Living Life Twice

The sound of a piano being demolished is somewhat disturbing. A jarring medley of discordant sounds assaulting the senses. Chopin meets chopping!  Yesterday, an article in the Sunday Age captured my interest. It concerned a man who has a somewhat unusual job. Paul Mc Donald, destroys pianos which have outlived their usefulness.  Paul’s action were described thus: ‘Paul Mc Donald tickles the ivories with his axe before plunging his blade into the keys, scattering shards of wood across the concrete. Sweat shines through his bushy beard from the effort of destroying an upright piano…’ Why all this violence towards pianos you ask? Well, this is an increasingly common scene as old and unloved pianos are dumped because people neither have the space or the inclination to keep them in tuneful condition. Recyclable parts are removed before the man with the axe has a smashing good time. Some unworkable pianos find a new life as television props or are converted into ...

Last week I began working with students at Ardeer South Primary School  who have begun investigating narrative poetry. Our inquiry  began by sharing poems by Michael Rosen ( Chocolate Cake ) and Steven Herrick ( First Day At School ). We looked closely at the text structures and features of this writing form.  We began looking closely and poetic elements such as line breaks and white space. In pairs the children tried reconstructing another of Michael Rosen’s poems (from the book, Quick Let's Get Out of Here ) I had earlier deconstructed. I told them it was a bit like unscrambling a jigsaw.  This simple exercise drew attention to the decisions the poet must make when presenting the poem across the page. Lots of talk, and collaboration ensued as these young poets magically restored the poem to a more familiar layout. These switched on writers immediately saw the difference in construction to a traditional narrative layout. They noted the different l...

I am grateful to Amy Ludwig Vanderwater for hosting my latest blog on her blog site, Sharing Our Notebooks .  A writer and teacher, Amy's first poetry book, FOREST HAS A SONG, will be published by Clarion in 2013. Amy's blog highlights pages from a variety of notebooks users and includes notebooks that are paper based, digital, napkin, and so on.  It provides the reader with multiple opportunities to learn how students, authors, artists, teachers, and people of all backgrounds who use notebooks to strengthen their thinking. Amy hopes that after reading these posts it might inspire the viewer to try something new in their own writing, drawing, thinking... Each post is completely in the words of the notebook-keeper, and all notebook entries, sketches, and writing remain property of the authors and artists. I commend this blog to you.  I see it as a great resource; particularly for those just beginning the notebook experience,-teacher or student. I applaud Amy for her...

If you truly wish to become a more poetry friendly person, here are some ideas to bring about the changes to the way you value this aspect of literacy. The poet that dwells within will become apparent to your students (and your colleagues) over time. Students will hopefully come to view you as poetry's pal! If you are introducing the writing of poetry into your instructional  program consider the following ways to create the best conditions for poetry to prosper: ·          Read poetry on a regular basis. A poem a day will assist you in developing your poetic character. It is said that before we can hope to write poetry, we need to read lots of this special writing form. ·          Keep an anthology of poetry close by – at home and at work. ·          Share poems that take your fancy with your students. ·          Find ...

Recently I have been working with young writers who are developing narratives. We have been focusing on helping our reading audience to visualize where the story takes place- the setting. For many student writers setting is often receives a cursory mention and glossed over. The rush to get to the action means the all important sense of place receives little attention.  And yet, a sense of place is strongly linked to our hearts and minds. It makes sense to tap into this rich vein as writers. In my classroom work I have undertaken some awareness training around setting by investigating how other authors develop this aspect of their writing and how it assists the reader. I want young writers to understand the potential of settings to enhance the quality of their writing. Ralph Fletcher in his book,   What A Writer Needs   writes about setting in this way, ‘The setting or place, creates the world in which the characters live and struggle.    In this world,...

I find it increasingly re-assuring to witness teaching practice in the writing workshop that recognizes the importance of the pre-writing phase of the process. I see fewer and fewer cold starts where the topic is presented to a class of students and they are immediately instructed to begin writing. This cold start writing was a common practice during my primary school days, -just after the dinosaurs were cleared from the playground. Sadly, it has not been totally extinguished from the pedagogical practices in some schools. I remain hopeful of its eventual extinction. Assisting students to' get ready to write' lays the foundation for producing an improved writing product. Pre-writing involves that critical time when thoughts are transformed into meaning and begin to be integrated into the writer’s action plan. It is the gestation period for writing ideas. James Britten says, ‘It is during pre-writing that the past experiences of the writer serve to colour facts according...

In the sixties, Crispian St Peters sang, ‘When I woke up this morning, you were on my mind.’ Well, when I woke up this morning a drive to the place of my childhood was on my mind. Despite the inclement weather, I set forth with too eager young children to drive about an hour up into the hills to seek out the birds of the forest. Sherbrooke Forest is a temperate rain forest situated 48 kms (30 miles) east of the city of Melbourne . Apart from the old growth forest and its magnificent trees and ferns, the forest is also home to the magnificent lyrebird and a host of other flora and fauna. This is the locale of my childhood. The famous Dandenong Ranges. We stopped on the way to buy some parrot seed. Later we drove past my childhood home and school. I pointed out places where I went fishing as a boy, and the picnic grounds beside the Sassafras Creek where we enjoyed family outings. The children played the game and asked polite questions. I pointed out the sporting fields wher...

I vividly recall those competitions where you could win a prize if you sang the praises of a particular product in 25 words or less. As a teenager, I occasionally submitted, but no prizes ever eventuated.   My twenty five words apparently missed the mark. None the less, it was the challenge that drove my efforts. Maybe this is why I love the 25 word story and its inherent challenge. It was through fellow blogger, Kevin Hodgson that I became aware of this new writing opportunity. It came to light through my involvement with Twitter. The 25 word story asks the writer to construct a story using Twitter as the platform. The limit of 25 words is the first challenge. The next challenge is stay to within Twitter’s 140 character limit at the same time. Within the 140 characters you need to allow for the hash tag, #25wordstory. Once I began composing these short, short stories, it became an addictive force. I find myself rehearsing just as I do with other writing outlets. ...

It is mid year vacation time for schools in Australia, and the next two weeks are a chance to refresh, and reinvigorate mind and body for students and teachers alike. First semester is so packed with activity and expectation for schools. It is catch your breath time. When we at last stick our heads up, we notice the grip of winter. The challenge is raise up against the gloom of grey skies, and embrace (or confront) the days we have been given. Today, I walked early and following breakfast and a good read of the newspaper gave some time to capturing a slice of life… I find myself in my study in this first week pondering my writing life. Questions frequently arise when visiting schools concerning where ideas come from,   the mystery of routines and rituals and what sparks one’s passion for writing. Teachers and students are keen to engage in these types of conversations. Curiosity is abundant in such situations and often causes me to reflect on my personal journey. ...

It's cold and grey writing day, so today my thoughts have turned to lunes!  What an indulgence. It’s one of the recurring themes in my writing of poetry. Such a simple poetic structure, but lots of fun. Lunes require three lines. That’s all. Three simple lines. A pattern to follow. They go like this: 3 words 5 words 3 words –but with a twist at the end! A lune has more flexibility than its ancient cousin, haiku and has no essential connection with nature. It’s just 3/5/3 and away you go! So lunes it is. Today, my notebook swells even further as I fill the pages with an assortment of lunes. All the time, I’m trying to snap the reader to attention with the final line. Shock and awe… With lunes every word must do its job. There is no room for pasengers. You are forced to tinker and slide word fragments around in your head in search of the best arrangement. Embrace the challenge. This is all part of being joyfully literate! Think of lunes anoth...