Year 12 students are currently studying a module called The Craft of Writing as part of their HSC English course. In this engaging unit students strengthen and extend their knowledge, skills, and confidence as writers by reading quality texts and writing regularly. Throughout a period of eight weeks – and in fact throughout the entire course whilst studying the other modules – students are encouraged to take pleasure and delight in growing as writers. The rich interplay between reading and writing is particularly apparent in this module where students read and appreciate at least two short, prescribed texts as well as texts from their own wide reading in order to develop as writers. Through the study of texts such as Franz Kafka’s Metamorphosis and Ray Bradbury’s ‘The Pedestrian’, students appreciate, analyse, and assess the importance and power of language.

There are two critical elements students need to remember when undertaking this type of study – and this can be applicable to Year 7 students through to Year 12. The first is to read quality texts with the desire to respond both to the ideas and to the mechanics of the text. We call this the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ approach. What is the text saying? How is the writer conveying this to the reader? The second important consideration is to practise writing regularly. Continual practice is essential in the development of creative flexibility. The writer Virginia Woolf captured this well when she said, ‘the habit of writing loosens the ligaments.’

My message to all students is to read rich texts and use them as models for the development of their own ideas and creative expression. I agree with Arthur Koestler when he states, ‘The creative act does not create something out of nothing; it uncovers, selects, reshuffles, combines and synthesises already existing facts, ideas and skills.’  I urge students to be curious about their reading and to get inside texts and see how they work. Consider how writers use language creatively and imaginatively for a range of purposes, to describe the world around them, evoke emotion, shape a perspective, or share a vision. And have as your mantra always, ‘I am a writer!’

Clare Murphy

English Coordinator and Literacy Instructional Coach