Writing, and using our pens or pencils to do it, has always been an active and key aspect of our learning in the senior school.
The recent seasonal weather has provided contexts for us to write about. With leaves falling all around us one class has written poems about autumn. Walking around the school, observing, touching, and discussing, were the first steps in gathering rich vocabulary. Learners have successfully written poems using figurative language. Drafting and editing in writing books was an essential aspect before they moved on to publish these autumnal experiences, either by hand or digitally.
Sometimes writing is more uncomfortable. Perhaps students write to explain about something that happened in the playground. This can be less enjoyable for those who have made a mistake. On the other hand, those who feel wronged can gain a sense of vindication when their feelings and experiences are written down, to be read and taken seriously. Either way, selecting the appropriate vocabulary, often emotive and providing specific details, is essential during this form of writing so that the experience is communicated accurately.
Learners use their writing to record ideas and information to meet a specific learning purpose. Recently trucks and diggers forged a fenced-in pathway across our much-loved astroturf. Grass and soil were ferried back and forth as the construction for our new playground began. One class is writing about this in the form of keeping a journal. Describing each part of the process, and what they personally observe, is an interactive way of reporting the timeline for this exciting new addition to our senior play area. This writing will form a publication that could be read over and over in the future by numerous people. By using precise, descriptive words and creating vivid mental images, these journals could bring back to life our current schooling, for the writer’s great-grandchildren.
Right, that paragraph is finished. With speeches in Term 3, stories and poetry to write, we had better get back to it.
