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__What is GSWLA?__
 * About**

GSWLA stands for Global Studies and World Language Academy. The purpose of the [|Global Studies and World Languages Academy]at [|Tallwood High School in Virginia Beach, VA] is to provide Academy students who have an interest in global issues, global cultures, and global systems an opportunity to select courses that will prepare them for post-secondary advanced studies or for faster entry into careers in a global market. Academy courses are designed to enable students to perform at the highest level of achievement. Creative Writing for a Global Society provides students with an interdisciplinary perspective of global issues through writing.

__ Course Description __

Creative Writing for a Global Society is a semester-long, one-half credit elective for students in grades 10-12 offering students opportunities to apply and refine their creative writing skills and abilities beyond those developed and required in the regular English classroom. Students will use creative writing as a way of exploring meaning in language and the world around them. Students will explore the way in which writers use their individual voices to represent the collective experiences of their peoples and cultures. Students will learn about the specific processes of creating fiction, non-fiction, drama, and poetry and will analyze the larger context of the ways in which these literary forms express both individual and universal truths. Through practicing the various conventions, students will improve their own abilities to communicate creatively individual experiences and connect those ideas to the larger dialog of language created by previous writers. Through self-publication of their work and the sharing of that work in a workshop environment, students will experience the empowerment of sharing their voice and receiving critical and constructive acknowledgment of that voice.

Creative writing is a deeply personal and artistic form of expression and communication. Beyond the personal, however, creative writing and communication have life long implications. The development of the skills taught in a creative writing class enhances student’s abilities to write, think, and create in environments far beyond the classroom. The thoughtful, reflective, and creative mind drives the critical thinking processes in business, industry, government, and society as a whole. People who discover skills in the use of imaginative expression influence every aspect of daily life from television advertising, program creation and content, to industrial redesign of ideas and assumptions that provide the innovative initiatives behind such things as web page design and the World Wide Web. If one overarching idea is true of humanity in all of its cultures, it is the documented desire of man to write and speak to others through literature from across the ages. The focused examination and practice of the principles of creative writing provide students with the opportunity to share in the conversation that literature has created, as well as, provide students with skills and concepts that will be increasingly important in a globally competitive and diverse world.