The National Writing Project
A grass-roots educational research project
  • Home
    • NWP Blog >
      • Weekly write 1
      • Weekly write 2
      • Weekly Write 3
      • Weekly write 4
      • Weekly write 5
      • Weekly write 6
      • Weekly write 7
      • Weekly write 8
      • Weekly write 9
      • Weekly write 10
      • Weekly Write 11
      • Weekly Write 12
      • Weekly Write 13
      • Weekly Write 14
      • Weekly Write 15
      • Weekly Write 16
    • NWP Gallery
    • How It Works
    • Background & Principles
    • Who's involved >
      • Morlette Lindsay
    • Find out more
    • Updates >
      • Directors' report 2015
      • Directors' report 2016
      • Directors' report 2017
      • Group leaders' review 2017
  • Courses
    • 2016 Residential
    • Belsey Bridge Oct 2016
    • 2017 Residential
    • Texts used at 2017 residential
    • Tate Modern 15 Aug 2017
    • Whitechapel workshop
    • NWP 2018 writing retreat
    • 2018 Residential
  • Digested reads
    • Harold Rosen
    • Raymond Carver
    • Janet Emig
    • James Britton >
      • Britton Anthology
  • Research
    • Publications >
      • The Rights of the Writer
      • Making Room for Writing
      • 41 reasons why you should join a writing group
      • The benefits of freedom
      • In our own hands
      • What has writing ever done for us?
      • PowerPoint presentations
      • Diving into Writing
      • Book of the Project >
        • Free writing
        • Notes on publication
      • Harold Rosen lecture 27 June 2015
      • Writing spaces
      • Writing teachers
      • Symposium slides 17.11.2016
      • If we teach writing ...
      • TED talk 18 March 2017
      • TESS article 2017
      • Affordances
    • Poesis, literature and learning
    • 4 benefits of teachers' writing groups
    • Teacher Testimonies >
      • Teacher Testimony 2015
    • In defence of creative writing
    • 40 years of writing pedagogy
    • DIY classroom research
    • Recommended reading and links
  • In Your Classroom
    • NWP in the classroom
    • Writing ideas >
      • Using Shaun Tan's 'The Arrival' >
        • Developing ideas: Garth Nix
        • paper shapes
        • Using film
        • Using drama
        • Postcard conversations
        • 1a Gothic Underground >
          • 1b Gothic lexicon
          • 2a Gothic body-parts
          • 2b Gothic passages
          • 3 Gothic investigation
      • New ideas 2015 >
        • Only connect
        • Answer
        • Collections and connections
        • Sherlock extracts
        • Characters from names
        • Developing Characters
        • Flip books
        • Small books
        • Names (A) >
          • Naming stones >
            • Geological terms
            • Stones writing example
          • Names and images (D)
          • Names in lists (B)
          • Further reading (C)
          • Examples (E)
        • Collections
        • Colours >
          • Colour names
          • More colours
          • Colour poem
        • Door tags
      • Quick writes >
        • Slightly longer exercises >
          • The world's a zoo
          • Word starter
          • Metaphors
        • Longer structured exercises
        • Short texts for quick writes
      • Collaborative >
        • Wendell Berry
      • Memories
      • Responding >
        • Ideas to develop response partnership in classrooms
    • Writing journeys
    • Writing histories >
      • Snapshots
    • Writing Journals >
      • Prompts for writing journals
      • Advice on journals 2014
    • Examples of Writing >
      • Writing from photos
      • How NWP works
      • Teachers' writing and reflection
      • Isabel Palmer >
        • Nightlife
        • Poppies
      • Isy Mead
      • MK NWP
      • Whodunit writing
      • Writing alongside
  • Get Involved
    • Visit a group
    • Join an NWP Writing Group
    • Start an NWP Writing Group
    • Write Together Online >
      • NWP Group Login
    • A month's writing challenge
  • Contact NWP

You can never have enough flip-flops

11/8/2015

1 Comment

 
Picture
A few days ago a small group of writing teachers met up at Tate Modern. Just the committed ones? Just the lonely ones? It’s a matter of opinion, I guess. We all had a good time and enjoyed each other’s writing – and it certainly beat chauffeuring teenagers, cleaning the cooker or joining the tailbacks to the coast.  But it's odd about writing, I don’t think you’d get the same sideways looks if you admitted to, say, reading - on the beach.  And before you ask, although I’ve yet to get to the beach, I have been reading: 'A History of Love', 'The Shock of the Fall', 'Bleak House', 'Secrets in the Family', 'The Book Thief', and 'Surrendered'  – and the very delightful ‘Lifesaving Poems’ edited by Anthony Wilson (Bloodaxe 2015), because Jeni very kindly gave it to me.  http://anthonywilsonpoetry.com/category/lifesaving-poems/

Picture
In fact, the sharp detail of Kate Bingham’s  poem, ‘Things I learned at University’ (page 35 of ‘Lifesaving poems), proved an effective writing stimulus.  It’s a list poem, of sorts, and excavates a trove of life-skills not found on any approved curriculum: ‘ ... where to bike on the pavement after dark ... how to celebrate an essay crisis ... when to smoke a joint ...’ Kate’s wit lies in the finely balanced tone somewhere between self-mockery and social critique.

(Kate Bingham's poetry workshop: http://www.theguardian.com/books/2006/aug/17/poetry)

Picture
Under the suspicious eyes of the waitresses in the Tate Modern café, we tried a variation: ‘Things I learned on holiday’. For 15 minutes, we each trawled our holiday memories for ... bizarre and distinctive learning (‘how to address an aloe called Harold’!); ... face-saving stratagems (‘how to cheat at scrabble’, ‘how to change under a towel’); ...  and those universal truths ('doing nothing is dull', ‘spontaneity needs planning’, ‘you can never have enough flip-flops’). And when we shared, there was also a wealth of wisdom about wasps! 

(Worth adopting and adapting for the classroom? That’s September sorted.)

Picture
Then we all went off to write about whatever caught our eye, ear or imagination - Piet Mondrian, Picasso or overheard conversations in the gallery (more August than august). When we shared our talk turned to anecdotes from the writing classroom: an able year 5 girl can produce no more than a single, over-worked paragraph. Why? Because some years earlier a teaching assistant ripped out pages from her book when the writing was deemed inadequate. Maybe she thought that’s what Mr Gove meant when he encouraged greater rigour. Maybe it was. 

Picture
We meet again on Saturday 3 October 10 a.m. for NWP's 'WRITE AT THE MUSEUM' - at the Museum of London, Docklands. This session is free and open to all interested writing teachers. Places are limited to 30. Any teacher of writing – primary or secondary - who would like to take part, should reserve a place by emailing ksullivan@museumoflondon.org.uk  The morning will involve a tour of the museum with ex-teacher and museum officer, Kirsty Sullivan, and a writing exercise led by me. There will also be plenty of time for writing freely from whatever inspires you, for sharing (should you wish), and for discussing. Please bring your writing notebook – and I promise not to tear out a single page.  

Simon Wrigley
NWP outreach director


P.S. I’m afraid that the website wouldn’t let me edit or post anything on this site throughout July. Apologies. Most things seem to be working again now. 

1 Comment

    The NWP blog

    Thoughts & updates from the National Writing Project in the UK.

    Archives

    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    July 2013
    June 2012

    Categories

    All
    App
    Grammar
    Nate
    National Curriculum
    Policy
    Research
    Teaching
    Video
    Writing Groups

    RSS Feed

Powered by
✕