Hide and Seek

Here's Joseph's memory about playing hide and seek

...

Jack's Memoir

Lately this term, we have been writing more substantial pieces of prose. Even though we only 12-13 years under our belts, doesn't mean we haven't got things to say!

Booktrack

...

Jayni Rose's (snippet)

Here's a bit from Jayni-Roses' writing where I think she has really tried to make it sound realistic. The dialogue makes it sound like it's her.

...

art2 from Stephen Wood on Vimeo.

Book Week Film festival

NO KAEDYN, NO! from Stephen Wood on Vimeo.

Revising Observing & Noticing

Remember those poems we wrote? The ones about the Kowhai Pods & the walnuts? We identified the NOUNS and then we ACTIVATED them by making them do something.

In your memoir writing (when you are describing anything) try an make your nouns do something.

Here's an example

The Old Alley

Soaked papers cling to aged stone

Dustbin lids rock to and fro in the light wind

milk cartons, beer bottles and newspapers

squeeze through holed, rusty and overloaded bins.

Broken drainpipes hang from decaying and depressing walls,

thieving rats raid abandoned houses.

Just Get GOING!

So how do writers start writing (other than the obvious)?

You know when you read the opening sentence/paragraph of a book and you are hooked? What do they do that makes us want to invest our time in it? If we look at a variety of opening paragraphs, we may be able to find some patterns and commonalities.

From Life: An exploded Diagram by Mal Peet

Here's what we found:

In the opening sentence, Mal Peet

1. introduced a character,
2. what she was doing, 
3. where she was, 
4. when it was (R.A.F spitfire & ..."she'd often say over the years."
5. a complication and a resolution (of sorts!)
6. direct speech
7. informal language (that gives more insight into the character)

What are other ways to hook us in. On our Memoir checklist it says

The reader gets ‘hooked’ right at the start-through such devices as: direct speech, monologue, dialogue, question command, scene setting by showing not telling, problem outline, tension

Can we find examples of these to use as mentor texts?

Introduction to Memoir

Listening, Reading & Viewing

Language Features-Shows an increasing understanding of how language features are used for effect within and across texts.

Indicators-identifies oral, written, and visual features used and recognises and describes their effects

Speaking, Reading & Presenting

Purposes and audiences-Shows an increasing understanding of how to shape texts for different purposes and audiences.

Indicators-constructs texts that show an awareness of purpose and audience through deliberate choice of content, language, and text form

This Town

The town was usual enough; it had

A creek, a bridge, a beach, a sky

Over it, and even a small tin church

I never went to. My brother, my cousins and I

Did what boys do - dozed in the hot

Schoolroom, made bows and arrows, dodged the mad

Boatbuilder, crept like rabbits through the black

Under-runners with a weak torch,

Burnt dry rushes, wrestled or swam

Doing nothing important

James K Baxter

WALT-Add Energy to our Writing.
SC-Identify the structure and devices so that we can borrow the framework

PLANNING

This town by James K Baxter

Cloze Reading;
After the reading, complete a 3 Level Guide (please make a copy straight away and put it in your reading folder)

After we have read the poem and completed the 3 Level Guide we then need to identify how James K Baxter has used certain the structures and devices...in pinch them!

Questions to think about:

Any unfamiliar words?
What do you notice about the punctuation? How is it used for effect?
What is the writer trying to do?
What time of the year is it? How do you know?
What are the nouns? What about verbs? What do you notice about them?
Where are we? How do you know?
What does the town have?

From the above questions, we should begin to be able to co-construct a poem, inspired by This Town.

Select a place that is significant. Share with someone else.
Complete a spider map/brainstorm, with your name in the centre, with ideas radiating out from it.
Write: The _______ was usual enough...
Pick 5 nouns related to the place.
Pick 5 strong verbs (what are STRONG  verbs anyway?)
Include Did what boys/girls do- in between the nouns and actions
Conclude with Doing nothing important.

EXAMPLES

Jordyn's My Backyard

Piano Rock By Gavin Bishop

PUNKuation Workshop

Mentor text-Life: an exploded diagram by Mal Peet

How to use a semi-colon