NARRATIVE WRITING: WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM MUSICIANS AND ARTISTS?

Description

Where do ideas come from? How can students be supported to improvise within the structure of a narrative in order to create stories that truly engage an audience? This workshop will explore the classroom environment that allows creativity to flourish as students are motivated to compose original narratives.

Participants will consider a range of modes (written, video, interactive) for presenting student stories to a wide audience. Ideas and activities from the workshop will be able to be used in your classroom on the following day.

The workshop will include a presentation by Vanessa Bradley, a local artist who is working with teachers to support them, and their students, to try new ideas and develop creativity skills across the curriculum. Vanessa has undergone training with Paul Collard from The Art of Learning in the UK and has worked with teachers of Years 4 and 5 in Perth with considerable success. 

The WA Curriculum tells us that students create a range of imaginative texts including narratives. The NAPLAN narrative writing marking guide refers to the creation, selection and crafting of ideas, and the creation of distinct characters within settings that have a sense of place and atmosphere. The Gonski report (2018) states that an important goal of Australian education should be to "equip every child to be a creative, connected and engaged learner in a rapidly changing world". Within the necessary learning of narrative text structure and appropriate language features and grammar, creativity can be forgotten and motivation to write can be low. Even in classrooms where motivation to write is high, stories can be unsuccessful in terms of audience engagement. This hands-on workshop will examine ways in which students - and teachers - can produce successful stories.

This PL will take place over a full day. Ongoing support and advice from AISWA literacy consultants will be available for participating AISWA schools.