Writing Workshops

I was so lucky today to attend three writing workshops and what a delight it was to hear from those who have made writing their life. Just brilliant. 

I participated in a poetry workshop with Ali Whitelock, a workshop on voice and The Sidekicks with Will Kostakis, and an author talk with Oliver Phommavanh. All three are successful in their various genres and contribute to the publishing landscape of Australia. 

This is one of Ali Whitelock's poetry prompts and my short poem (my Shitty Art for the day!).

Word association - write down the first thing you think of when you hear the following:

 

The colour red…

What does the colour red taste like…

What does the colour red look like…

What does the colour red feel like…

What does the colour red smell like…

What does the colour red sound like…

 

 The Colour Red

Strawberry

A sweet, cool, burst of sweetness on my tongue.

The kiss of the wall I smacked into, a red welt on my arm.

The sting of sunburn on my cheeks.

Red icy poles.

A siren echoing down the road.

Reflections on Week 7, Term 1, 2020

What a massive week.

Tuesday night was Open Night - I used to have a short PowerPoint quiz with ten questions about the subject of English but they reduced the time they wanted parents and prospective students at each station so my team rallied and put together a little display and I basically yelled at bunches of parents who tried to listen over the fray of other faculties. I had no idea just how many people would attend - in my before stint as HT there would be about 20 people in a large group but the groups this year were around 40+. I should have set up on the other side of the Library instead of across from another faculty because it was wild. I noticed some lose interest and walk off which is really disheartening and possibly problematic for the school. I did have a few good conversations though. I spoke about the daily poem in Year 7, the focus on giving time to reading and writing, opportunities for students to engage in writing competitions, extra-curricular activities such as debating and public speaking. I had a whole bunch take one of the poetry booklets I had put together for parents to peruse which is cute - poetry should be in everyone's life! I got home from the evening and proceeded to bag up 80-cookies for the professional learning session on Wednesday. It was a huge night. 

The professional learning seemed to go well - the coffee van arrived on time, the catering was adequate (we did ask for more sandwiches because they catered for 38 instead of 75), I had the sign on sheet ready, stickers and a marker for name badges, Twitter signs, spare note paper and pens, water for our guest speaker (and cute and colourful Ikea cups for her to drink from!), the lucky door prizes, and aforementioned cookies. I wrote a short speech to introduce the afternoon and well, it fell pretty flat - I acknowledged the difficult start to the year - heat waves, fires, floods, and panic buying toilet paper and how all of these things impact us as well as our students and one way to reflect is to write and what a good opportunity for us to engage in our craft before sharing the activities with out students. I feel like maybe not everyone wanted to attend the professional learning so I am very glad I wasn't getting up to speak about a literacy initiative. I am glad I provided some space for staff to engage in their writing - something different, something fresh, something to engage us in our subject area in a practical way. Personally, I loved the workshop. I will write some of the things we learned in another post.

The rest of the week flew by with more things being added to my to do list than getting done but with two massive tasks ticked off the list the relief was palpable.

Launching into First Trimester

The systems we have set up so far:

Poetry Folder (teal): the shared literature for the class is the daily poem. The poem is read to students, they have quiet time to mark it up (using the questions on the back of the folder as a prompt if required) and the students drive the discussion – commenting on lines that stood out to them, the use of rhetorical devices, the use of diction, form, interesting lines, questions if they are unsure of something or possibly how an aspect of the poem fits in with the rest. At the end of the discussion, students rate the poem out of ten and file it in their folder. Once a semester they compile their top five poems. 

I was astonished when reading the class’ Reading and Writing Surveys at how well each student articulated what they like to read, and also, the list of their favourite poets. The students are in grades 7 & 8 – their ages range from 11-14, and they have favourite poets! I think this is incredible and a testament to rich literary worlds they inhabit supported by a range of engaging and enriching poems provided by their teachers and peers.

Writing In-Process Folder (light blue): containing each student’s Proofreading List, Editing symbols (including ‘STET’ – let it stand), plus the ‘Acorns’ Style Guide so everything can be compiled easily into the quarterly publication. This also helps when compiling shorter anthologies over the course of a trimester.

It is astonishing to see student engage in a rigorous writing process. They are empowered and accomplished writers who work their drafts through to be the best version of their piece. It is exciting to join them as they grapple with a line, a word, a title, or a ‘so what?’ as they construct and revise a piece. 

Homework Folder (yellow): this folder keeps all homework items together (except Math which has its own sheet in the student’s Math Binders).

Spelling Folder (white): In this folder students have a spelling master list where they add words they have had difficulty spelling across their subjects. They also have a few lists of ‘Commonly Misspelled Words’ to be used as a reference if they are haven’t identified any words from their work. For an outstanding student, there is also a ‘Most difficult words’ type of list. When their writing has been checked mispelled words may be added to the Editing Sheet for students to add to their spelling master list. Every time I read a piece - such as their Reading and Writing Survey, or a Letter-Essay, I also write any mispelled words on a sticky note to be added to the students' master list. Every Tuesday students bring five words written on a Word Study sheet for the teacher to check to ensure that they are not studying incorrect spelling. On Thursdays students partner check and then update their master spelling list with an asterisk if they have successfully shown they know the spelling of their words. 

Reading-Writing Handbook: This is a 100-page notebook where students record their Writing Territories, and potential topics for Odes and I also had them write down a few ideas for an anti-Ode as several have already penned an ode. The Reading-Writing Handbook also contains all of the mini lesson notes that are trimmed before class, lists about aspects of a particular genre (such as the Letter Essays).

There are also two permanent folders:

Writing (dark blue): the permanent writing record is where each student files the journey of every piece of writing they do from their W.O.P. (Writing off the Page), Draft 1 with revisions in Blue Pen, Draft 2 with edits in Red Pen (students attach an Editing Sheet to this copy and leave it in the tray), and then teacher edits in Black Pen. Draft 3 is usually a final check just for any grammar, punctuation type things (students leave drafts at this stage on the chair), but if more work is needed there may be another draft and that is okay – it is all part of the process. The final copy is changed to single space and formatted according to the ‘Acorns’ Style Guide. The final copy is paper clipped on top of all of the drafts and then stored in the permanent Writing folder in the cabinet at the front of the classroom. The student records the title of the piece, when they finished it, as well as the genre – a really quick glance shows them (and me) how often they are publishing their writing and what genres they have written in so far. 

 

I have noticed, so far, that students love experimenting with a range of genres, and they have ideas for their next piece whilst they are engaged in writing their current one. There is one student who has set herself a challenge of completing a piece per week. I think this is admirable and her poetry sings a result of a writing process that is considered and thorough.

Reading (light green): the permanent reading record is where students record the books they have read or abandoned. Students record the date when they finished reading a title as well as the genre. This record allows them to interrogate their reading habits and determine future directions for their reading.

This is really just a brief overview to reflect and consolidate my understanding of how everything operates at CTL. I have consulted 'In the Middle' and 'The Reading Zone' as well as 'Lessons that Change Writers' and 'Naming the World' extensively. If you are after mini-lesson ideas, check out 'Lessons that Change Writers.'

Picture 1. CTL

Picture 2. Supplies in the Humanities Room

Picture 3. The Writing Room

Picture 4. Folders with two pockets (Staples)

Picture 5. Folders with two pockets and fasteners (Staples)

Playing With Poetry with A.F. Harrold

I went to the 'Playing With Poetry' session with A.F. Harrold at the Sydney Writers Festival last weekend and had a fabulous morning banging out some poetry in response to the provided prompts. The other joy, of course, was hearing the writing of the other attendees - one of whom was just 17 years old - what a talent!

I happily scooped the hours up for my Maintenance of Accreditation at Proficient (thank you SWF!) and thought some of the activities would be great in the classroom! If you see A.F. Harrold out and about in Australia - try to get your students to his workshops as he writes for young people and runs school workshops, in England.

Nursery Rhyme Lipograms
Writing an entire novel without the letter 'E' as Ernest Vincent Wright did with 'Gadsby,' would be quite a task, but a Nursery Rhyme? Way more feasible! Nursery Rhymes are not exactly common childhood fodder these days, so mind that not every student will be able to recall one - in the session we couldn't either so we did a quick brainstorm and shared ideas. Several of us ended up writing the same Nursery Rhyme but this was fun when it came to reading out our verse.  This got me thinking about why the Nursery Rhyme worked for this activity - they're short, have a simple rhyme scheme, and utilise techniques like repetition. Students could possibly use the chorus from a favourite song.

1. Choose a Nursery Rhyme.
2. Decide which letter or vowel could be removed. Encourage students to challenge themselves - if there is only one 'U' in the entire Nursery Rhyme, for example, well that's no fun!
3. Write the Nursery Rhyme - give students the option of sticking closely to the original in rhyme and rhythm or keep some aspects if possible.

The Proverbial 
Having fun with words can come from engaging with well known proverbs.

1. Choose a proverb.
2. Change one of the words.
3. Consider the impact of this change - perhaps laugh or consider the profoundness of the new 'proverb.'
4. Remember, don't put all of your enemies in the one basket.

'An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in...'
 An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in London is described as part documentary, part poetry, part catalogue recording the events of a weekend in Hackney. The focus of 'An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in London' is to capture the small details of the moment. Recording, memorialising, appreciating what we would probably not notice.

1. Choose a location for a 15-minute writing sprint.
2. Give students the option of writing free verse or perhaps begin with a list poem to locate students in the concrete detail before they move to abstraction. It maybe that they begin with a list, then edit with a focus on adding a simile and a metaphor or another rhetorical device.

The Story of a Button
The last activity in the workshop involved an object. We all closed our eyes and were handed an object. It was amazing just how much story was inspired by a little, tiny button.

1. To begin, hand each student a button. Ask them to consider how it feels, what it looks like, where it may have originated.
2. Zoom in on the button, describe it in one sentence.
3. Where is the button located? Move from concrete to the imagination. Write about what the button is attached to in three sentences.
4. Zoom out again, consider who is wearing the item or where the item is located. Write six sentences.

It was a fabulous morning all in all. It never ceases to amaze me how a blank page becomes a piece of creative work in just moments (first draft, obviously!). If you are interested in seeing A.F. Harrold's wonderful work, visit his website here.