Signum Academy Writing Club
Signum Academy Writing Club helps young people learn to express themselves through different styles of writing. Each week, students receive writing prompts from the club leader and create drafts based on the prompt or on their own long-term projects. During club meetings, they take part in interactive, encouraging workshops with the teacher and other student writers. Events such as Worldbuilding Day, character interviews, or Flash Fiction Day deepen the writers’ skills and experience.
Why Writing Club?
We believe that it takes a group to raise a writer. The Signum Academy Writing Club provides just such a group to encourage aspiring storytellers. Our purposes in the Writing Club are:
- To raise a group of writers who will inspire, who will give and gain confidence, and who will improve each other’s writing through peer evaluations and encouragement.
- To make a community for all writers. We understand that a writer ranges from a poet to a lyricist, a short-story writer to a playwright, a novella crafter to a builder of new worlds. We welcome everyone.
- To broaden and deepen writing and storytelling skills whether for lifelong personal expression or to launch a professional career.
Want to learn more about Writing Club?
Talk with your parents and then have them click the button below to fill out the form.
Upcoming Writing Club Modules:
- January: Points of View
- February: Relationships in Fictional Worlds
- March: Villains and Vanity
- April: Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather
- May: Writing the Other
- June: Poetry & Song
- July: Focus on Heroes
- August: Creating Dialogue
- September: Conflict and Exploding Things
- October: Suspense & Horror
- November: National Novel Writing Month
- December: Traditions
Writing Club Details for Parents
Signum Academy Writing Club is created to help young authors learn how to express themselves creatively while receiving useful and constructive feedback. All writing club sessions are fully remote, providing a safe and flexible learning environment.
How Writing Club Works
- Each writing club group will have no more than 7 members.
- Members will receive weekly prompts from their group leader.
- During the week, members can write a draft based on that week’s prompt or from their long-term projects.
- Groups will meet for one 90-minute session each week using Signum’s digital campus software (primarily Zoom). Younger writers meet for only one hour and receive a follow up video to watch on the family’s schedule
- At weekly sessions, members will share their writing and receive feedback from the leader and peers using the kind and supportive Collaborative Feedback model.
- Homework and deadlines are stresses that we want to reduce in children’s lives! Writing between meetings is optional, although we find that our writers are pretty enthusiastic about their craft. “I wrote a story!” or “I made a throughline!” or “I didn’t write this week!” are all equally acceptable.
Note: A group consists of students from one of three grade ranges: 3rd–5th grades, 6th – 8th grades, and 9th-12th grade.
What Kids and Teens Will Learn in Writing Club
- Creative writing skills
- Editing and revision skills
- Constructive feedback skills
- Cooperative discussion skills
Pricing
Writing Club costs $90/month (about $10/hour). Discounts available for multiple subscriptions. Learn more about Signum Academy club pricing here.
Writing Club and Learn Everywhere
(New Hampshire only)
Signum Academy Writing Club is approved to participate in the New Hampshire Department of Education’s Learn Everywhere program. This means that New Hampshire high school students can earn certificates in Writing Club that can be submitted for creative writing credits toward graduation.
This page provides information about class equivalencies and assessments as they relate to Writing Club. For general information and FAQs about Signum Academy’s participation Learn Everywhere, visit our Learn Everywhere page.
Expected Outcomes for Writing Club Students
Students who wish to receive a certificate toward Learn Everywhere credit will be assessed regularly based on their participation during weekly sessions. Every month, preceptors will prepare a progress report showing their advancement toward achieving four competencies in the following areas:
- Storytelling to develop narratives based on real or imagined experiences
- Building a Secondary World to convey story through imaginative invention and description
- Revision Process to develop and strengthen writing through self-editing and feedback from others
- Speaking and Listening to participate in collaborative discussion about the creative writing process
Student mastery of these competencies will be rated on a scale of 1-4 at both Beginning and Advanced levels. Students who achieve a 3 are understood to have attained mastery.
For a complete breakdown of how Writing Club progress is measured, please email [email protected] or use our contact form.
High School Credit Equivalents for Writing Club Topics
Students will be able to participate in Writing Club at one of two levels: Beginning and Advanced. The table below provides an overview of how Writing Club levels equate to New Hampshire high school creative writing classes.
| Writing Club | Level | High School Class Equivalent (½ credit) |
|---|---|---|
| Creative Writing | Beginning | Intro to Creative Writing |
| Creative Writing | Advanced | Advanced Creative Writing |
Writing Club Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What kinds of prompts will members get in Writing Club?
The specific prompts that members will get may shift over time and will depend on who their club leader is.
Some examples of the types of prompts members might get include:
- Short story based on a scene or opening line
- Creative non-fiction about an event they remember
- Poetry that uses a specific format or rhyme scheme
- A piece of writing that utilizes a specific word, phrase, or writing technique (such as alliteration or metaphor)
January: Points of View. Writers will experiment with “Who is telling this story?” We’ll write and talk about the different effects of first person, omniscient, or unreliable narration and how each is effective for different kinds of stories.
February: Relationships in Fictional Worlds. Loyalty, family, fealty, enmity, romance, jealousy, respect—all of these effect character choices. How can we describe our characters and examine how their personal relationships can move mountains?
March: Villains and Vanity. What motivates our bad guys? How can we have fun making really interesting villains? And who says they’re bad, anyway?!
April: Flora, Fauna, and Merriweather. Thorough worldbuilding—geology, botany, zoology, language, magic, culture—gives our readers the ability to sink deeply into the story we are creating. We will discuss and practice how to create and write rich, diverse worlds to hold our plots and shape our characters.
May: Writing the Other. Who is missing from your story? Who might be present in a way that feels flat? We’ll talk about aliens, animals, adults, and characters from cultures unlike our own and how to respectfully represent them in our stories.
June: Poetry & Song. From formal poetry to characters who are minstrels, poetic and musical writing touch everyone. We’ll experiment with forms and see which modes fit our strengths best.
July: Focus on Heroes. From classical character arcs to modern sensibilities, there are a hundred ways to think about heroes. Bring your good guys to the table and we’ll encourage them to become deep, inspiring, and surprising.
August: Creating Dialogue. Who speaks to whom? How do we represent that? What is code-switching? How do we make the reader feel relaxed, uptight, or curious by how characters interrelate?
September: Conflict and Exploding Things. Nothing wrong with fussing and fighting if it serves a good story! We’ll talk and write about comic book versus real-life aggression, emergencies, and how magic can go very, hilariously wrong.
October: Suspense & Horror. What are the techniques of word choice that raise readers’ pulse? How can writers actually use sentence structure to emphasize the spookiness of a ghost?
November: National Novel Writing Month. It’s a challenge, it’s a game, it’s a boatload of fun. Our goal in November is to create a complete, tight story from blank page to revision-ready.
December: Traditions. Stories take place in a context. What traditions have been handed to our characters from their ancestors? How do they celebrate? Is their season full of hope or contemplation? Are Thursdays excellent days to be kind to cats? Let’s deepen our worlds and our readers’ immersion through exploring cultural traditions.