Publishing Sijo in an American Creative Writing Class

Abstract

A Wisconsin high school Creative Writing teacher focuses her curriculum on writers’ markets. In class, students compose and submit short stories, essays and poems to publications and competitions in hopes of being an award-winning or published author. The juniors and seniors find submitting pieces purposeful, engaging and interesting. In one assignment, the students learn about sijo, a Korean form of poetry. In this article, the author provides an overview of instructional process by sharing anecdotes of students composing drafts, receiving feedback and submitting sijos to the Sejong Cultural Society. The Sejong Cultural Society hosts a national sijo-writing competition where students can earn monetary prizes and publication. The author shares how this competition builds a classroom community and increases engagement and attention spans. Readers will learn how publishing work can give students purpose, make them feel like their voice matters and gave them an outlet for expression.