Writing Workshop with Jane Yolen: A Writing With Writers Activity
This four-step workshop hosted by an award-winning myth writer offers writing strategies and exercises to help students craft successful myths.
- Grades: 1–2, 3–5, 6–8, 9–12
The “Myths Writing Workshop with Jane Yolen” (grades 4-12), part of Scholastic’s Writing with Writers series, gives students the unique opportunity to learn myth writing from a pro. Published writer Jane Yolen walks students through a four-step program offering writing strategies and a few warm-up exercises to help students craft their own myth. This workshop is also a part of the Myths, Folktales & Fairy Tales project.
Students get an introduction to this genre of fictional stories and can read an example – “Mother Earth’s Son,” a myth by Jane Yolen.
Jane offers writing tips and six warm-ups to help students plan their story, including: pick a natural phenomenon to write about, observe it carefully, write down facts associated with it, note key words from their research, and then think “What if?” to create a story that explains why the natural phenomenon exists.
Jane offers strategies to start writing by letting students’ imaginations run wild.
Students can submit their completed work to Scholastic.com to be published!
Plus: Students can also read myths from other students ages 5 to 15.
Learning Objectives
Scholastic's online activities are designed to support the teaching of standards-based skills. While participating in “Myths Writing Workshop with Jane Yolen,” students become proficient with several of these skills.
- Identify unique characteristics of different writing genres
- Follow the writing process for different genres to create original writing
- Use web technology to post original writing online
- Demonstrate understanding of different genres by responding to questions
- Understand how to review and revise their own writing
- Review and present constructive criticism to peer writing
- Learn to think critically and objectively about their reading
- Learn to review and revise their own writing
- Produce written work to show evidence of knowledge of the different genres
- Subjects:Creative Writing, Culture and Diversity
