Motivate learners at a land-based FE college to have an enjoyment of English through using creative writing.
Creating an enjoyment of English through creative writing.
The project’s intention was to spark an interest in learners, through the use of creative writing tasks, a means of expression, by giving learners the opportunity for their work to be published and incentivising participation in creative writing workshops as well as other plans, such as inviting a famous poet to speak with learners at the college, integrating creative writing into every English session in starter activities and displaying poetry related to their subjects in their vocational area. Activities such as having an external speaker (especially one so passionate) and the creation of an anthology proved to be popular with both staff and learners, and allowed thoughts to focus on English, and discussing reading and creative writing.
OTLA 8
6. Build positive and collaborative relationships with colleagues and learners - The team have built positive and collaborative relationships through the use of and collaboration on starter activities, with Croxteth Centre staff in particular. A new relationship between the General Education Department at Myerscough and the Creative Writing Department at UCLan was also built which we will continue after the project. In addition, tutors have built a working relationship with Dr Mike Garry, who has suggested that he would like to return and do further work with the learners; the team also liaise on Twitter with different educational ideas. The time given to reflection and to focus on feelings with creative writing in terms of approach and motivation has helped learners to feel valued. It has also helped with the building of positive relationships between teachers and learners.
9. Apply theoretical understanding of effective practice in teaching, learning and assessment drawing on research and other evidence - In this project techniques from Allen (2017), including ensuring that praise is given, focusing on motivating learners and also focusing on strengths as a base was used. This has been applied through the creative writing starter activities and also through the creative writing workshops. The book and its contents have been discussed and shared with project participants.
13. Motivate and inspire learners to promote achievement and develop their skills to enable progression - The rationale for the whole project was to increase the motivation of learners, and to inspire them through the use of engaging creative writing activities.