Unlocking Your Creative Potential Through Personal Writing

Personal Writing FREE WRITING WEEK

Skills from previous weeks Tasks for this week: This week you will focus on pulling together all of the skills that you have been working on in previous weeks. There will be a number of task choices. You should pick at least two (feel free to do more) and complete these, focusing on the aims below. What should I know? Reflective phrases now I know, I would have changed, thinking back etc. Emotion words Show, don t tell Aims for this week: Using senses 5 Ws who, what, where, when & why - Select skills that I need to improve and focus on those. Personalisation and choice picking tasks that I m interested in. Self editing work looking over and reflecting on work meeting the success criteria. - -

Where Im From by Melanie Poonai I am from a life filled with colour, From the chocolate brown that is my skin. I am from the sunshine yellow of my mother s laugh, From the red and white of my brother s favourite football shirt. I am from the crisp new white pages of a book, From the miserable grey of the street I live on. I am from green, pink and yellow; My garden in summer filled with flowers, From the terrifying black of the nightmares that haunt me. I am from the ginger orange of my buried cat, TASK: Reread the poem and the tasks you did on it from the identity and self PowerPoint. From the blue and gold of my ever-short school tie. I am from the dark oak of my grandmother s coffin, From the golden Aum pendant around my neck. Create your own Where I m From poem about your life, focusing on the experiences and things that make you who you are! I am from every pink scar etched into my body, From the red, orange and brown of a hot curry. What does success look like? Variety of experiences included. Thoughtful word choice to explain feelings (see highlighted words for examples). Use of senses. Similar structure (look at how the writer starts her lines). I am from every identical colour of the twins I love, From the blue and green of a hospital ward. I am from all that has happened, And all that will be.

What I wouldnt give to win a million bucks It s Friday night and your numbers have just been called you ve won a million pounds on the lottery. Write a short piece about winning the lottery. Think about: What/who would you spend the money on? What does success look like? Appropriate structure e.g. new topic, new paragraph Reflection Interesting vocabulary Why? How would you feel? Are there any negatives about winning the lottery? What difficulties might you face? What could you learn about the value of money?

The best/worst moment of my life Pick a time in your life where something really good or really bad has happened. Describe the event clearly and think about the impact that it has had on you. N.B. this could be done as two separate tasks. What does success look like? Using 5 Ws Thoughtful vocabulary Suitable structure tell it chronologically Reflection

This year in high school Think about your time in high school so far and write about your experience. You could think about: What were your first impressions? Have they changed? Is this good or bad? Who are you as a learner? Are you focused/dedicated? Why? Why not? Have you changed? New friends made or friends lost. What s the impact on you? Classes you ve enjoyed or not enjoyed? Why? What does success look like? What do you hope to get out of the rest of your time at school? Clear structure new topic, new paragraph Thoughts/feelings Reflection

Future Me/Past Me Write a letter to future you or past you. Future you explain what s important to you now and what direction you want your life to take in the next 10 years. Think about what you hope will still be important to you and what you hope to leave behind. Past you explain what s important to you now. Reflect on what was important to you then and think about how that s changed. Give yourself some advice that you wish you had had back then. What does success look like? Clear letter structure Reflection Thoughts and feelings

POV On the next two slides is a short personal piece from the point of view of a Barbie doll. It tells the story of the Barbie doll s relationship with a girl and how this relationship changed as she grew up. What does success look like? Clear structure start from when you first got the toy. Clear POV think about how to make it obvious you are writing as a toy. Include thoughts and feelings. Thoughtful word choice. Your task is to pick your favourite toy as a child and write about your relationship as if you are the toy.

Moving On I can see her from my window. In her bedroom getting ready to go out. She was my best friend. But not anymore. I can't help but think back to how different things used to be between us, just a few years ago. I remember the first day I met her, when she burst in to my world like a ray of sunshine exclaiming: "We will be best friends forever!" A promise she failed to keep. At first we did everything together - went shopping, ate in restaurants, went for drives in the car, and every year she insisted I went on holiday with her and her family. Always to a beach. I never told her but I hated the way the sand never seemed to wash out of my hair. She introduced me to my first ever boyfriend. He was called Ken and was the love of my life. He was so handsome and well dressed and she always said we belonged together. That was until... that year we went to Menorca - another beach holiday - but the first time Ken and I had been away as a couple. We all had a great time! But two days before we came home, I stayed at the hotel while the rest of them went on a boat trip. They were gone for ages, but I enjoyed the peace and quiet. When she came back I could tell she had been crying. She hugged me close and sobbed. There had been an accident on the boat and my Ken was lost forever - presumed drowned.

When we got back home things were never the same again. I was just numb, but she cried a river. She sobbed when she saw his car in the driveway, when she opened the wardrobe and saw his clothes, and when she stepped on his surfboard - his pride and joy - and broke it. I just smiled at her and hoped in my eyes she could see I forgave her. She tried at the start to make everything better, taking me out, buying me new clothes and even introducing me to a new man. I don't know exactly when we started to drift apart. Her visits dwindled and I saw her less and less. She has a new friend now, called Sarah, who is beginning to take my place. I met Sarah once briefly, and she laughed at me. I looked at my best friend and could see how embarrassed she was with me. I knew then our time was over. She is still fixing her hair, music blaring through the open window. Suddenly her bedroom door opens. "Turn that music down Lucy!" her mum yells, "Have you decided what things you are giving to the charity shop yet? I'm going now!" She looked over - directly at me. "Yeah mum, I think the dollhouse and Barbie can go." And my world went black as the plastic bag was placed over my home.