| Unit name | Writing Your World: Literature, Creative Writing and Community |
|---|---|
| Unit code | ENGL20121 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24) |
| Unit director | Mrs. Thomas-Hughes |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
none |
| Co-requisites |
none |
| School/department | Department of English |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Write your World: Literature, Creative Writing and Community is the final unit in a series of cumulative units which are designed to support students in the development, execution and critical reflection on/evaluation of their community-engaged projects as part of their undergraduate studies on the English Literature and Community Engagement BA.
In this unit, students have the opportunity to explore literature and creative writing in relation to the community-engaged contexts in which they are/have been running projects.
The unit aims to introduce creative writing as a potential resource for use in student’s community engaged projects alongside exploring a range of short literature forms from across the globe which are broadly focused around ‘writing your world’. Students will have the chance to engage directly in creative writing practice, exploring this as a tool for enhancing and diversifying their reflexive writing on their community-engaged projects.
Students will have an opportunity to experiment with creative fiction writing as a reflective tool and resource for developing community-engaged practice. This will include a focus on the basic elements of short fiction: plot, point of view, setting and description, and characterisation. Students will learn how to write a short story based on their reflections, experiences of their worlds, and their imagination.
The unit considers the significance and relevance of different forms of literature (which may include oral literary traditions, visual narrative forms and others) to different communities with students drawing on reflections on the literary forms they have used in their own community-engaged projects and practice.
Students will have an opportunity to write their own original fiction and explore various forms of narrative, supported by critical examination of a range of short fiction.
Community engagement is a practice-led discipline and students are expected, as a core part of this unit, to commit at least 30 hours to the continued development and execution of their own community engaged project.
This is the final unit in four cumulative community engagement units. As such, at this point in their studies students are typically running a community-engaged project which they have established and run continuously as part of their earlier community engagement units.
Students will be required keep a reflexive journal throughout their study on this unit. They will be expected to bring together their reflective/reflexive diaries from their study on previous CE units to produce a reflective critical essay of their journey as a community engagement practitioner.
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1) critically and reflexively evaluate the role and function of the literary forms used in their CE projects and contextualise this practice within wider academic discourse on reading, society and community.
2) demonstrate applied knowledge and understanding of community engagement as a concept in relation to their own community-engaged practice.
3) evaluate the relationships between literature, culture, society and place as a community-engagement practitioner.
4) demonstrate ability to intersect reflexive and creative writing techniques in the development of community-engaged practice.
This unit is normally taught through a series of 3-hour seminars delivered across the academic year. Seminars utilise a range of teaching methods including lectures, practical-activities and small group dicussion. Seminars are supported by a range of asynchronous learning activities. As part of this unit students have access to a one-to-one mentor who will support and guide thier communtiy engaged practice. Students also typically have access to two Saturday writing re-treats which provide a guided space for developing their academic writing skills.
1 x 4000-word essay, or short story produced in response to a brief (ILOs: 1-4) 100%
Bolton, Gillie. Reflective practice: Writing and professional development. Sage publications, 2010.
Hensher, Philip, ed. The Penguin Book of British Short Stories: from PG Woodhouse to Zadie Smith
