The students for this project are all part of the extra-curricular Scribbler writers group who meet every Monday after school in the library. Led by English Teacher, Mr Williamson, we are a group of avid writers of all ages who like to get together and talk about writing, enter competitions, try for publication and sit around eating biscuits. All of us were keen on the idea of working with a real author on a project, so when Des Hunt arrived, we were all eager to learn what we could from him.
Des arrived and set up in the library. We were fascinated about the number of props he had for a writing presentation. As he introduced himself we learned that he was a science teacher for many years in the Coromandel and the props were his way of explaining metaphors for the writing process. Using magnets he showed us how powerful the force of repulsion was, and by using a homemade spinning machine and a beaker of water he showed us how to add 'ingredients' to a story to show how to build suspense in a well-written tale.
Des also told us his story about how he first got published. He told us about how growing up there were no stories set in New Zealand or about New Zealand kids, so when he began writing he knew he had to do this in his books. Being a nature lover too, was also important for him so that is why you will always find that nature is a major theme in his writing.
This was a great way for the students to get hooked into his presentation. They had interesting questions and learnt a lot from him. Here is some of their first impressions of Des:
After the presentation we began planning for our field trip the next day and we discussed the idea for the project, Opotiki, Our Town, Our Stories, a magazine collection of stories about, set in or inspired by our town, Opotiki.
No comments:
Post a Comment