Author Archive
The following is a redraft of a scene from a Goosebumps story written for a young audience. The challenge for students to rewrite short excerpts of scenes from stories they are reading (and enjoying!) allows them to match their writing skills to a high standard, to engage with generic elements, and also to realise the […]
This is a writing piece that achieves the analytical and evaluative form, content and purpose to genuinely challenge and engage gifted students in their studies. For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. To be frank, I was immediately most dismayed to consider […]
I’ve written before about the desire and method for achieving an original response to a prompt. In this example, I took the image of a robber/thief and composed the following creative response. . INTRUDER Like a thief in the dead of night I came. Silent and dangerous; deadly and burning with malice. I stole into […]
In the tests they might give you an image to write creatively about. Sometimes it’s good to consider how the image can be considered metaphorically or symbolically. I looked at the image of a mouse, and wrote the short narrative below: I deliberately tried to give it an interesting title and to use dialogue. What […]
Sheesh! I guess I could feel some shame for neglecting the posts on this site for several months, but this past summer has been fantastic! And anyway, why would I want to be punching away at the keyboard when my preference is to sit outside with pen and paper feeling the fresh breeze flowing and […]
Terry says to Charley: “I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum. Which is what I am”. Does the film support Terry’s judgment of himself? Poor Terry Malloy: stuck between a rock and a hard place, or conversely between the hard men of the mob and struggling to find the […]
Mobile Concerns by David James Call me a cynic (you’re a cynic Gus!), but I must suspect the purposes of the article published in Driver magazine. The writer is apparently responding to a call by the Accident Prevention Group (APG) to ban all forms of phone use by drivers in all vehicles. Although I think […]
I’m not convinced by the facts (or lack thereof) of Mr/Mrs “Name and School withheld” argument in “The Case Against a National Curriculum”. It seems rather silly to assume that the National Department of Education would ignore entirely the “differing needs” of Australia’s 3.3 million students. Instead, the article appears to be an obvious attack […]
In the editorial “Turning the muck filter on”, the writer intends to present a “no-nonsense” argument for a new Government policy to police the internet. Yet despite their strong ridiculing bias, their clever distinctions, their efforts at alliteration and their illuminative analogies, I for one do not need a filter to see the gaps in […]
It has often been said of retired politicians that they should stay retired. Having given up (or lost) their mantle, it is not wise or wanted for them to comment on party affairs. Peter Costello though, has published a book of his memoirs, and is currently published by The Age on political matters. In his […]
