Students like to create, write, and share stories; however, they can be baffled and become resentful when told to write a short story without being shown how to write one. Not knowing where nor how to begin, much less how to develop and end, they often write one skimpy paragraph and call it a short story. Conversely, when they are led through the structure of a story step by step, they often surprise themselves with the results.

Wise teachers capitalize on popular culture in the classroom. They begin with what is already familiar and interesting to students and use that knowledge and interest as springboards to introduce new knowledge. Create-a-Fantasy: Writing a Whimsical Story builds on the existing knowledge of and interest in fantasy.

Fantasy pulls students beyond time, place, and logic. Through fantasy students can experience delight, adventure, and temporary freedom from realistic limitations. However, fantasy is not a permanent escape from the harsh realities of the world; instead, it illuminates some form of reality. It can teach students the most basic skills needed to be human. Through the universality of the themes in fantasy, students can learn many truths about love, honesty, sacrifice, fidelity, jealousy, hate, good and evil, birth and death, hope, perseverance, justice, and the nature of reality.

Children begin their literary lives with fantasy. Parents read them children’s books; they watch Saturday morning cartoons on television, and they see Walt Disney animated cartoons in movie theaters. The lucky ones are able to hold on to their beliefs in magical worlds and fantastic events as they grow older.

Creating mental images should be natural and spontaneous for children; however, when children are told repeatedly, and often harshly, “Stop daydreaming; pay attention,” some soon receive the message that after a certain age there is little time and few places for fantasizing. Create-a-Fantasy is designed to help those students who have lost some of their belief in magical worlds recapture the wonder of fantasy and to help the lucky ones who have retained their delight in fantasy channel their creative efforts.

Fantasy makes an excellent springboard to the study of a variety of subjects—values, the future, sociology, history, the nature of reality, philosophy, and the nature of creative imagination; however, Create-a-Fantasy uses fantasy to encourage students to be creative, especially in writing.

Children can write—some better than others, of course, but they all have the raw materials needed for creative writing floating around in their lives. Create-a-Fantasy is designed to bring order to those raw materials, help students sort and arrange that which is already familiar, and use the results to create stories. In the process of creating their stories, students will examine, discuss, and learn many new concepts. The by-products can be as rewarding as the finished stories. Create-a-Fantasy may be used as a creative writing unit, or it may be used in conjunction with a unit on fantasy literature. With only a few modifications, it can be used with grades 4 through twelve.

Create-a-Fantasy will help develop students’ abilities in observing, concluding, recalling, applying, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, divergent thinking, and convergent thinking. At the same time it will contribute to the development of their oral, written, and imaginative skills, with the additional advantage of being fun. Finally, it can give students a final product of which they can be proud!

Download the Table of Contents page here.

Grades 4–12.

The lessons and activities

The lessons and activities in this book align with the following Common Core State Standards*:
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.5.3, 5.4
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.6.3, 6.4
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.7.3, 7.4
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.8.3 ,8.4

Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.
Orient the reader by establishing a situation and introducing a narrator and/or characters; organize an event sequence that unfolds naturally.
Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, description, and pacing, to develop experiences and events or show the responses of characters to situations.
Use a variety of transitional words, phrases, and clauses to manage the sequence of events.
Use concrete words and phrases and sensory details to convey experiences and events precisely.
Provide a conclusion that follows from the narrated experiences or events.

Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development and organization are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.
With guidance and support from peers and adults, develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach.
With some guidance and support from adults, use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing as well as to interact and collaborate with others.


*Authors: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers
Title: Common Core State Standards English Language Arts
Publisher: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices, Council of Chief State School Officers, Washington, D.C.
Copyright Date: 2010