Living Life Twice

Quite some   years back, I found myself talking to a group of enthusiastic Year one writers keen to commence their writing pieces. As they stood up from the carpet to return to their seats, I realized that the spark of imagination that would fire my own writing ideas, had suddenly evaporated.  The students all seemed fired up and ready to create the miracle of meaningful marks on paper There I   was the most experienced writer in the room,  completely blank, unable to conjure up a single thing to write about. I was trying to will my brain into action. A damp foggy mist had descended upon my writing mind. An unexpected intrusion on my normally rich inner world of ideas. A small boy stood beside me at this critical juncture and casually announced, 'I’m going to write about the first time I went fishing on Saturday with my Dad.' 'Oh thank you,' I said with an audible sigh of relief. The bemused child looked at me unsure as to what he had actually done. 'You have ju...

  Sparking A Desire To Write Among Young Writers As the start of another Australian school year begins to settle in, the question arises –How do we most effectively engage my students in authentic literacy experiences? How do we encourage them to become lifelong readers and writers? It is important to remember that during the summer, many of them have not consistently engaged any considered reading and writing. For some, virtually no time has been spent on such pursuits. How do we rebuild their literacy muscles? How do we build their stamina for these critical literacy experiences? In these early days and weeks when students re-enter school, building personal relationships should be priority one, -finding out what defines them as literate beings. Students need an opportunity to talk and think about their reading and writing intentions. Some may need to draw, sketch create maps etc to further stimulate their thinking about potential writing ideas. It would make sense to...

Writing's Launch Pad in the Classroom As the start of another Australian school year begins to settle in, the question arises –How do I most effectively engage my students in authentic literacy experiences? How do I encourage them to become lifelong readers and writers? It is important to remember that during the summer, many of them have not consistently engaged any considered reading and writing. For some, virtually no time has been spent on such pursuits. How do we rebuild their literacy muscles? How do we build their stamina for these critical literacy experiences? In these early days and weeks when students re-enter school, building personal relationships should be priority one, -finding out what defines them as literate beings. Students need an opportunity to talk and think about their reading and writing intentions. Some may need to draw, sketch create maps etc to further stimulate their thinking about potential writing ideas. It would make sense to challenge them to create ...

Writing Creates Its Own Magic I spend a lot of time thinking about writing. Almost as much time as I do actually composing thoughts and ideas.  As a student I was taught what to write, rather than how to write. The teacher frequently said -here is the genre, here is the topic, now show what you can do.  As a consequence I have always striven to teach in ways that demystify writing, trying to build understanding through modeled, guided and independent practice.  Much of my teaching life has focused on sharing the knowledge I have gathered from my sustained writing life. I am keen to share what writing has taught me with young writers and their teachers. If what I share helps to set inexperienced writers up to be successful, to view themselves as confident writers, then my mission has been successful. Writers share. They willingly unpack their understanding about writing in the hope a less experienced writer may benefit from knowing important aspects of the craft.  You...

  Here are five of the most popular  Living Life Twice  posts for 2025. Thank you for your continuing support and interest in teaching writing and all it involves. Here's a chance to reconnect with writing ideas. Ideas you can easily carry forward into 2026.  Just click the blue links to discover more... Developing Personal Writing Projects In this post I wanted to challenge the long held practice that the first logical action after identifying a writing project is to always immediately start drafting. For generations schools have reinforced this approach. It does the young writer a disservice. It does teachers and learning outcomes a disservice too. Creating Opportunities For Kids To Publish A recent question from a teacher prompted me to think more deeply about  publishing student writing . She was searching for professional reading that dealt more deeply with the  publishing  phase of the writing process. My own search revealed that many of the avai...

For this writing piece I didn't have to look any further than my left hand. I was holding the idea right there -and my deeper thoughts followed... I have always been pen particular. Pernickity, or should that be penickity ? My pen of choice is a Uniball Gel Impact pen with black ink. Always black ink. Must be black ink.  It is the pen I prefer when writing. It feels comfortable in my hand. When writing with this pen, words seem to flow more easily. They effortlessly spill across the page. I actually feel like I am speed writing. Being left handed, this continues to be my most glorious delusion. I also have a Lamy fountain pen which also uses black ink cartridges. I enjoy writing with this pen too. It has become accustomed to my left handed peculiarities. I would never a let a right hander use it. Call me fussy. It won’t change my thinking on pen sharing. Not for me, a pen of questionable origin, no generic biro with a chewed end. No novelty pen with gaudy fluoro coloured ink. ...

Many teachers don't see themselves as writers – a disconnect often rooted in their own restrictive school experiences where writing meant following rigid assignments with little room for creative freedom. Yet writing alongside students transforms teaching, allowing educators to demonstrate the authentic struggles and joys of the writing process while building their own confidence with words. In   Notebook Notions , experienced educator and writer Alan j Wright shares the lessons learnt across a rewarding career, revealing how the simple act of keeping a writer's notebook can revolutionise both your teaching practice and your relationship with writing itself.   Drawing from years of experience as a teacher who writes – and a writer who teaches – Alan offers practical wisdom on launching and sustaining a writer's notebook practice. From collecting raw ideas and embracing inspiration to moving notebook entries into finished projects, this book provides a clear pathway for ed...

  Fellow teachers of writing please allow me to allay your concerns about the state of sentence structure among young writers. Help is at hand.  It can be improved by using a range of simple, yet effective strategies. Many of the same techniques used to teach fluency in reading can be used in writing. We need to highlight to students the importance and power of fluency. By exposing them to writing samples that flow easily, they will be more able to recognise good sentence structure and apply this skill to their own writing. By working with students and sharing exemplary literature samples we can highlight such important features as sentence beginnings, sentence length, sentence combining, and run on sentences. Sentence Beginnings: Sample Student Writing 1 I have a bike. It is red. I like to ride it. It is fun. My friend and I like to ride in the forest. It is really cool there. We have a good time. When it is time to go home I have to put my bike in the garage. That is where I...

 Teaching   Writing Under The Influence As teachers of writing we frequently gravitate to the words of authors we admire. We then take their observations about the writing process and apply them to our own writing situations. However, when we find ourselves reading published works- novels, picture books, news articles, or poems, the process that has delivered remains largely hidden. We may find ourselves speculating about what action has taken place in order for these profound words to appear before our eyes. We may even begin to search for answers. It is important to empower ourselves in order to be able to empower our student writers.  Our own understandings must grow in order to develop strategies we can teach our students. This offers an exciting prospect for our teaching. When we operate in this space, our teaching is full of possibility. The writing actions of authors we hold in high regard begin to inform our teaching.  We start to consider the impact a partic...