Writing In The Territory

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For the last two weeks I have been working with schools in Australia’s Northern Territory. I have had the pleasure of meeting enthusiastic young writers and their equally enthusiastic teachers.

  From Darwin I have been able to visit schools close to the city such as Wagaman Primary School where I worked to 23 teachers from a collection of schools. Pre-briefing sessions were followed by classroom demonstrations and then debriefings. A day of rich writing conversations.
Young writers and teachers examined my writer's notebooks and were encouraged to carry away as many ideas as their minds could carry.

More scenes from Wagaman Primary School of young writers and teachers exploring notebooks. Writers share.
When it comes to writer's notebooks in the classroom, teachers and kids need to reach an agreed understanding - the notebook requires regular feeding in order to remain healthy. The writer must collect a large quantity of material and it needs to be varied in nature.

From the city of Darwin I travelled east to join over four hundred young writers at Taminmin College, Humpty Do for the ‘Big Writing Day Out’ where I had the pleasure of launching their quest for writing ideas and discussing potential ideas in this large open space where we all gathered. In the days that followed I got to work with these young writers and their teachers when visiting a number of the attending schools. It proved a great follow up strategy.
at Taminmin College, Humpty Do everyone gathered for the Big Writing Day Out. Conversation and stimulating ideas to provoke thinking around writing.
Over the course of a week I spent time at Humpty Do Primary School, Howard Springs Primary School, and Girraween Primary School where we focused on strategies writers use to identify and develop writing pieces/ projects they wish to work on for publishing and sharing with an audience.

Map from Darwin, Northern Territory to Jabiru, Northern Territory 0886
Finally my territory tour concluded with a visit to the Jabiru Area School (253 kms from Darwin) where in the company of students and teachers we focused on finding poetry ideas in the wilds of the school ground.
With some of the enthusiastic young writers of Humpty Do Primary School.



Critical conversations around writing at Humpty Do Primary School.
Writer's notebooks scrutinized by the curious learners of Howard Springs Primary School.

Pouring over the Writer's Notebooks I shared at Howard Springs Primary School

 A huge thank you to Wagaman PS, Taminmin College, Humpty Do PS, Howard Springs PS, Girraween PS and Jabiru Area School for the care and organization that went into my visit. 

 So many writing matters were touched upon and so many great questions were posed by the young writers I met. I enjoyed my time immensely among these learning communities.
 
Writing in the space at Girraween Primary School. Learning to stare down the blank page.


A writer concentrates on the page. Girraween Primary School.


 Some of the writing messages shared in these school communities included:

writers need to read a lot
writers collect ideas regularly             
writers use their notebooks to collect potential writing ideas
writers take their notebooks with them just in case an idea presents        
writers never write about things they don't care about
find yourself a mentor you trust
writers need to be brave with words
writers need to read what they intend to write
writers make time to rehearse your words
writers reread their old words to find new ideas
writers need to read books that make them think
writers need to persist, develop stickability
sometimes writing is a joy
sometimes writing is hard
writers use their senses                   
writers experiment with words and ideas 
writers need to develop the habit of gathering great words
writers make decisions
writers do a number of things to prepare for writing


I listen actively as a young poet shares her freshly made words. Jabiru Area School. Writing in the wild. Writers write in different locations. 

A young poet in a tree finds instant inspiration for her writing in the wild at Jabiru Area School.

Discussing the potential for finding writing ideas all around us. Just sit, be still and they will emerge. Jabiru Area School. 
'It is essential for developing writers to spend lots of time interacting with words. Writing is like physical exercise, the more we do it the easier it becomes. Writing is thinking and thinking is exercise for the mind.' 
Alan j Wright 

Comments

  1. elsie8 September 2018 at 05:46

    Lucky students and teachers! I can only imagine how you have changed the lives of those you visited.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Alan j Wright8 September 2018 at 10:21

      Thank you Elsie for your gracious comments. I had a wonderful time in the northern zone. The warmth and enthusiasm of my hosts was so very much appreciated. I kept repeating the phrase, 'Writer's share.' This was very much a time for sharing ideas, extending help and encouraging belief about writing. What joy!

      Delete

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