Living Life Twice

  There is much appeal in short stories. They provide tiny windows into other worlds. It is important to expose student writers to their charm. It serves to add an extra dimension to their writing options. Story 1 On Hold 'I’m standing in a crowded shopping mall waiting to order my lunch from a sandwich bar/deli; the kind where they build your sandwich from an assortment of fillings. My order is taken and I stand back waiting for the sandwich to be completed. A man standing beside me begins to order his lunch from the person serving behind the counter keenly awaiting his order. As he begins to relay his order, his phone rings. He dives into his pocket and extracts his phone of choice and holds up a hand to the woman before uttering ‘Hang on a minute.’ She immediately stops sandwich construction duties, and stands as if in suspended animation for what seems an eternity. Her serving tongs are held like a torch in the air while phone man attends to his phone message. The woman says ...

E stablishing a clear sense of a story's setting is vitally important if the writer wishes to respect the reader. Inexperienced writers often gloss over this important aspect of writing.. So, recently while working with writing groups at Benton Junior College we devoted time to investigating how experienced writers create a sense of setting and then allow the characters to act out their respective roles in this space. I drew their attention to the fine detail that writers often include to create a clearer picture in the mind of the reader. We talked about familiar settings- large/ small. We talked about imagined settings. We examined books where authors highlighted settings. The aim was for these young writers to garner ideas about how they might go about such crafting in their stories. As a further pre-writing activity, young writers drew their chosen places. They drew scenes from various angles, some commenced to list and label words considered relevant to the writing yet to co...

I do not keep a writer’s notebook. It keeps me. It keeps me writing. It keeps me thinking. It keeps me closely observing my world. As Ernest Hemingway declared, ’I belong to this notebook and this pencil.’  I write most days and on the days when I don’t write, I am usually considering what I want to write next. I cannot stay away. My notebook beckons to me continually. None of my notebooks would be considered a journal or a diary. They are quite clearly writer’s notebooks. Meant for the collective random gatherings of my life and the sometimes scatty world inside my head. Something pops up and I feel the strong compulsion to write it down just in case I might need it later. Fleeting thoughts sitting comfortably alongside more considered comments.  Creative bursts of reflection and scattered recollections are scattered across the hungry pages of my notebook. I do not use sections in my notebooks. Nor do I number pages or keep an index. I tried these things once and they only br...

  Every learner- teacher or student needs to be conscious of their innate ability to learn and grow. The mindful awakening of awareness regarding the immediate world in which each learner operates unleashes the potential to develop further as learners, thinkers, readers and writers. The late Donald Graves wrote, 'The more I reveal a student's potential, the more I discover my own potential as a teacher.'  Graves believed such matter were inseparable. From this, the notion of  teachers sharing their individual learning stories within the classroom lays a sound foundation upon which both the teacher and the impressionable learner can raise expectations while sharing the learning journey. The sharing of learning stories provides the inexperienced learners with a model and a pathway to follow. When teachers are aware of what they have learned, the more likely they are to challenge and continue extending their personal knowledge. This frequently leads them to direct their ener...

Amazingly I learnt to write using my left hand. An achievement against the prevailing beliefs of the day. My very first teacher saw it as her mission in life to ‘fix’ the poor, wretched little boy suffering from what she clearly diagnosed as left handed disease. She must have thought, 'This child must be re formatted! If he remains left handed he will be forever condemned to writing in a scrawl that no one will be able to read. Ugly hand, ugly hand.' ...They tried to say it couldn't be done, it mustn't be done. They took the pencil out of my left hand and placed it in my right hand. It felt unnatural. It felt weird. It was not right. More to the point it was not left. I was not about to conform. At least they didn't try tying my hand behind my back. Watch me I said. I may be an oddball, left handed scribbler but I am a determined oddball. I mean how boring would the world be if everyone wrote with their right hand? So I dug my toes in –and my hands to...