The Magic of Creative Writing - Reviews

Reviews

Are all students suddenly supposed to become writers, was the question asked by some sceptical parents. - Not really, but it would make me very pleased if they learn to express themselves adequately to get the job they want later in life, replied Lars-Erik Bäckström, the teacher who has introduced The Magic of Creative Writing into his language teaching.

Gällö is a small municipality outside the town of Östersund in Sweden. Together with three other schools in the region, they have decided to apply the multimedia tool The Magic of Creative Writing into their language tuition.

- This educational tool provides the students with the skills they need to write a story and express themselves, Lars-Erik Bäckström says who is Swedish senior-level language teacher of 13-16-year-olds and one of the driving forces behind the project in the region.

- Wonderful things have started to happen in the students' writing. Never before, in my 18-years' experience as language teacher, have I seen the students making such fast progress.

Constituent building stones

The Magic of Creative Writing begins by showing a house being built. The symbolic meaning is that a story is made up of building stones - events, characters, settings and dialogues. Each building stone is introduced by way of illustration, of for instance, a character description. The same story runs through all the illustrations. - The story is about a woman coming out of the woods. From the character description, we know that her forehead is bloodstained. It is all very intriguing, Johan Hansson says. Based on this example, the students can then start writing own stories.

Not merely a complement

Johan Nilsson is born with a handicap that makes it difficult for him to express himself. In order to train his linguistic proficiency, he goes to a speech therapist as well as using The Magic of Creative Writing.

- The fact that I am able to write and practice in my own pace is great, Johan Nilsson says. I have benefited from what The Magic of Creative Writing has taught me, like writing intriguing letters.

- To Johan, The Magic of Creative Writing is much more than just a complement to the traditional tuition. The program enables him to go back, to listen again and to practice several times. The text is accompanied by an audio-visual presentation that gives the pupils a good comprehension of ways of applying and varying the language, Lars-Erik Bäckström says.

Starting off with a news-item

Before Lars-Erik Bäckström lets his students turn on their computers, they are asked to choose a news-item from the newspaper.

- The idea is to let the students make an analysis and decide on what catches the readers' attention. The discussion that follows usually triggers off the students to start using The Magic of Creative Writing, Lars-Erik Bäckström explains.

- From Knowledge Network for Education (Läromedel ITiden) Home

Assessment

The Swedish National Board of Education's curriculum from 1994 includes among other things that the students "should have the ability to compose readily comprehensible stories, letters, summaries and reports". Lars Hesslind's The Magic of Creative Writing corresponds very well to the contents and essence of this curriculum.

Pedagogy

The Magic of Creative Writing's pedagogical idea is to practice creative writing. The CD is aimed at a wide circle of users - from 12-year-olds all the way up to university students. Both junior and senior students are well catered for owing to the fact that the program comes in two versions. The writing is regarded as a process in which the students get a lot to practice writing different kinds of text. They are also encouraged to rewrite and amend. However, the language used in explanatory notes may at times appear a little bit too advanced for the under 16s.

Media usage

The Magic of Creative Writing is interactive in its true sense. Animated descriptions are intersected with own texts that can be printed, saved or opened for further writing. - Kjell Eriksson From Knowledge Network for Education: a teaching media data base at address www.kks.se.

Assessment

This interactive course is to learn how to write a short story or a novel. Systematically, the students are introduced to all the basic skills that are required of every good writer. The program suits 12-16-year-olds in elementary schools as well as senior high-school/sixth form students and college/university students. In most respects, this program should be passed with great distinction. It is user-friendly. Its educational qualities are of very high standards and it provides excellent responses to the students. The students' mental activities are very well supported. The program contains a superb audio-visual presentation and well-made teaching guidance.

- Mats Rylander From Knowledge Network for Education: a teaching media data base at address www.kks.se.

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