Archive for January 3rd, 2008

Newbridge and Charles Dickens Junior schools, Portsmouth

A great way to start the new year: A two-day visit to Portsmouth to work with the staff of Newbridge Junior School and Charles Dickens Junior School.

Well done to all for returning to work with such enthusiasm and laughter!

We had a look, today, at some of the other forms including journalistic writing, holiday brochures and informative texts, instructions and explanations, poetry, interviews, and so much more.

I find that, if I get stuck when playing one of the games, I (rather too quickly) resort to using a “Walkthrough” to help me. Walkthroughs are clear instructions as to what to do in a particluar location. For example: “Walk down the set of steps. Turn left. Pull the lever. Get the steam to come out of the second tube.” …and so on.

Walkthroughs are incredibly useful but can also spoil half of your fun. You tend to “walk” at such a pace that you miss half of the incredible scenery surrounding you. Having a go at solving some of the problems can also be incredibly rewarding and satisfying.

However, at times, walkthroughs can be essential for those of us who want to head off somewhere else or are getting frustrated by fiddling with a particularly difficult piece of machinery. The best walkthroughs contain “Spoiler Alerts”. In other words, they let you know when you might be about to read something that could spoil a surprise around the next corner.

Here are a few examples of Myst III: Exile Walkthroughs:

Myst III Exile walkthrough and ‘cheats’

http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcMm/myst_exile.html

Easy to follow and has good descriptions of the various worlds.

http://home.satx.rr.com/adventuregamers/myst3exilewt/MYST3WT.html

This one has screen shots and music too!

http://www.fisicx.com/exile/walkthrough.htm

I like to get children to have a go at writing their own walkthroughs. In this way, they learn the art of descriptive instructions. It involves some careful thought and planning and they enjoy the challenge. It also gives them a sense of a true audience as someone else might find their writing genuinely useful.

It also takes instructions to another level, with the addition of some really descriptive vocabulary. This is useful when comparing the uses of instructions and the way that they are formed. e.g. discussing the different natures of a basic set of instructions for constructing some shelves, or the instructions for a walk through a nature reserve.

Thanks to Claire Stevens, Sandra Miller and their colleagues for a thoroughly enjoyable way to commence 2008! Well done to Mark for conducting a soundtrack at the end of the day! I look forward to tomorrow, when we will be trying out some of the ideas with the people who really matter: the children.