A Koala’s Guide to Writing True Stories
by Danielle Clode
Description
Nonfiction writer and creative writing lecturer, Danielle Clode has been teaching writing for over 25 years. She’s taught all sorts of writing in schools, community centres, undergraduate courses and to senior researchers. Despite all the different audiences and styles, the basic building blocks are the same –understanding how sentences, paragraphs and documents work.
In this creative and interactive session Danielle guides students through creating their own small nonfiction book about their favourite animal, using her favourite animal, the koala, as a guide and teaching them (as one student put it) how to ‘draw pictures with words’.
* Different types of nonfiction
* Navigating nonfiction (book structures)
* Digging deep into research (creative word maps and exploration)
* How sentences work
* How paragraphs work (topic sentences)
* Beginnings and endings
* Illustrating and editing
* And an awful lot about koalas
In this creative and interactive session Danielle guides students through creating their own small nonfiction book about their favourite animal, using her favourite animal, the koala, as a guide and teaching them (as one student put it) how to ‘draw pictures with words’.
* Different types of nonfiction
* Navigating nonfiction (book structures)
* Digging deep into research (creative word maps and exploration)
* How sentences work
* How paragraphs work (topic sentences)
* Beginnings and endings
* Illustrating and editing
* And an awful lot about koalas
Details
Audience
Primary and secondary students
Duration
45 minutes (adaptable)
Requirements
Best run in a classroom where kids can sit at desks to work on their books. A large whiteboard is essential. A presentation on a USB can by provided but is not essential.