Having spent Monday working with our staff and showing us how to use the magical world of Myst and other IT resources to improve involvement and the desire to write, … Tuesday was about the children! The day that Tim went “live” with our children.

It is a brave man that will stand in front of 80 children and 20 adults and model a 90 minute writing lesson, so… …do this three times in one day; he must have the courage of a superhero and the stamina of a herd of stampeding wildebeest! He encouraged the children to be creative with their thoughts as to why his wooden companion ‘Mr Walker’ was studded with holes. After tentative suggestions, the children began to get the idea, learnt that there was ‘no wrong answer’ and come up with more original ideas such as ‘a mobile air conditioner’, ‘a hotel for mini woodpeckers’ and ‘so the snake that lives inside the stick can breathe.’

Once introduced to the world of Myst, the ‘video game generation’ were instantly captivated. Even though they spent the best part of an hour looking at the same scene, where all that moved were some birds circling in the sky, they were eager to participate in making up similes and metaphors.
The teachers were in the privileged position of being able to watch an experienced teacher use a range of strategies with their children, which developed confidence, vocabulary and enjoyment.

They saw that by giving the children time and space, they would develop their thinking and responses to a deeper level. They saw how by using a multi sensory approach, the children were able to recall technical language (although will now always say the word ‘simile’ in a deep manly voice!) and they saw how the adult paraphrasing and reflecting back a slightly polished version of some of the faltering responses, the children’s confidence and pride grew. They saw effort and quality work rewarded with praise and recognition. The golden moment of the day being when the children began, hesitantly at first, but with growing confidence to share the writing they had done earlier… without prompting, and without any involvement from the many adults present, one by one many of the children read out a range of metaphors and similes they had written about the scene in front of them with passion and pride.

Tim is a showman; he knows how to capture children’s attention and how to hold it, but he was able to demonstrate techniques and strategies to our staff so that everyone of us will be able to re-create some of that magic we saw, once back in the classroom.

Diane Moore
Deputy Head Teacher
Beaver Green Community Primary School

Thank you, Diane.