heywire: storytelling for regional, rural and remote students · 3 heywire storytelling for...

Heywire: storytelling for regional, rural and remote studentsEnglish Teaching Unit - Years 10 -12

2 Heywire storytelling for regional, rural and remote students English Teaching Unit - Years 10 -12

HEYWIRE: STORYTELLING FOR REGIONAL, RURAL AND REMOTE STUDENTS ENGLISH TEACHING UNIT - YEARS 10 -12

Quick summary:

This unit encourages and inspires students to give an authentic voice to the experiences, observations or issues experienced by young people living in regional, rural and remote Australia today. All students who create a story are encouraged to submit it to be posted on the ABC website, giving the students a public platform for their voice.

Students will hear stories from past winners of the ABC’s Heywire Competition as a stimulus for student’s own writing and storytelling. These stories typically cover themes of identity, place, the individual and the community which connect to recurrent topics in the English curriculum. By exploring past Heywire stories, students will uncover the storytelling conventions to support the development of their stories.

These teaching notes are designed as a flexible guide for teachers to support the development of students’ stories in class.

The recommended length for a Heywire story is 400 words, and any student who is 15 or over (and living or studying outside the big cities) can create and submit a story. Students who are interested, can also create a multimedia entry (audio or video of 2-3 minutes or 10 photos).

The competition:

From all the stories that are submitted, the ABC chooses 40 winning entries from around Australia each September. Winners collaborate with ABC staff to produce their story into a mini-documentary for radio or TV to be featured on ABC platforms such as ABC Local Radio, ABC TV and iView. They also win an all-expenses-paid trip to the prestigious Heywire Regional Youth Summit in Canberra, where they have the opportunity to have their voice heard on a national level.


AUSTRALIAN CURRICULUM MAPPING

This unit of work is relevant to several areas of the Australian Curriculum, which are outlined below. Note: this unit is also suitable for modification for ESL students.

Content descriptions:

Year 10 English

Interpreting, analysing, evaluating: Identify and analyse implicit or explicit values, beliefs and assumptions in texts and how these are influenced by purposes and likely audiences (ACELY1752).

Creating texts: Create sustained texts, including texts that combine specific digital or media content, for imaginative, informative, or persuasive purposes that reflect upon challenging and complex issues (ACELY1756).

Unit 1

Analyse and evaluate how responses to texts, including students’ own responses, are influenced by: personal, social and cultural context (ACEEN009).

Create a range of texts: using appropriate form, content, style and tone for different purposes and audiences in real and imagined contexts (ACEEN011) and using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading (ACEEN016).

Reflect on their own and others’ texts by: investigating the impact and uses of imaginative, interpretive and persuasive texts (ACEEN020).

Unit 2

Analyse and evaluate how and why responses to texts vary through: the impact of language and structural choices on shaping own and others’ perspectives(ACEEN028).

Create a range of texts: using imaginative, interpretive and persuasive elements for different purposes, contexts and audiences (ACEEN032)

developing and sustaining voice, tone and style (ACEEN034) and using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading (ACEEN036).

Reflect on their own and others’ texts by: analysing the values and attitudes expressed in texts (ACEEN038).

Unit 3

Create a range of texts:

making innovative and imaginative use of language features (ACEEN051)

using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading (ACEEN055).

Unit 4

Create a range of texts:

› using appropriate language and stylistic features to sustain a personal voice and point of view (ACEEN069).

› using strategies for planning, drafting, editing and proofreading (ACEEN074).

General capabilities:

Information and communication technology capability: (If students choose to turn written word into spoken word and/or digital images) Students develop knowledge, skills and dispositions around ICT and its use, and the ability to transfer these across environments and applications. They learn to use ICT with confidence, care and consideration, understanding its possibilities, limitations and impact on individuals, groups and communities.

Ethical understanding: Ethical understanding involves students building a strong personal and socially oriented ethical outlook that helps them to manage context, conflict and uncertainty, and to develop an awareness of the influence that their values and behaviour have on others.

Intercultural understanding: Intercultural understanding involves students learning about and engaging with diverse cultures in ways that recognise commonalities and differences, create connections with others and cultivate mutual respect.


TEACHER PREPARATIONUnit of work:

Heywire: storytelling for regional, rural and remote students

Time required:

2-4 standard lessons depending on teacher selection of rich learning options and student choice.

Level of teacher scaffolding:

Medium - teachers will use facilitation skills for critical discussions and activities that ask students to work in pairs or small groups during story development.

Resources required:

› Device capable of presenting a website and clips to the class.

› ‘Finding out about Heywire and discovering my story’ Powerpoint. Including facilitator notes (NB: if an ABC journalist visits your school to present a Heywire workshop, they will deliver this component for you).

› Link to ‘Top Tips for producing a fantastic Heywire story’

› Links to past stories used as examples.

› Optional Student Worksheet

Keywords:

storytelling, identity, place, self, community

Learning intention:

Students represent their authentic voice by developing their own style when experimenting with language features, stylistic devices, text structures and images.

Success criteria:

› Students have a sense of pride in their personal narrative

› Students submit a story to the ABC Heywire platform

› Students feel empowered by telling their story in a public forum

› Students have a stronger sense of their own identity

TEACHING SEQUENCE50 minutes Part A: Finding out about Heywire and

discovering my story

30 minutes Part B: Storytelling conventions

40 minutes Part C: Editing and refining

10 minutes Part D: Entering on-line


PART A: DISCOVERING MY STORY

Step 1: Starting Your Story

Starting Heywire workshop:

Use the Powerpoint slides and facilitator notes to deliver the workshop.

Heywire is often able to arrange for an ABC journalist to visit your school and deliver this workshop. If you are interested in this, get in touch by emailing [email protected] or calling 1800 26 26 46.

Task: After starting with the above workshop, set the students the task of writing a first draft. Encourage the students to write freely, without concern for structure or spelling.

To do this in class, you can set a timer to 7 minutes, and ask all students to write in silence without stopping. Explain that they will start on their story, but they are likely, after a few minutes, to write anything that comes through their brain just to keep pen on paper. Explain that this strategy can uncover some feelings and connections about their story that the writer may have put aside. Even so, it is a great way to get some text on paper.

Alternatively, you may set the first draft task for homework.


PART B: DELVING INTO STORYTELLING CONVENTIONS

Step 1: Your Story Matters

You may be starting this lesson on a new day. If so, you may like to re-engage the student’s ‘why’ by sharing with them reasons why you and the school have selected this narrative task.

They may be similar to the reasons below, or share your own:

Your Stories Matter

First and foremost, your stories matter. They matter to you, to your family, and to the world. There is no one who can tell your experiences, your thoughts, and your dreams like you. What seems mundane to us can be a wildly different perspective to an outsider. Someone wants to read your work! Someone needs to! And you probably need to tell the stories that you have. Be proud of who you are, and what you write.

Writing Begets Writing

Writing of any form will strengthen all writing skills. Think of your writing practice like an athlete who is training to compete. The more time you devote to pen and paper, or typing on the computer, the stronger a writer you will be when the time comes to assessment.

Presenting Yourself is Really Important in Life

Thinking of getting a job? Employers look for people who can write a snappy resume and a concise cover letter to catch their interest. Life is based on writing skills right through to work emails. Presenting yourself in written word intelligently opens doors. An interviewer’s favourite question: “Tell me something about yourself so I know who you are!”

Writing is Creative

Writing will hopefully be enjoyable in some shape or form. Writing should be an outlet, and an expression of you. Writing has so many avenues, including song writing, slam poetry and blogging.

Step 2: Structuring your story

A reader likes some shape to help follow the story. This can be described as a story arc. The turning point is usually found in the middle section of a story.

Start by introducing this information to the students:

For a short narrative, a simple ‘beginning, middle, end’ maybe all that is needed to give the story some form:

› Beginning: Set the scene by starting in the moment to pull readers into your narrative.

› Middle: This is where writers describe the issue or significant event or turning point narrative: what was happened, describe the feelings you were having while the events were happening.

› End: Reflect on what changed, what you discovered, share what you got from the experience, how it helped you, or why it was significant. Think universal themes in a hero’s journey but remember, show don’t tell!

Suggested media: Trent Caldwell, Heywire Winner What are the turning points in Trent’s story?

Task: Ask the students to write a second draft of their story, exploring whether this simple structure supports the flow of the narrative.


PART C: EDITING AND REFINING

Step 1: Real stories

Remind the students that stories connect people so it is important to get feedback from others about how your story is achieving this.

Task: Ask students to pair share with this second edit by reading their stories out loud to their critical partner, and seeking responses to:

- elements of authentic voice - phrases that ‘stuck’ - any connections, such as similar situations or feelings - any images, emotions - readability, form and flow

Task: Suggest that students mark any ideas, comments from the listener directly to the script so that they may consider them in the final draft.

Step 2: Descriptive language

Students may like to make an effort to broaden their vocabulary and use of expressions.

A strong sense of place is important for a great Heywire story. By exploring descriptive language, you can take the reader to your part of Australia. Explain to the students that exploring new words is not intended to diminish their authentic voice, but to find better words to connect with what the reader about what is in your head and heart. Still keep the language concrete, personal, active, but try and include different ways of describing where the story takes place.

Suggested media: Finbar Kinna, Heywire Winner How does Finbar use description in his story? What can he see, hear, smell and feel?

Task: Encourage students to explore the senses in their descriptions. What could they see, hear, smell, feel or taste? Take us to the place and time of their story. or Facilitate an activity where the student drafts are pinned up around the room and the class spends 10 minutes reading the stories, and placing post it notes with descriptive suggestions or questions (where do they want to know more?) next to the relevant drafts. Students collect their draft and post it notes.

Step 3: Final edit

The required story length is about 400 words long. In adjusting, the students need to consider where to provide more detail or where to trim down. To reduce the word count, suggest the students look for repetition, verbosity (often discovered by reading out loud), non-essential asides to the story.

Task: Ask the students to check their word count and make adjustments as required.

Task: Finally, suggest to the students to go online and check the “Top 10 tips” and to write their final draft. This may work well as a homework task.


PART D: ENTERINGCheck out what the students are required to do, and support this process if required with time in class.

Entering the competition is a simple process! Students simply enter their birthdate and postcode to confirm they’re eligible and then upload their entry. Stories are moderated before being published on the Heywire website.

If you experience issues entering the competition get in touch by emailing [email protected] or calling 1800 26 26 46.

Explain that by entering the completion, students can have their story heard. All stories are read by ABC staff members and published online. It’s a great opportunity to experience writing for a specific platform and then seeing your work published.

abc.net.au/heywire/enter_now

heywire: storytelling for regional, rural and remote students · 3 heywire storytelling for...

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