In teaching, every now and then you have one of those days
where it feels like it’s all worth it and that they’re actually listening.
Today is one of them. I’ve fled through a stack of fifty papers in the past two
days, all creative writing, and I’ve been thoroughly impressed. At Year 7
level, we start to steer the kids away from “writing stories” and focus on
using detail, development and imagery to create tone and atmosphere in their
writing. Some kids take it up really enthusiastically; others look at you and
seem to be wishing some sort of voodoo death on you. One student I have is a
really curious one. He’s a huge reader, Mum’s a PhD in English, but his overall
sentence construction and grammar skills have been rather weak throughout the
year. Then the little blighter hit me with THIS piece of creative awesome.
All they were given was a choice of four genres, each
detailing a couple of characters, a setting and a few key words about a plot
with the instruction to write only the
opening paragraphs. This young man chose the Adventure story with a businessman, a scruffy man, and a plot where
a hitchhiker is picked up. This is what he did with it…
Stuart was small by
most standards and was a very cautious yet generous man. He had black hair, cut
very short and deep brown eyes. His clothes were still warm from having his
computer on his lap and he was driving along rural Michigan, on his way home.
He was driving down the road when he saw a distant figure farther up the road.
As he drove closer he saw that he was a scruffy young man who looked like he’d
lived in the woods his whole life, but he though, that’s how all energetic
teens looked. He pulled over to the man and rolled down the window, “Need a
ride?” he asked quizzically. The man made a faint nod and hopped in the car. “Where
to?” Stuart yelled as he started up the road. The mad said nothing. Stuart
turned his head. It was then that he noticed his hair was long and he looked as
if he hadn’t shaved in weeks. He stared, even though he knew it wasn’t polite.
There was something else about him. Suddenly the man pointed at the road. There
was a loud crash as the car hit a tree and dove into the forest. The car
flipped like a gymnast would and landed on the hood in a flurry of sparks and
branches.
Stuart awoke with a
start; he felt blood trailing from his forehead and opened his eyes. The man
from earlier was mixing some sort of concoction from leaves and berries. He
groaned and tried to get up but just didn’t have the strength. The man spun
around and quickly poured the potion down his throat.
Rob stared down at the
poor man who had given him a ride in his ‘car’ as the city folk called it. He
had escaped from his parents when he was little and had adapted to living alone
pretty well really. He sniffed the air. He smelled a mixture of blood, gasoline
and flowers. It wasn’t a particularly good smell. He stared at the medicine and
couldn’t help hoping it would work. ~
J.H., 12 years.
Awesome.
