Teaching and Learning

Student Learning

This week, we had ten L5 students work with the author, Alicia Wild. The focus of the workshop was around teaching our students to create a character and putting them in danger. This required the students to really consider their audience and how to engage the reader. Below is a few short  excerpts from some of the students sharing a paragraph of their writing that they completed on the day.

Best Friend Betrayal by Olympia, 5B - I stood there, nose tingling, vision blurry, looking down at my scuffed shoes, feeling more than betrayal. Laughter was all around me. I couldn’t escape it. Salty tears pebbled down my cheeks. My best friend told everyone about my crush. I trusted her. I really did. I blinked harshly, trying to force the tears back, but they just continued to pile up on the seams of my eyes and trickled across my face. My heart ached and my stomach churned. 

The Empath by Lana 5C - ’What is this,’ I say shakingly. ’You know I’ve enjoyed our time together, though it will make the next part harder.’ She said her voice was sinister. She lunged at me erratically with a blood splattered knife, I dodged but when I touched my ear it was sticky. Terror ran through me as my savior turned into my killer. Silence flooded me when she hit my head with a shovel. The words: everyone will betray me - flew through me as my world went dark.  

Pigo the Pig Detective by Rose 5A - On his way home, Pigo flew. Suddenly, he felt eyes land on him. His wings missed a flap and he almost fell out of the sky. He turned around, but nothing was behind him. As he kept flying, he felt another shiver down his spine. This time, he used his peripheral vision. He saw a silhouette of a bird, a very sinister bird. He turned back and flew forwards, then through a cloud, making his escape route.

The Empath by Lana Nair 5C - ’What is this,’ I say shakingly. ’You know I’ve enjoyed our time together, though it will make the next part harder.’ She said her voice was sinister. She lunged at me erratically with a blood splattered knife, I dodged but when I touched my ear it was sticky. Terror ran through me as my savior turned into my killer. Silence flooded through me when she hit my head with a shovel. The words everyone will betray you, flew through me as my world went dark.  

J-tech and the big fight by Samuel 5C - I closed my eyes as I twisted and turned through the air and waited for impact, but deep down I was scared as hell. Right when I thought I was about to die I felt something grab onto my waist.  Turns out that that something was someone. I opened my eyes and saw the burglars a hold of me, they had parachutes. Phew! I looked down and instantly regretted it, we were still super high up. Below us was a black van with the sunroof open, it looked like we're about to plunge straight into it. 

Mission Impossible by Sasha 5C - “Hello you two. Where do you come from?” he creepily asked, taking a seat. Dash could feel tension and nerves building up in his little tummy. Even though he had done it so many times, this was different, it was one of the biggest missions he had ever been on. He had to do everything right.