Girls writing club
Watch a teacher in remote Western Australia work with a group of students on planning, drafting, editing and publishing a story.
Resource information
At a school in remote Western Australia, the teacher has identified a group of Aboriginal girls from years 4, 5 and 6 who require further English literacy support. The teacher takes the group of girls out of their regular classes to work in a small group on planning, drafting, editing and ‘publishing’ a story. The teacher has created a safe environment where the students can have their individual literacy needs met and create a piece of work in the form of a book which can be viewed as a success story for the students.
The school is located on the Innawonga and East Guruma Lands in the mining town of Tom Price, around 1600km from Perth. Twenty per cent of the school’s 330 students are Aboriginal and the school has a transient and diverse student population due to the town’s mining industry. In the Girls Writing Club, the students have previously watched short films to plan their creative writing stories and the teacher has used craft to engage the students in the task of publishing a book.
Discussion questions:
- Why might small group work be an effective strategy for particular cohorts of students?
- What strategies do you use to target the individual literacy needs of your students?
- How do you set high expectations for your students?
