“The concepts that students have of their own
abilities and worth are constantly shaped by their
classroom experiences, especially their interactions
with other students.”
Graham Nuthall, ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners’
Some problems with creative writing in English
classrooms:
o It is often a lonely activity
o It is often quickly forgotten
o It is often only read by other students as rabid penwielding peer assessors armed with mark schemes
and poised to strike
o It can feel clandestine, with talent a guilty secret
o It doesn’t travel
o It can have a faintly metallic aftertaste of
institutional obedience
The effects make themselves visible in Q5 and
Q6 answers in GCSE Language Paper 1 (AQA),
where often in mocks:
• students have lost the sense that anyone is
going to read what they are writing
• the sense of audience is tenuous
• they have not thought of themselves as
engaging in role play
• they do not have a confident sense of
themselves as successful writers
One response:
Before they hit GCSE,
write a class novel
together
Co-operative writing
[involving mutual assistance in working towards a
common goal;
a business or other organization which is owned and
run jointly by its members, who share the profits or
benefit]
Example 1
1982
Your first
page
You turn the corner.
You must either …………. (turn to page ..)
or ………………….. ………(turn to page ..)
Your
second
page
You chose to …………..
Your mission is over.
Your third
page
You chose to ………..
You are successful in …………………..
Now turn to page ……..
turn a corner
open a door
open a trapdoor
climb up or down a ladder
open a gate
investigate a crack in the wall
pull a lever
cross a river or stream
push away some creepers
go straight ahead
turn left
turn right
break through a rockfall
scale a rope hanging down
fall down a hole
stop for food and water
cavern
room
chamber
cave
hallway
dungeon
fight someone or something
open something
search something
have to escape from something
eat or drink something
solve something
build something
play something
have to cross something
e.g. chessboard, river
goblin
faun
troll
giant
wizard
guard
skeleton
ogre
maiden
11
You see a rusty iron ladder leading to a slime-encrusted door high in the grimy wall to
your left. It catches your interest, and you climb the ladder carefully. On the last
rung, your foot slips and the rung collapses. It takes all your strength not to fall back
into the passageway.
You scrabble at the door with bleeding fingers, and to your relief, it opens easily. You
enter a cold, musty room lined with mildewed glass cases. The light is dim, and the
air seems thick with spores from the fungus creeping over every surface.
You approach the nearest glass case, and cautiously rub its surface with the hem of
your tunic. Perhaps treasure, long forgotten, might lie within, you whisper to yourself.
You bend down to peer in.
To your surprise, the case contains the stone head of a princess, and her eyes flicker
open as you shine your lantern at her, emitting an eerie green glow. Around the
room, a similar glow suddenly appears in the other cases.
“We are the lost princesses of Collasta,” she hisses in a voice like a knife scraping on
steel. “Why do you dare to break our sleep?”
You must make a quick decision.
Will you:
a) bend closer and attempt to calm this monster? Turn to page 67
b) Draw your sword and smash the case before she can speak again? Turn to page
62
67
“How can I help you?” you whisper, holding your hands out to show you are not
touching your sword.
The stone princess blinks and a warm light fills the room. The fungus seems to
melt away and, as you glance about, you can see clearly the faces of 11 beautiful
girls smiling at you from the walls.
“We have been waiting for you for 2000 years,” she says. “Your offer of help has
released us from the icy spell in which the Warlock imprisoned us, and for that we
thank you. Take your reward from the chest in the East corner, and may your
journey be prosperous and fulfilling.”
You cannot believe your luck. Inside the chest is a copper goblet and an silver
pocket watch. You place both inside your pack, bow to the smiling princesses
and return to the passage, finding a new strength in your arms to lower yourself
over the broken rung of the ladder, and continue deeper into the heart of the
mountain.
Turn to page 29.
62
You use all of your remaining strength to smash the case and grab the head. But
before you can dash it to the ground, she sinks her fang-like teeth into your arm,
leaving you bloodied and howling with rage.
You dart forward to pick up the head again, but slip on the slimy floor and are
temporarily winded.
As you lie gasping for breath, you are now eye to eye with the green-eyed
gorgon, and she is a truly terrifying sight. Her mouth is open in a snarl and her
emerald eyes flash with unearthly fire. Dust seems to be pouring from her hair in
a choking whirlwind.
“May the curse of Collasta be upon you!” she shrieks, as rock begins to crumble
from the ceiling above you and the floor cracks into pieces.
Your sword is useless to you now, and you can only scrabble at your pack in
useless panic as roof caves in.
Your mission is over.
Example 2
The City of Ash
It was a pleasure to burn.
It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things
blackened and changed. With the brass nozzle in his fists, with this
great python spitting its venomous kerosene upon the world, the
blood pounded in his head, and his hands were the hands of some
amazing conductor playing all the symphonies of blazing and
burning to bring down the tatters and charcoal ruins of history. With
his symbolic helmet numbered 451 on his stolid head, and his eyes
all orange flame with the thought of what came next, he flicked the
igniter and the house jumped up in a gorging fire that burned the
evening sky red and yellow and black. He strode in a swarm of
fireflies. He wanted above all, like the old joke, to shove a
marshmallow on a stick in the furnace, while the flapping pigeonwinged books died on the porch and lawn of the house. While the
books went up in sparkling whirls and blew away on a wind turned
dark with burning.
The Firemen and Firewomen
• Torch any buildings where books may be being hidden
The Rulers
• Guardians of the book ban
Citizens
• For or against the ban, encouraged to report any
suspicious behaviour
You have the last book.
The Rulers’ Palace
The City Library
The Law Courts
The Fire Station
The Prison
The Shrine
Day 1:
A typical day in the life of their character
Literacy input
consideration of writing
style and impact via
vocabulary choices and
sentence structures
communal readings where
students need to listen to
each other to pick details
that may inform what they
write next
Day 1:
A typical day in the life of their character
Day 2:
A rumour of revolution spreads
Day 3:
The day of revolution
“The concepts that students have of their own
abilities and worth are constantly shaped by their
classroom experiences, especially their interactions
with other students.”
Graham Nuthall, ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners’
Co-operative writing
• Offers an opportunity for students to see
themselves as novelists
• Generates a real audience in the moment of
writing as well as after the writing is complete
• Involves listening to others and construction of a
network of ideas
• Fosters confidence and motivation amongst all
abilities
• Promotes co-operative, creative interaction
The Future…
…further
opportunity to
trace track the
process of
construction..?
…further
experiments with
collaborative
academic
writing..?
@commahound
Charlotte Wright, Brigshaw High School