creative writing – OZTHOUGHTS

As you may have noted, I have a great affection for odd and old photographs, mainly those depicting people in some way or other. I also find old photos of people fascinating. I look at those old photos and wonder what became of the people in them. Did their lives go well, or not, were they happy, satisfied or miserable in the way their lives went? I suspect that most of us have much the same reaction to looking at photos of people who are long dead.

Curiously I discovered that Alexander McCall Smith, author of the No 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series has a similar feeling. He collects old photos of couples he knows nothing about, and creates short stories based on what the photos suggest to him. Not something I have ever gone so far as to do, though the thought always crosses my mind when looking at such photos.

So I though I would post a small collection of such photos that speak to me, in the hope that they might spark off some sort of creative surge in you guys.

So here we go, some random, but in one way or another, intriguing photos of people who are probably long dead.

This next one is really rather odd… but then, who isn’t?

Continue reading “Images To Create Stories With”

Whilst grazing gently on my Facebook page, it dawned on me that all those videos and images that “friends” post, showing all manner of amazing things, could be a very useful resource for teachers.

Many of these videos leave one wondering what happened next, or can easily be used as a starting point for creative writing lessons. Show the class one of these videos, and then ask them to carry the story on, either in words, or in pictures, depending on the content of the video.

To get us started:

To get the ball rolling, here is a rather beautiful video of a guy blowing huge bubbles on a beach. Nothing much happens, but the ethereal beauty of the bubbles, and the kids having a ball bursting them could well give rise to some intriguing stories I feel.

Invasion of the Space Bubble Aliens…….?

Bubbles on a Beach:

And?

So, did this give rise to any ideas? I would be intrigued to hear what stories this video may have produced.

Database of Videos for teachers:

To this end, I intend to post such videos on this blog, in order to create a sort of database of videos that can be used in a variety of different ways in the classroom, each with a set of teacher’s notes to help start the thinking needed to make best use of such videos.

Saving teacher’s time:

I realise that teachers could perfectly well hunt the net for suitable videos themselves, but as the husband of a teacher, I know how little spare time teachers actually have to carry out such searches. Think about it for a minute, you have to first of all find a video that fits your needs, which entails watching many videos to find just the right one, and also to be sure that it does not contain any unsuitable images or sounds, that it isn’t too long, but equally not too short… and so it goes.. A very time consuming exercise in fact. So I hope that as time goes by and I build up a big library of links to all manner of videos this blog will become a useful resource for teachers.

Continue reading “Videos… Great Teacher’s Resource For Story Telling.”