Write Now! 2012 A little often: changing the creative writing culture in secondary classrooms.

1. Write Now! 2012A little often: changing the creative writing culture in secondary classrooms. Raymond Soltysek raymond.soltysek@strath.ac.uk 0141 950 3920

2. How writers work • “It took me a long time to realise that writing is not just about sitting at a word processor or a pad of paper and getting things down. Writing is everything: reading, going to the library, researching, taking photos and even [!] thinking – thinking is an inherent and very important part of the writing process.” – Celia Rees • “I don’t agree with the emphasis that teachers lay on drafting. I never write drafts – I write final versions. I might write a dozen final versions of the same story, but with each one I set out to write it as a final version. If you set out to write a draft you’ll take it less seriously than you should.” – Philip Pullman • “All writers get asked where we get out ideas from. No writer can ever come up with a reasonable, convincing answer. You just don’t know – an idea bobs into your head, just like that.” – Jacqueline Wilson

3. The Writer’s process • Bending and Stretching • Exploring • Finding Form • Assessing and Developing • Publishing Adapted from Jack Heffron, “The Writer’s Idea Book”

4. The Unit approach • Can • Impose the stimulus • Impose the genre • Impose the structure • Limit thinking / writing time • Limit writing opportunities

5. One target class • 14 pupils • Seen as “reluctant writers” • Standard Grade Writing 3 average • Sitting Intermediate 2 National Qualifications • Intervention begun October 2012

6. In Standard Grade, how often did you write imaginatively? Daily Weekly Monthly Termly

7. How many imaginative pieces of writing (creative and personal) did you do over S3 and S4? 1-4 5-10 10-15 Over 15

8. How often did you write independently outwith class? Often Occasionally Never

9. How often did you choose your own topics? Often Occasionally Never

10. How did you go abut writing? Were there any specific strategies you used? • I just thought about it and planned it. • Plan. Drafting. • Plotted ideas and used them throughout. • Plot ideas down. • Write out plans / spider diagrams. • Used a question sheet to help e through each paragraph. Are young writers encouraged to be flexible about how they go about writing? Are they comfortable with a range of strategies?

11. What would have helped you write more? • Not having to move at the same pace as the rest of the class and go ahead in my own time. • Working at my own pace. • Getting an essay to write at home to become more automatic. • Working with someone and sharing ideas; sitting next to a friend and listening to music. Are young writers able to write as and when they want? Do they have control of the writing environment?

12. What factors prevented you writing as successfully as you could? “Not writing about what I am interested in. Too much analysis, too few imaginative pieces. Mentality of writing was different from mine.”

13. Education Scotland Resource: developing a writing habit http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/nationalqualifications/resources/writingskills/index.asp • Daily blogging • Daily journaling • Daily stretching exercises • Daily stimulus exercises • Weekly stimulus exercises • Support for conferencing • Support for peer and self assessment • Support for recording and reflection • Author videos to support skills development