creative writing – Anthony Cockerill

Literacy and film: learning about storycraft with M Night Shyamalan’s The Village

The auteur’s 2004 film works brilliantly in the classroom. I’ve explored some possible ways to use this great film below. The Village (2004), M Night Shyamalan’s beautifully shot, atmospheric film, is great for the classroom. It’s a rare beast: often gripping, always provocative and certificated ’12’, which means it can be used from Year Eight…
Nine things you need to do to start writing great flash fiction

Want to improve your short stories – or help your students improve theirs? Flash fiction is a great way to start. The enduring appeal of short stories ‘Short stories are tiny windows into other worlds and other minds and other dreams. They are journeys you can make to the far side of the universe and…
How to use urban legends to teach students to write compelling narratives

What can we take from urban legends and their cinematic equivalents when teaching those elements of great stories and narratives? As a university student in the late 1990s, I was fascinated by what was, in hindsight, an early example of viral marketing, for the 1999 film The Blair Witch Project. The film’s use of found…
Why my favourite film, Stand By Me, is a brilliant prompt for creative writing

The iconic bridge scene is a great stimulus for writing. I’ve developed some resources to make the most of it. ‘I was twelve going on thirteen the first time I saw a dead human being. It happened in the summer of 1960, a long time ago, although sometimes, it doesn’t seem that long to me.’…
How to teach dystopian creative writing through a ‘creative construct’

I was intrigued to see how the provision of a ‘fictional construct’ might bring about effective learning connected to story-telling Early in my teaching career, I taught a sequence of learning to Year Eight, delivered principally from a text book, which was based around the premise of students as applicants for an interstellar space mission.…
What Happens When We Tell Stories From Different Points Of View?

Could playing creatively with narrative perspective help our students to grow in confidence as writers, cultivating more confidence, control and awareness of voice when they write? Almost definitely, as playing creatively has a tendency to boost confidence and foster a sense of discovery. During our ‘Writing From The Outside’ scheme of learning – which forms part…

Literacy and film: learning about storycraft with M Night Shyamalan’s The Village

Nine things you need to do to start writing great flash fiction

How to use urban legends to teach students to write compelling narratives

Why my favourite film, Stand By Me, is a brilliant prompt for creative writing

How to teach dystopian creative writing through a ‘creative construct’

What Happens When We Tell Stories From Different Points Of View?