How to Bring Screenwriting into the Classroom | Edutopia

How to Bring Screenwriting into the Classroom | Edutopia:

A frequent presenter on reading and writing at local, state, and national conferences, Jennifer Ansbach, NBCT, teaches English at Manchester Township High School. Follow her on Twitter @JenAnsbach.

The students work, huddled in pairs, jotting down ideas in notebooks. The classroom buzzes with collaboration, punctuated by giggles and laughter. Students are excited to be writing as we start our annual celebration of Script Frenzy!

For the past five years, my 11th grade English students have written novels for National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). Both NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy are the work of the Office of Letters and Light, whose mission is to provide programs that allow participants to "turn off their inner editor" and "write with abandon" as a way to bring everyone's innate creativity to fruition. Three years ago I introduced them to Script Frenzy to help students reconsider their ideas through a screenwriting lens.