Teaching writing

Teaching is not my natural position. Even as a little kid, I never wanted to 'play school', but for the last two years I've been inveigled by a local school -The Essington School in Darwin - to teach some writing workshops during the holidays. I did this last year, and just like last year I stressed over it for weeks beforehand, over-prepared like mad, and then really enjoyed it. Maybe in a couple more years I'll just enjoy it without all the stressful parts!

Each class was made up of nine students, ranging from about 11 to 14 in age. Once again I was excited by the skill and imagination shown by the participants. The future of story telling is in good hands, if this small sample is anything to go by. It was school holidays, so most of them were there because they wanted to be, and not because they were press-ganged, which is encouraging.

We looked at basic word use - trying to find alternate words to the ones we automatically think of - and thinking laterally. The Lipogram, or the art of writing a piece without a particular letter in it, was popular, if challenging. It makes you think outside the square - eg, how do you write about a forest without using the letter T, or anything much without using an E?  50 word fiction was fun too. The best results were from responding to a starter sentence, giving them plenty of writing time, and seeing where that went.

It's a challenge to keep teenagers busy and engaged for a whole day - 9 till 2pm - given how limited one day is when you can't follow things up. But I hope the exposure to a 'real' writer is positive and inspiring, and convinces at least some of them to keep on writing. I try to pass on a few useful skills, and encourage them to have a go at everything. And most of all to make it fun!