[writeclub] NaNoWriMo Wrap up

It is December, and NaNoWriMo is a wrap!

Out of all of the girls, we ended up getting nine completed stories handed in with the word count totalling 39,500 words.

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I am beyond excited to read these stories in their entirety.  We had romance, dragons, parallel universes and monsters in forests!

What worked well?

• Every lunchtime throughout November we had a sign on a table in the Learning Commons set aside for the NaNoWriMo girls and they could eat their lunches at the table.
• We set up my mother's old typewriter, which is about 50 years old as a prop and the students loved to type with it. "Where is the delete button", they would ask!
• Every few lunchtimes we had a bag of lollies to share.
• Every few lunchtimes we had quote cards for them to pick up.
• Every few sessions we took a word count log to see how they were progressing.
• We celebrated the half way mark with chocolates.
• We encouraged the students to print out drafts of their work so that we could proof as they go and offer advice.

What didn't work well?

• We tried to bring in other English teachers into help with the proofing, but given that it is a busy time of the year it didn't work too well.
• We always had one or two girls who loved the notion of writing but then produced nothing.
• Not every student wanted to share their writing along the way, so some of the final drafts are a bit rough around the edges.

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They loved the idea of an anthology and come Sunday night at 7pm I had nine stories in my inbox. If I can get them edited and proofed by next week I will put them together into a booklet that the girls can go and get copied and bound if they want to.

[writeclub] Day 6 #NaNoWriMo

Today was Day 6 for NaNoWriMo today and we set-up one of the big tables in the Learning Commons with a "reserved" sign for students participating in the month-long writing program. 

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When National Novel Writing Month was mentioned we had three students interested in it, today at lunchtime we had eight students sitting around the table typing away. The students seem to be liking the little quote cards that I have been making in Canva; printed in 280 gsm card.

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I have '1k', '2k' and '3k' badges for students that have made it past these milestones. The badges are not my idea, I have just adapted them for our kids.

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The next write-in session will be on Friday with treats and more quote cards, I can't wait to read what the students have written.

[writeclub] Day 1 #Nanowrimo in the Learning Commons

Day 1 NaNoWriMo and we originally had three girls interested in doing the writing competition.
Something happened and we now have 8.

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A sign in sheet, some gummy bears, quote card and button badges for all. An old typewriter was also set up for students to tinker on; I think that it added to the ambiance!

The lunchtime was spent writing the first section of their 3,000 stories. Here is a summary of the ones that I read at the end of the teaching day:

• A World War III spy thriller with a fortune teller.
• A girl who lives in a bland world discovers colour.
• A girl falls down a portal and travels back in time to meet her grandmother.

In Australia we have a four day long weekend, which coincides with a horse race on Tuesday. I am hoping that many of the students will find the time to do some writing over the weekend and I will have some more entertaining stories to read on Wednesday of next week.

[write club] Using Music to get into the mood for NaNoWriMo

I've been playing with the idea of a playlist or song to get me into the NaNowriMo "mood". 

When I was young and did annual dancing concerts, the dance school would play a song as a lead in to the start of the concert. Back then it was Neil Diamond "Crunchy Granola Suite", quite a long song. Everyone back stage knew that once that song started they would have 4 minutes to get onto the stage for the first performance. Every time I listen to Crunchy Granola I have flashbacks to leotards and tap shoes.

When I started thinking of songs for NaNoWriMo, I automatically thought of Elvis Costello's "Everyday I write the book" or The Beatles "Paperback Writer".

The song has to be uplifting or perhaps well suited to the genre that you are writing about.
For example: If you were writing a Murder Mystery you might have "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" on your playlist.  I love this remake of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" by Mona Lisa Twins.

Dive down the rabbit hole and find a song that gives you a pep in your step for NaNoWriMo!

[write club] NaNoWriMo: National Novel Writing Month

November is nearly here, which means that NaNoWriMo is nearly upon us (National Novel Writing Month). 

I've tried this a few times with writing clubs over the years. Sometimes the kids embrace the concept, other times they don't. This year with the aid of Canva, I decided to make a NaNoWriMo Calendar for our writers. 

Printed off in A3, they can pin it up on their writing desk and at the end of each day record their progress each day.

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Here is a downloadable copy of the calendar.

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Our first task next week is to have a think about characters and plot, so that we can start writing on the 1st of November!

[writeclub] Blackout Poetry

I came across a great video by Austen Kleon about some techniques that he uses to keep the creativity juices flowing and in amongst his ideas was "blackout poetry".

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Students need to go through the text and outline any words that jump out at them. The after working through the story or poem in their mind they need to blacken out the rest of the text. If you have some paint markers, they are good for blackening out text. But don't be limited to black, use different colours to evoke feelings in the poetry.

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So I photocopied some pages from some famous books off the shelf and had a go at creating some blackout poetry. This gets around the idea of ruining a book and the bond paper seems to be better at taking black markers.

Further links

• 5 Tips for creating blackout poetry
  https://www.powerpoetry.org/actions/5-tips-creating-blackout-poetry
• Blackout poetry ideas with coloured markers
  http://www.startsateight.com/blackout-poetry/

[writeclub] Using your Five senses

I use a lot of props in Write Club to get kids writing. Story Cubes, story cards, images, lyrics, quotes; the list goes on!

Today we did an exercise about the "five senses". Inspired by watching "A Quiet Place" on Saturday night, I thought it might be a good exercise to get students focusing on how they might leverage their senses when writing. Using descriptions involving their senses to set a scene or evoke a feeling.

Examples:

Someone is climbing up a castle wall, use each of the bubbles to identify the different reactions of your senses when you are climbing.


Further Reading:

Tips to Use Your Five Senses When Writing
https://www.fuseliterary.com/2017/03/17/tips-to-use-your-five-senses-when-writing/

How to Unlock All Five Senses in Your Writing
https://thewritepractice.com/five-senses-in-writing/