Each week, we will plan and write a story together using various different structures, combined with dramatic images that stimulate ideas.

Students can submit their writing for detailed feedback during class by using the Zoom chat, or they can send it after class using Outschool messaging. Students are also encouraged to read their story out loud during class, but this is not compulsory. Feedback is always provided during class via the chat, which is set so that messages are private (between learners and the teacher, not the whole class).

Creativity is unleashed when we learn methods which we can then adapt. I have found this to be true whenever I have taught structures to students over the years. Students who were stuck and didn’t know how to begin, how to continue, or how to end, were liberated by having a structure within which they could work. Once you have learned it well, you can adapt it any way you like. This is how all of the great authors learned to write - start with a structure that has been used before, then adapt to suit your own ideas.

The upcoming topics and structures are as follows:

Week beginning November 25:
Picture: Diving for Treasure
Structure: A Hero's Journey

Week beginning December 2:
Picture: Heroic Mountain Rescue
Structure: Start in the Middle

Week beginning December 9:
Picture: World War One Aeroplane
Structure: A Hero's Journey

Week beginning December 16:
Picture: Stormy Sea
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning December 23:
Picture: Captain Scott's South Pole Expedition
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning December 30:
Picture: Gladiators
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning January 6:
Picture: The Secret Den
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning January 13:
Picture: Going over the Top
Structure: Start in the Middle

Week beginning January 20:
Picture: Building the Brooklyn Bridge
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning January 27:
Picture: Plane Crash on an Island
Structure: Start in the Middle

Week beginning February 3:
Picture: The Finishing Line
Structure: Start in the Middle

Week beginning February 10:
Picture: Evacuees in World War Two
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning February 17:
Picture: Avalanche
Structure: Start in the Middle

Week beginning February 24:
Picture: The End of Wartime Rationing
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning March 3:
Picture: Sailing on the Titanic
Structure: A Hero's Journey

Week beginning March 10:
Picture: Travelling the Oregon Trail
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning March 17:
Picture: Arriving on Ellis Island
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning March 24:
Picture: The World's First Car
Structure: A Hero's Journey

Week beginning March 31:
Picture: The Kon-Tiki Expedition
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning April 7:
Picture: A Castle Under Siege
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning April 14:
Picture: Rock Climbing
Structure: A Hero's Journey

Week beginning April 21:
Picture: Tropical Island Survival
Structure: Shifting Focus

Week beginning April 28:
Picture: Passing the Test
Structure: Rising and Falling Action

Week beginning May 5:
Picture: London During the Blitz
Structure: Shifting Focus



[Class image from Wikimedia. Author: Shalom Jacobovitz]