Living Life Twice

What is it about the number 12 that so many people have difficulty with? Twelve is a most intriguing number. Most calendar systems have twelve months in a year. The Western zodiac has twelve signs, as does the Chinese zodiac. There are twenty-four hours in a day in all, with twelve hours for a half a day. A new day starts with the stroke of midnight. Furthermore, the basic units of time (60 seconds, 60 minutes, 24 hours) can all perfectly divide by twelve. Twelve squared is 144, also known as a gross. Twelve is a great number! The concept of a dozen however seems to elude many of my fellow citizens it seems. Today I was standing in the supermarket line patiently awaiting my turn at the checkout, and it became obvious that the customers in front of me had so blatantly exceeded the ’12 items or less’ message despite the fact that it is so clearly displayed for all to read. Not a big deal? Well the first few times it happened I let it roll by. Then I started silently counting just to conf...

The final term of the school year provides an excellent opportunity for students to revisit a genre explored earlier. They could rework a piece of writing published earlier in the year or rework a writing piece in a different genre than was originally attempted. I.e. non- fiction piece could be transformed into a realistic fiction piece, a poem, a play, a fiction piece. The possibilities are many. Such a study provides students with an opportunity to develop the understanding that one writing idea can be represented in different forms. It also allows students to progress further in their understanding of how writing is a fluid form of communication. To begin, ask students to consider questions such as: • What genre are you most comfortable writing? • Which of your previously published writing pieces would you like to revisit? • What does changing the genre of a piece allow you, the author, to do? We can provide student writers with an opportunity to demonstrate through writing, a worki...

When a boy is only nine years old, he can do strange things. This was a time when a field of potatoes caused me loads of trouble… My friend Robert and I decided to take our billy-cart with us as we set off to explore the local neighbourhood. We were hoping to find a half decent hill to descend. The billy cart had been the product of the previous weekend’s efforts. A construction strung together using a mixture of scrounged odds and ends. A lettuce box atop a wooden frame, a set of disused pram wheels and a piece of rope nailed to the front for steering purposes, made up this rickety downhill racer. The only modification to the lettuce box was to knock the front panel out so that the driver could extend their legs forward to help steer the cart on its wild descent. No brakes, and the lettuce box carriage was so rough it guaranteed to give you splinters almost every time some part of body made contact. ...

I have recently purchased Katie Wood Ray’s Study Driven –A Framework for Planning Units of Study in the Writing Workshop. I have long been a fan of Katie’s writing messages. Several of her books stand proudly on my library shelves. In Study Driven, Ray spells out some strong messages about how writing needs to be approached. To quote the author, “Framing instruction as study represents an essential stance to teaching and learning, an enquiry stance, characterized by repositioning curriculum as the outcome of instruction rather than the starting point…” Katie Wood Ray contends: Texts should be used to mentor students to write real things in the ways real writers write. This makes teaching ‘authentic’ Writing needs to be 'studied' and not 'taught.' This requires teachers to read like writers – along held belief of the author. Teachers need to be writers and gatherers of mentor texts, but curriculum can not be determined before the students begin to study. It requires a f...

Setting up a writing centre in the classroom is a great idea. However, its a great idea that needs regular commitment and maintenance if its potential is to be realized. Writing centres often become museum pieces if young writers aren’t encouraged to use the allotted space. You know the scene – it looks great, it looks glitzy, but rarely do you see students actually occupying the space. What a waste of a great space! It’s a bit like Nana’s special dining set –constantly admired, rarely used. It may as well be covered in plastic to protect it from stains. A writing centre set up with the requisite supports, such as computer, printer, camera, an assortment of pens, markers, papers, book making materials, writing reminders and ideas, photographs, books on writing, etc provides great stimulus to developing writers. To give this space added appeal young writers need to be shuffled through this special classroom space each day. You could either set up a sign in sheet, or a schedule, so that ...

In San Juan we waited for some time for our connecting flight to St Kitts. Repeated announcements through muffled speakers informed in-transit travelers that flights were delayed -and, in some instances oversubscribed. Weight restrictions meant that only twenty-four passengers could be carried on planes originally designed to carry forty-two. A standard offer of $300 was presented to any passenger who would willingly ‘jump off’ and take a later flight. The announcer kept reminding everyone that weight restrictions were the cause of the problem. A man sitting opposite me continued tucking into a pizza. A quick glance around the lounge confirmed that there was in fact, an oversupply of fat tourists. We finally boarded for St Kitts and then spent an hour in a hot, cramped plane with a hairy-armed hostess who dispensed miserable bags of cheese and onion chips to passengers who only wanted to escape the heat of the cabin. I desperately wanted to tell her that she could keep her Fokker Frien...

I have been reading Ralph Fletcher's book, Boy Writers -Reclaiming Their Voices in which Ralph puts forward the view that teachers need to broaden the circle and provide boy writers with greater choice if we want to more fully engage them as writers. Ralph articulates the view that boys come to writing with unique issues and perceptions of the world and if we want them to remain in the game, we need to understand the world in this frequently reside. This approach does not advocate promoting the interests of boys at the expense of girls, rather, there are approaches that can be incorporated into our teaching that will lead to boys more fully embracing writing. Each chapter of the book contains many practical suggestions under the heading, 'What Can I Do In My Classroom?' The aim of the book is to be practical, not political.The book also contains a number of samples of boys writing. They provide concrete examples of what motivates boy writers. They are included as models of...

I have recently been working in a Grade 4 classroom at Heany Park Primary School in Melbourne's eastern region. The focus of the writing has been developing memoir pieces. The teacher, Prue Nimmo has provided her students with a high level of support by immersing them in the genre. She has read memoir pieces to her students. She has written several memoir pieces of her own and shared the development of her writing pieces with her students across several lessons. Prue has worked tirelessly to ensure her young writers take the learning journey along side her. Telling her personal stories, Prue has signalled to her students that their personal stories are valuable as well. Her teaching has focused on the structure and features of the genre. She has taken time to alert her students to the need to write with the audience in mind, and so her students have worked hard to engage their readers with snappy, attention grabbing leads. Time has been given over to discussion and planning so tha...

UPDATED February 2022 Writing in response to literature can be a great way for students to organize their thoughts, explore what they think, and generate ideas. One of the strengths of writing in journals is that it allows students to capture all of those great ideas that generally float off into the air during the discussion.  Journal writing can also become drudgery if students are asked to write too often, given little choice or inspiration in what to write, or if they simply don't have anything to say. While some students eagerly share their impressions about selections they have read in class discussions, others are less comfortable and keep their thoughts to themselves. In an effort to encourage all students to think more about what they read and confidently share their observations and opinions, some teachers are turning to the reading reflection journal and are gaining insights they never anticipated.  The Value of Reflection Journals   Journals assist teachers...

A regular occurrence for me is recalling New York moments. It is now close to three years since I moved back home to Australia permanently, but those moments from our New York life come flooding back all the time. Given the cultural and intellectual diversity of this urban giant, it was almost certain that each day you would encounter a moment that left you dumfounded, or at the very least shaking your befuddled head in utter disbelief. It is one of the many things that makes New York so intriguing. You have to laugh, or at the very least have a quiet chuckle to yourself… -And so it was one unsuspecting Saturday morning. I awoke after a pleasant Friday evening spent entertaining friends. I felt ready to dive head long into the weekend. Meaning, I did not feel seedy or disoriented. Vicki was standing at the north facing window of our then apartment looking down at the rooftop opposite.. She had a puzzled look on her face. ‘That’s either a small child or a monkey in a suit down there’ sh...