Creative writing

Using a poem as a stimulus for a piece of writing

What different meanings does

the word conflict have?

What am I being assessed for?

AO3 Writing• Write clearly, effectively and imaginatively, using and

adapting forms and selecting vocabulary appropriate to task and purpose in ways that engage the reader.

• Organise information and ideas into structured and sequenced sentences, paragraphs and whole texts, using a variety of linguistic and structural features to support cohesion and overall coherence.

• Use a range of sentence structures for clarity, purpose and effect, with accurate punctuation and spelling.

Today I will,

• Write clearly• Write effectively • Write imaginatively• Select interesting vocabulary • Engage the reader

Vocabulary and writing warm up

• You will have to go and find something that you can write a description of.

• Spend 10 minutes describing it from far away.

• Spend 10 minutes describing it from close up – has the object changed as you get closer to it?

• YOU MUST USE INTERESTING VOCABULARY!!

Example

• As the wind blows, it skitters across the playground, dancing on the air. The brightly coloured outside is like a rainbow, advertising the contents to the world. The inside a silver opening, glinting in the light as it catches it through the dense cloud…

• Up close, the colours are faded and scratched, without a pristine shine. They have been worn away by the weather and time. The glinting inside seems sad and empty, the contents have vanished. The silver seems to go on forever, like a cave stretching into the unknown…

Using a thesaurus

• Swap books with someone else and read their descriptions.

• Choose 5 words that you feel could be improved by being replaced with an alternative word.

• Return the book to its owner.

• Use a thesaurus to find replacement vocabulary.

• Remember, alternative and better words are not just longer!!

• Be careful that the words still make sense and that you are using them in the correct context.

• Have the changes to the vocabulary improved your description?

• How have they changed what you originally wrote?

• Why are vocabulary choices important?

Sort these words into categories. Invent your own groupings and categories and find your own associations: for example, violent words, or words relating to the sea.

• What do you notice about the words and the categories you have made?

• Are there any patterns to the words?• Extension question: Can you find any words that

could be used in metaphors? Can you explain why you think they are metaphorical words?

• Which of the words do you find the most interesting and why?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nj69WLACry8

• Out of the Blue

Summarising Armitage’s use of vocabulary

• Has he engaged the reader? • How?

• Has he chosen vocabulary which is interesting?• How?

• What do you and Simon Armitage have in common?