Everybody Writes Blog
Welcome to the Everybody Writes weblog, where Anna Loudon, our Project Manager, keeps you up to date with what we’ve been doing and thinking recently.
Writing and drawing: Comics develop literacy
A primary school creates a comic with easy to use software based on a school trip
Cells from the Tales of Diversity comic created by secondary students
I recently read this article in the TES which discusses the benefits of engaging boys in comics and graphic novels in terms of reading. In it, Ian McNeilly, Director of the National Association for the Teaching of English, says:
“Comics are an incredibly rich, valuable genre in their own right. I used to absolutely devour them. They are probably the reason why I do this job, because as a boy I went to the library and read all the Asterix and Tintin books. Thanks to my dad I had a subscription to The Beano, The Dandy and Whizzer and Chips. They did me an untold amount of good. For boys, comics are accessible and entertaining,”
A glowing recommendation – but what about comics and writing? Although a comic, graphic novel or picturebook is predominantly visual, it still hangs on a tightly controlled story with all the usual story components – character, plot, setting, theme and denouement. It usually contains dialogue. And the skill in writing a story with a small amount of text, and having that text work alongside the pictures to convey a deeper sense of meaning, is considerable.
Creating comics as part of a writing project is a great focus for boys and girls, both at primary and secondary level. It enables the kids who don’t think they are great writers to work on something that is highly visual and image-led, and by working in pairs, one confident writer and one confident artist can create a story of superb quality. Take for instance the Tales of Diversity magazine created by secondary students at a variety of schools in London. Students worked with graphic artists to learn some style techniques to apply to their cartoon strips and then created their own stories which were collated into one fantastic magazine. The magazine was then launched at a sparkly event attended by families and members of the local community.
Software can also help you create cartoon strips, taking away the need for fantastic drawing skills. ComicLife comic creator is a very affordable programme that enables you to add images from digital cameras, computer web-cameras, clip art from CDs and the web, stills from QuickTime movies, scanned photos and drawings – just about any on-screen image can be used in Comic Life. Adding captions and word balloons is as easy as drag and drop. Check out the Education page on the US site which has a lovely list of possible projects using the software.
Alternatively, have a look at some of these free online comic creators - http://www.stripgenerator.com, Make Beliefs Comix, Pixton and their teacher’s resources. Marvel Comics’ Superhero Squad comic creator is a great resource for reluctant boy writers. http://www.downthetubes.net has a great list of other comic creators suitable for children and young people and also has guidance on how to write comic strips.
Comics and/or graphic novels can be the entire project, like the Dearne High School’s magnificent Fool’s Gold book, or they can be part of a variety of writing activities that your school runs on a particular theme. Whatever you do, making a comic will engage even the most hard to reach writers. Surely writing can’t be this much fun? Holy comic books, Batman! I think it can!
Making your own books – thoughts and resources
An accordion book
Use books as a canvas!
Thai palm leaf book
Alice in Bookerland: Making a book a work of art
Making your own books is fun, and provides a material outcome for a writing project
Making your own books as part of a writing project is a great way to create a material outcome that showcases children’s writing as well as a medium to gain a real audience – and it’s fun! I like to talk to teachers about making school books using a cheap and easy print on demand service like http://www.lulu.com or http://www.blurb.com which can make a very professional-looking product, with an ISBN – ideal for something like a community or school history book that you might use for fundraising or to give to parents. Making an A5 book with 60 pages, depending on your spec, might cost about £6 a copy and there’s no minimum order. Or, you can make the book online and, when you’re happy with it, not order any print copies but simply advertise the link to parents and the community for them to order themselves online. I’ve used both services myself and they’re great.
http://www.moo.com is an online printing company who can make postcards featuring any image you like – I like the idea of children’s writing becoming a postcard and inviting a written response on the back. Great also because the space is limited. Can children write a whole story on the back of a postcard? Limitations inspire creativity!
However, it’s not all about ISBNs and glossy covers – it can be a fantastic project to explore the question “What is a book?” What’s the definition? Is there a certain number of pages that defines a book? If it’s not a book, what is it? Where do leaflets and brochures start and end?
Some simple advice on making paperback and hardback books can be found online. Watch a straightforward video guide to making a simple hand-stitched book - I found this great little video on YouTube.
Susan Kapuscinski Gaylord’s lovely website Making Books with Children has lots of ideas for bookmaking projects and also explores other forms of book - accordion books, scrolls, palm leaf books – giving helpful advice on how to make them and tips for teachers.
I also like the large variety of ideas for making books here including making your own cloth-covered diaries and journals, peek-a-boo books and pop up books.
This how-to video on Youtube tells you how to make a hollow book as a box for putting things in – I like the anarchic nature of this (cutting up a book! argh!), but also as something to use in a writing project. You could make hollow books and then choose items to go inside that could be storytelling props. Therefore, each hollow book is a story kit: this has obvious links to Talk for Writing. You could, after using the kits for storytelling, write the stories and make books of those stories.
For some truly inspirational, out-of-the-box books, have a look at Artist’s Books Online which features some fabulous ideas for making books art objects in themselves – and, lastly, take a look at some of these amazing images that use books as material for sculpture – truly beautiful and totally inspiring. I’m just off now to find some scissors and glue…
Digital writing - some inspiring examples for secondary teachers
Digital poetry can be a fantastic resource to inspire writing
Whatever your views about the nature of ICT in the classroom (an interesting article I read in the TES recently considers the pros and cons of technology for teaching), as far as writing goes there are some fantastic developments in digital literature and e-poetry that you might like to share with your students or pupils.
Looking at interesting examples of digital literature together as a class and thinking about how it could inspire young people’s writing as well as provide an alternative look at the creative process can be a fascinating part of any part of the curriculum – and provide a great focus for ICT and literature crossover Everybody Writes projects.
We are all used to the digital providing us with a different experience of reading, whether we realize it or not. As you read this blog post, you know that at certain points I can offer you a link to another source of information that will supplement what I am saying, either with an image, more information, such as a whole other article on a related subject that I think you might be interested in, a sound file or a film. The possibilities are many.
Use digital literature as a discussion topic in the classroom. What is a book? What is the difference between an ebook and a printed novel? What can the digital do that a static book cannot? What do the elements of animation, sound, film and links to other works and texts add (or subtract) from the reading experience? How do we “read” nowadays – with the advent of technology like the iPhone or iPad, is reading more about scrolling and stroking a screen rather than turning pages?
Interesting projects available online that might inspire writing or discussion are as follows:
Secondary students might be interested in The Winter House, a beautifully illustrated story by Orange prizewinner Naomi Alderman. The story explores digital interactivity via a sophisticated-looking story that requires the reader to click at various prompts to progress the story. The Winter House utilizes sound and animation to enhance the mood of the story and move the text in ways sympathetic to the story.
If you’re interested in exploring a hypertext story with older students, have a look at Shelley Jackson’s My Body - A Wunderkammer , which takes readers on a journey of links through writing inspired by the different parts of a body. A hypertext story is merely something that makes use of internet links to navigate through a text or story, rather than following a prescribed beginning-middle-end like a conventional narrative. This is a great tool for helping to discuss narrative in class, and an inspiration for your students to write their own hypertexts. Get hold of a few copies of the “Choose your own adventure” books and have a look at a hypertext in book form. Think about making your own hypertext stories with different choices for the reader.
A piece I like to show people to demonstrate what a kinetic poem (a poem that moves digitally) is, is Robert Kendall’s Faith. It’s a simple piece made in Flash that shows possibilities with the animation of text itself, where what the text does and what it says has a close relationship. It would also be a fantastic resource to help inspire an RE, writing and ICT project!
The Fall of the Site of Marsha by Rob Wittig is a different response again to digital writing – a project that plays with the conventions of website-making. This isn’t a conventional narrative, but Marsha’s story is represented by the three stages of her personal website which degrades progressively in functionality. Thus, a story arises from navigating through each of these sites, as well as the form of the piece drawing attention to something that websites are prone to: hacking, degradation and broken links. As a writing project, get your gifted and talented students to create websites or blogs that are the personal sites of a fictional character they have created. Get them to think about the conventions of online writing. See if they can build a character with fictitious diary entries, pictures, even film.
Play the Shape Game!
The Shape Game is the Children's Laureate Anthony Browne's imaginative drawing game
I know that you’re all probably revelling in the first few days of the holidays, but I wanted to let you all know this week about a project my colleagues at Booktrust have been working on with Anthony Browne, the Children’s Laureate, Waterstones and Walker Books. It’s called Play the Shape Game, a book of original drawings by a variety of celebrities and children’s illustrators. However, as well as being a lovely book, the Shape Game has a raft of brilliant resources for teachers online, so do have a look - it could be a great stimulus for an art and writing project, where children draw using the Shape Game and then write stories about what they’ve drawn.
‘The rules of the Shape Game are very simple: the first player quickly draws any abstract shape at random, the second looks at it and then transforms it into something recognisable. It could be anything – a face, a dinosaur or a fried egg. It could be a doodle or a work of art.
‘When we were children, my brother Michael and I thought this game was our invention, but having spoken to children all over the world, I have since discovered that children everywhere know it and play their own versions. The wonderful thing about the Shape Game is that anyone with a little bit of imagination can join in.
‘As Children’s Laureate, I want to help and connect with children everywhere, and encourage them to use their imaginations and be creative. Although it’s just a simple game, I believe the Shape Game is the perfect way to do this. It encapsulates the act of creativity – inspiration is everywhere. I have played the Shape Game in every single book I have made, and now you have the chance to join in and play it, too!’ - Anthony Browne.
Anthony Browne has been playing the Shape Game throughout his time as Children’s Laureate but now 45 writers, artists, illustrators and celebrities including Quentin Blake, Emma Thompson, Shirley Hughes and Harry Hill have joined him to play the game, transforming a shape he has drawn for a very special charity project. Take a look at a gallery of the artworks.
The resulting artworks have now been published in an exciting new book from Walker Books, Play the Shape Game, which aims to help all children to be creative and use their imaginations. Find out more about Play the Shape Game
The artworks from the project are also for sale until Sunday 1 August in a special online auction. Bid now for your favourite!
Profits from the book and auction will be donated to Rainbow Trust, a children’s charity which provides vital emotional and practical support to families who have a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness.
Quentin Blake, the first Children’s Laureate and the first contributor to sign up to the project said: ‘I jumped at the chance to get involved; not only was it huge fun thinking about how I’d like to customise Anthony’s shape, but encouraging creativity is something I feel very strongly about. I hope the auction and book go on to raise lots of money for Rainbow Trust, which does such important work to support families at a time of great need.’
Find out how to play the Shape Game yourself!
Find useful information for teachers, and ideas for using the Shape Game in the classroom
Writing outside the classroom
Step...jump!
Writing about local wildlife
Simple and effective: painting words on a spiral of stones
Saturating the landcsape with language
St Mary’s School in Gillingham, Dorset, have just emailed me about their recent “Writing outdoors” project which was specifically aimed at engaging boys in writing. Here’s what Donna Knibbs, the teacher, sent me:
Aims for the project:
Raise the profile of writing in the school
To engage boys with a “boy-friendly” topic and using the outdoors
For writing to be given a higher profile; prior to, during and after the event by pupils, teachers, parents and all stakeholders
For the whole school to share a buzz about writing by enjoying an amazing, fun, writing day that will be remembered
Use the school grounds to inspire children to write and embrace real life writing
The Plan!
A creative writing project, using the different areas of the school grounds.
Children to complete writing activities, inspired by the area of the grounds chosen by the teacher.
Complete creative, descriptive writing games about the area using senses etc (use Pie Corbett Book - Jumpstart) activities. Create and enjoy:
- Writing lines of description
- Use your senses to describe the area
- Describe and write using words to describe what you would do in the area
- Hang, pin or staple the words and description in the area.
- Can you hang/pin the writing into a shape?
- Creative word play and description about the area to generate and write words.
- Be creative with what the children write with and write on………no pencils or white paper!!!!!!!
- It does not have to be permanent but it would be great if it could!!!!!
End of the day celebration with staff and families. Families will be invited to the school at 2.45 to walk around the grounds to see all the writing.
Areas of the grounds:
• Story telling area
• Play trail
• Pond
• Train
• Beach garden
• Willow
• Bandstand
• Orchard/wild meadow
• Maze
• Butterfly garden
• Class gardens
• Early years area
• Mound
• Sports field
