60,000 words in five weeks. 

That's the challenge Courtney Bejgrowicz brings to her novel-writing course. 

English teacher and published author Courtney Bejgrowicz takes her experience with traditional publishing to encourage George School students to envision themselves as authors.

Courtney was inspired to create her novel-writing class by National Novel Writing Month, or "NaNo WriMo,” which takes place annually in November. “An entire community grew around writing a sixty-thousand-word draft of a novel in one month,” she explained. “The emphasis is on quantity of words over quality. The heart and soul of NaNo WriMo is to just write, and this class is rooted in that concept.”

The class is structured like a professional writing workshop. Students’ performance in the class is assessed in three ways: the word count of the work they produce, their participation in a writing community, and their skill development. Meeting once a week in a small group of three, they read excerpts of their writing aloud and critique one another’s work to get comfortable with giving and taking feedback. Each week, students pick excerpts of their work to illustrate the development of writing skills in specific areas such as dialogue, exposition, or other aspects of fiction-writing.

Before she worked at George School, Courtney collaborated with her father to co-write a non-fiction book called “Grad to Grownup.”

After becoming a mom, she felt a calling to make a career move that fit her values, and joined the English department at George School.

“I feel so lucky to have found a school that fits my personal values, my commitment to family, and offers an amazing and supportive work culture.”

Courtney makes a practice of writing alongside her students. “I model the writing process by critiquing my work first,” she said. “It feels super-vulnerable to share my work with the students, but I believe it makes them feel safe to open their work to criticism. I believe that the strongest protagonists emerge when writers have an emotional connection to them. I use my work to show students that concept.”

Students progress throughout the course, gaining confidence in their writing and in the professionalism of their critiques.

“Students often begin the course with critiques like, ‘I love what you wrote’ and evolve to confidently providing actionable feedback by engaging deeply in their peers’ work,” she said. “By the end of the course, students evolve to a sophisticated level of literary critique.”

“Most English courses don’t have the space for much creative writing. The students who choose to take this course have stories in them and just need the opportunity to write their words on the page.”

Eager to hone their craft, most students in Courtney’s experience complete the course with a high-quality, complex piece of writing. They even create a cover for their novel.

“Our last day of class is always a celebration,” Courtney shared. “Over thirty days, students learn to be more confident in their writing. Their words represent their heart and soul, which can feel vulnerable. When they first start, they often begin sharing their work by saying, ‘this isn’t very good.’ It is remarkable to see them present at the end of the course, confidently sharing something they’ve written in front of a larger group.”