write now! 2012 a little often: changing the creative writing culture in secondary classrooms
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Write Now! 2012 A little often: changing the creative writing culture in secondary classrooms. Raymond Soltysek [email protected] 0141 950 3920. How writers work. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Write Now! 2012
A little often: changing the creative writing culture in secondary classrooms.
Raymond [email protected] 950 3920
How writers work
• “It took me a long time to realise that writing is not just about sitting at a word processor or a pad of paper and getting things down. Writing is everything: reading, going to the library, researching, taking photos and even [!] thinking – thinking is an inherent and very important part of the writing process.” – Celia Rees
• “I don’t agree with the emphasis that teachers lay on drafting. I never write drafts – I write final versions. I might write a dozen final versions of the same story, but with each one I set out to write it as a final version. If you set out to write a draft you’ll take it less seriously than you should.” – Philip Pullman
• “All writers get asked where we get out ideas from. No writer can ever come up with a reasonable, convincing answer. You just don’t know – an idea bobs into your head, just like that.” – Jacqueline Wilson
The Writer’s process
• Bending and Stretching
• Exploring
• Finding Form
• Assessing and Developing
• Publishing
Adapted from Jack Heffron, “The Writer’s Idea Book”
The Unit approach
• Can• Impose the stimulus• Impose the genre• Impose the structure• Limit thinking / writing time• Limit writing opportunities
• 14 pupils• Seen as “reluctant writers”• Standard Grade Writing 3 average• Sitting Intermediate 2 National
Qualifications• Intervention begun October 2012
One target class
In Standard Grade, how often did you write imaginatively?
1 2 3 40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Daily Weekly Monthly Termly
How many imaginative pieces of writing (creative and personal) did you do over S3 and S4?
1 2 3 40
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
1-4 5-10 10-15 Over 15
How often did you write independently outwith class?
Often Occasionally Never1 2 3
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
How often did you choose your own topics?
1 2 30
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
Often Occasionally Never
• How did you go abut writing?Were there any specific strategies you used?
• I just thought about it and planned it.• Plan. Drafting.• Plotted ideas and used them throughout.• Plot ideas down.• Write out plans / spider diagrams.• Used a question sheet to help e through each paragraph.
Are young writers encouraged to be flexible about how they go about writing? Are they comfortable with a range of strategies?
• What would have helped you write more?
• Not having to move at the same pace as the rest of the class and go ahead in my own time.
• Working at my own pace.• Getting an essay to write at home to become more
automatic.• Working with someone and sharing ideas; sitting next to a
friend and listening to music.
Are young writers able to write as and when they want? Do they have control of the writing environment?
• What factors prevented you writing as successfully as you could?
“Not writing about what I am interested in. Too much analysis, too few imaginative pieces. Mentality of writing was different from mine.”
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/nationalqualifications/resources/writingskills/index.asp
• Daily blogging• Daily journaling• Daily stretching exercises• Daily stimulus exercises• Weekly stimulus exercises• Support for conferencing• Support for peer and self assessment• Support for recording and reflection • Author videos to support skills development
Education Scotland Resource: developing a writing habit