Well it’s time for us to go off to a writers’ camp again. Not so far to travel this time, in fact not even out of Melbourne. Today we’ve been writing up questions for a quiz and thinking about what sort of things year 7–10 students might like to write about.
I remember when I was in high school, I liked to write stories that were pretty tragic, like the world ending (Day of the Triffids was inspiration) or other themes that I thought at the time were pretty deep. A very vivid memory for me was in Year 12 English when I received an A for a short story about my relationship with my father. I still have that story. But more important than the mark I received for it is the fact that it was encouragement to keep writing. This reminds me that while these writing camps are fun and don’t add to the students marks, it’s important for us to take them seriously because we’re helping them form a relationship with the written word (or creating stories with words, pictures and photographs) and a wrong word (in our feedback) can make a difference to their confidence.
It’s going to be fun working with them on their photo stories, flash fiction and cartooning. Hopefully, there’ll be something they remember in years to come that inspired and encouraged them.