graham.dickie

I thought the January-March term was the quieter one. You know, the time when you catch up on all your work, get stuck into that big topic, clear your assessment. Maybe even tidy your desk. Okay, the last one’s unlikely. But still..?! Is it World Book Day already?

This year we’re going to stick to an idea that worked. In fact, it worked really well. We had arranged with three other primaries to do some collaborative story writing. We wrote a storybook in one day, by email!

So, the planning is almost in place. We will start the story in our school with the P1-4s, who will write it on the Wednesday afternoon ready for the big day. First thing on Thursday it will be emailed to St Kieran’s in Cambeltown, Kilchattan on Colonsay and Tayvallich in Mid Argyll. They will all add a chapter, leaving it on a cliffhanger, and it should return to my P5-7 by 2 o’clock. We will then, some how, bring it all to a conclusion, trying to draw all the threads of the plot and characters together. The completed story will then be emailed to everybody in time for it to be read before the end of the school day. Pictures will get emailed, faxed and sent in the next few days, and after some work layout work, proof reading and assembling, each school will get it’s finished, colour hard-copy of the whole story.

After last year’s experience, we remembered to check that we have the write email addresses! We waited half an hour for a story that was hiding in the wrong box. We lost two years off our life during that one! But, the pupils became such focused, excited writers and readers, and grappled with continuity, plot development and descriptive writing for a very real audience.

My only regret is that it can’t be bigger. There are a few schools who wanted to be involved in our abortive attempts to do similar on Poetry day. I would like to have worked with Cardross, in fact I’d love to have seen this criss-cross our Authority. . So why not?

Mind you, at the end of the day, my long-suffering Head Teacher needs a large drink. Tea of course. Oh, and if you’d like to see a copy of their hard work- let me know.