Week 4 Workshop: Writing. A Retrospective

Ahhh Week 4. Such a long time ago. We were different people then. But here’s a look back at what we did in that most wonderful of weeks: Week 4.

The Week 4 topic was Writing and to begin the workshop we presented our findings from the pre-workshop tasks. The readings for the week were from Winch et al Chapters 14 and 15. We were asked to look at a piece of writing in the text book and determine what type of text it was. We all agreed that it was a recount because the author was describing events that happened.

The different text types defined in the readings were:

- Recount (who, what, when, where)

- Procedure (recipe or experiment)

- Information report (begins in upper primary. E.g. the Sydney Harbour Bridge)

- Explanation (e.g. how to take medicine or how to live by the Healthy Eating Pyramid)

- Exposition/argument (dot points of debate arguments i.e. 3 points and conclusion)

During group discussion we all agreed that learning about all the different text types is important in order to become a better-rounded writer. The only negatives we could see coming out of this type of writing program could be that learning about how to write a procedure, for example, may not be used as often as the others and therefore more time could be put into how to write an exposition or recount. However, we agreed that there was still a place for all text types and they all required certain skills.

We also agreed that the physical aspects of writing are still extremely important. In a few of our PAR 2 days we’ve seen instances of students choosing to write solely on iPads or laptops instead of doing handwriting. Quite often their handwriting skills were fairly average. This wasn’t just confined to lower primary. Students as high as Year 7 and 8 had poor handwriting skills and these need to be practised extensively.

We also enjoyed the activity of looking at all the stages of handwriting a child goes through, from illegible scribbling on a page to cursive script. It’s just crazy to think I used to write like that! It certainly gave us some perspective for what levels we can expect students to be at once we begin teaching.

Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse – Adolescent Novel: Once

Once is an adolescent novel written by Australian children’s author Morris Gleitzman. It is unique to most of Gleitzman’s work as it is mostly a dramatic novel targeted at older adolescents. It is set in Poland in 1942 and follows the story of Felix, a young and imaginative Jewish boy who has been living in an orphanage for nearly four years. He is determined to find his bookshop-owning parents and is aided only by his active imagination, story-telling ability and his desire to protect Zelda (a young orphan girl) in the face of Nazi soldiers and war-torn surroundings.

This book takes on a much different tone to many of Gleitzman’s other works. The story is told in first person narration from the perspective of Felix. This is a very effective tool in children’s literature because it means children to do not feel like an adult voice is telling them what to think about the story. This is particularly effective if the narrator is a child; the reader is likely to feel more ownership of the story.

The great thing about this book is that it is likely one of the first learning experiences of World War II for many students and hearing of it from a child’s perspective is likely to give it more gravitas. This would be a very useful text to use in conjunction with a History or war topic. Also, a prior knowledge activity could be undertaken before the book is even begun about WWII and what students know. This would be a great interactive way for students to connect with the text.

It is the first of a series and I would imagine many students would be excited to read the next instalment as there are many loose ends.

Once is best suited for students from Years 7 and up.

Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse – Adolescent Novel: Blabber Mouth

Blabber Mouth is an adolescent novel written by Australian children’s author Morris Gleitzman. It is about a girl named Rowena who moves to a new school and is struggling to make friends. Her acclimatisation is hindered by the fact that she cannot speak. Rowena lives with her father (her mother died when she was young) whom she loves despite his terribly embarrassing tendencies. The story is centred on her new friendship with classmate Amanda in the face of their parents’ clashing personalities.

The story is told in first person from the perspective of Rowena. Because she cannot converse with anyone other than her Dad and Amanda there is a lot of internal dialogue which makes for very amusing reading. It also gives the reader the chance to connect with Rowena on a deep level straight away.

Her struggles with communicating with those who cannot sign create both problems and humour. This alone is a very unique form of storytelling and it forces the reader to differentiate what Rowena is thinking and what she is actually saying (or signing). The language of this story is not too difficult so students should be able to read this in a whole class situation without being stumped very often. Also, this book assists in expanding understanding of chapter structure as each chapter deals with a self-contained issue that helps build upon the plot as a whole.

An interactive activity relating to this book could be to spend 5 or 10 minutes trying to communicate with each other without speaking. This would help students understand the plight of Rowena’s efforts at times. It could also be a lot of fun, as is this book.

Blabber Mouth is best suited for students from Years 4-7.

Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse – Adolescent Novel: Toad Heaven

Toad Heaven is an adolescent novel written by legendary Australian author Morris Gleitzman. It is the second part of the self-contained Toad series which follows Limpy (a young, imaginative cane toad with a gimpy leg) in his journey to find the perfect home for his family, free from four-wheel drives and humans. Limpy is joined by his cousin Goliath and sister Charm in finding a national park where animals can’t be harmed, but they encounter many hurdles along the way.

The story is told in third person and uses a staple theme of Gleitzman’s writing in that the main character is a child (or is merely younger than most characters), is an underdog of some sort and is very naive. This is certainly the case for Limpy who takes a long time to realise that cane toads are a hated species. This alone could be a useful teaching tool as the message is that we should try and walk in another person’s shoes before judging them. Cane toads are widely hated, but Limpy has more than a few redeeming qualities and the message to students should be that this can occur in the real world.

This book is a useful teaching tool as it uses humour (Limpy’s cousin Goliath can’t help but eat everything in sight) to engage the reader and together with the several moral messages gleaned from the story teachers could use many comprehension exercises with good results. The fact the story is told about can toads also opens up a whole new world and perspective for children, which should be used in a teaching scenario at every opportunity.

This book is best suited for students from Years 4-7.

Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse – Adolescent Novel: Miracle on Separation Street

Miracle on Separation Street is an adolescent novel written by Bob Graham. It is a short story which follows a young boy named Jack and his family through many ups and downs and eventually miracles. Or at least according to Jack’s mum. The family finally have enough money to buy a car, but before they know it suddenly disappears. Little does Jack know that the miracle is right around the corner.

This story is retrospectively told by Jack, meaning it is told in the first person. This gives the reader a feel for what is inside Jack’s head and the world around him, making the reader feel a closer connection to the story and characters. Jack also tends to drift off on tangents while telling the story which create many humourous moments.

Because this book is told in first person and in past tense, it is a good example for students of how to write like that. It can be a very confusing way to write but also very effective. This book could be analysed as a learning exercise. In fact, Jack mentions this during the book when he jumbles his tenses, claiming his teachers always tell him to fix up his tenses. This was a very clever ploy by Graham as it is a sub-conscious teaching tool for how to write. This novel also has some illustrations which help bring the words to life for the reader.

This book is best suited for students from Years 3 and up.

Josh Rouse

Josh Rouse – Adolescent Novel: My Gran the Gorilla

 

My Gran the Gorilla is an adolescent novel written by Jackie French and illustrated by Stephen Michael King is a part of the Wacky Families series. This book is a clever twist on the Tarzan story and is modified to be set in Australia. The story is about TJ who is the son of Tarzan and Jane, but centres around TJ and his relationship with his Gran, who happens to be a gorilla. TJ also has a giant skateboarding slug who knows sign language as a pet which adds to the endearing silliness of the story.

This book is a fun read and is a particularly useful for exercise involving reading out loud. This book requires many different voices, accents and several types of onomatopoeia throughout the story which requires the reader to change their tone and voice to get the full effect intended by the author.

This book is actually surprisingly deep in its language as TJ’s friend Linda is a self-confessed sesquipedalian (someone who is fond of long words). She also uses words such as perambulate and sumptuous, amongst others, which suggests French wanted to help boost students’ vocabulary. This alone would suggest a mid-to-high primary school student, or possibly higher, could benefit from this text.

My Gran the Gorilla uses a lot of humour which is a definite drawcard for students. The plot is silly and fun, while also introducing inferential meaning (reading between the lines) as the reader must try to guess what is happening with the wombat poaching that is going on, as well as what secret Linda is hiding.

This book is best suited for students from Years 4-5.

Josh Rouse