The aim of this piece was to model the skills of analysis for a classic poem. The piece was written around the fifth week of a set of sessions on “Animalia Poetry”. I consider poetry to provide excellent opportunities for the development of both critical and creative skills, and through such activities with me students […]
Recently a student I was working with described a task they had at school in which they were to compose an essay that would compare a novel with a film. In my experience, students are often given such tasks to complete without either the lessons or insights into texts to do more than identify and […]
I love my work 🙂 Most mornings I wake up with the birds and head into my study with a coffee to log on and collaborate with students to further develop our studies together. They send me questions, plans, reflections and products to demonstrate what they are doing and to seek my involvement, whether it […]
This is yet another 15 min short piece, this time in response to the image/prompt of “I stood outside the door, my pulse racing. Summoning my greatest store of courage, I took a deep breath, opened the door, and stepped inside…”. This seems immediately to be a prompt for a creative piece. My purpose here […]
This is yet another 20 min short creative writing piece, this time in response to the image/prompt of “A cat having their tummy tickled”. For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Remember, your goal is to produce focused writing by: • illustrating […]
I am, and always have been, an avid reader (and writer!). Reading is many things, including: a habit; a skill; a tool; a challenge; a pleasure; a terrible seven-letter word; a wonderful opportunity. I’m lucky – I know a lot about reading! One of my jobs as a mentor to gifted students is to recognise […]
The aim of this piece was to exercise the skill of composing a narrative using an interesting structural device. There are many such narrative devices that can be exercised to form a narrative that realises greater suspense or intrigue at different stages of the story, including epigrams, flashbacks, cliffhangers etc. In this piece, the structural […]
This is yet another 20 min short creative writing piece, this time in response to the image/prompt of a set of clocks. For a word document version of much better presentation and formatting than what is shown here email me at [email protected]. Remember, your goal is to produce focused writing by: • illustrating the context, […]
One good trick in short story writing is to achieve a variety of perspectives through the narration of different, and even conflicting, viewpoints. I do this using ellipsis ( * * * ) to present a transition from one narrator to another. The two submissions here using this technique are both 20 minute pieces written […]
MAXIMUM SECURITY by Robert Muchamore – Personal Response Right, I hated it. No really, I hated this book. There are very few novels that raise my ire. I hate how everyone misinterprets Girl with a Pearl Earring, and takes the position of the narrator when she’s clearly a vicious lying manipulative self-obsessed snake. I hate […]
