Improving my teaching of creative writing skills by using short stories with students of secondary class in a private school

The purpose of this Action Research was to improve my teaching skills of creative writing using short stories. The study was conducted in an English Language class of grade VII in a private secondary school in Karachi where English is used as a second language. The research had qualitative paradigm of action research. For this study, students were taught to write creatively using short stories as prompts for their writing. The data of the study was collected through classroom teaching sessions, observations, field notes, document analysis and semi-structured focused group interviews. The findings of this research revealed that stories have very powerful effect on students and can be used for numerous teaching strategies. In order to help student enhance their learning teacher have to enhance their teaching strategies and this can be achieved by continuous professional development, self-motivation, reflection on the teaching methodologies, and having interesting and motivating techniques helping students to express their ideas. It was also found that students feel ownership of their work if they are allowed to think outside the box and develop their ideas. Moreover it was found that the process approach was more fruitful than the product approach. During the study it was also found that positive feedback and evaluation by the teacher helps generate interest in creative writing by the students. This study will be an addition to repertoire \u27of knowledge generated by previous researchers and will be beneficial for teachers and stakeholders who are involved in teaching of Creative writing especially as a second language (ESL) across the globe