We've reached the time of year when the school heating is switched on, but this year it doesn't feel like such a big event. With our gorgeous new windows, we'd barely noticed as the chill crept in and though by this time of year we'd normally have been freezing our butts off for a couple of weeks, this year it's been fine. Getting through winter is going to be a lot easier, and it should be better for the books too.
So, what are we doing as the leaves start turning?
1. NaNoWriMo preparation.
This year our aim is that 50% of the young writers joining us on this amazing and ridiculous journey acheive their original word counts. The numbers becoming NaNo winners has fallen over the last couple of years to the point where last year, not a single person reached the 50,000 word goal. We're stepping up our support for writers this year, with after school writing sessions EVERY DAY even if there is no one at them, additional biscuits, and plenty of lunchtime sessions too. Our classroom kit is here, we're planning our stories and can't wait to get started.
2. Knitting ahoy.
Autumn is the time of year when knitting and crafting warm and cosy things becomes a focus for craft club! This year we're looking to make as many pairs of Twiddlemuffs as we can. My grandfather has Alzheimer's and is currently in hospital, and day by day he's less able to be active and interact with the world. He spends quite a lot of time just sitting, and unwilling to do anything at all, but I think he'd enjoy having something to fiddle with, something that feels nice and keeps his hands warm. I'll be asking craft club to undertake the creation of Twiddlemuffs at a count of one per person. Some people will do the knitting, and some the embellishment.
Got yarn? We need your scraps! And buttons, zips, ribbons, anything that could make a tactile little insert.
3. Reading, of course!
As the nights draw in and we're drawn more and more to the comfy nest of blankets and hotwater bottles that we've built to be our reading dens* we're very lucky that our lovely donors are continuing to buy us the books we need to keep our readers busy. We're asking everyone who goes on a book-buying spree to buy us one book, so if you could help us out, please do!
Currently reading: Furiously Happy, by Jenny Lawson.
*No? Just me then? Awesome.
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NaNoWriMo. Show all posts
Monday, 5 October 2015
Monday, 2 December 2013
NaNoWriMo 2013
Well, it's all over. NaNo 2013 has come to an end and as ever I've been stunned by the hard work and dedication of our writers. We had around 30 students taking part this year, not as many as in 2012 but our dropout rate was far lower too.
After a month of lunchtime and after school workshops, word sprints and melt downs, our month culminated in a final frantic day of writing on Friday 29th. Kind and understanding teachers excused them from their lessons and they headed up to colonise the library. It all started calmly enough. Neat groups, sat around tables and pouring out words, but within an hour the structures of society fell away and chairs were abandoned, writing forts were constructed out of chairs, beanbags and snacks. It was wonderful!
My highlights of the day:
Sacha hitting his word goal and doing victory laps of the library.
Kiera weeping as she killed off one of her characters.
Huw's exploration of torture (though I admit this was more disturbing than I should encourage).
Robyn's wonderful scenes between her two main characters. So. Cute.
Caitlin setting down for a quick snooze with Hobbes, the libary tiger.
Well done to everyone who took part, both those who won and those who were still slogging away at the end of the month. You're all stars.
After a month of lunchtime and after school workshops, word sprints and melt downs, our month culminated in a final frantic day of writing on Friday 29th. Kind and understanding teachers excused them from their lessons and they headed up to colonise the library. It all started calmly enough. Neat groups, sat around tables and pouring out words, but within an hour the structures of society fell away and chairs were abandoned, writing forts were constructed out of chairs, beanbags and snacks. It was wonderful!
My highlights of the day:
Sacha hitting his word goal and doing victory laps of the library.
Kiera weeping as she killed off one of her characters.
Huw's exploration of torture (though I admit this was more disturbing than I should encourage).
Robyn's wonderful scenes between her two main characters. So. Cute.
Caitlin setting down for a quick snooze with Hobbes, the libary tiger.
Well done to everyone who took part, both those who won and those who were still slogging away at the end of the month. You're all stars.
Monday, 7 November 2011
NaNoWriMo 2011
The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur* but we're now seven days into November, and we all know what that means. NaNoWriMo is GO!
This year we have a staggering 59 students signed up to take part with us, and some added extras too: the younger brothers and sisters of some of our students who are still in Primary school but who have signed up and are working with us in our virtual classroom and visiting the library for the after-school write-ins. The down side f numbers like this is that we only have 21 computers in the library, and they're heavily over used even when there aren't nearly 60 novelists trying to bash out 50,000 words before the end of the month. We've been saved though, by Mrs Wilkins in ICT who has allowed our writers to use one of the ICT rooms most lunchtimes, and by Ms Twomey in MFL who has offered us use of their IT room too.
Additional salvation has come in the form of a very generous investment from our dedicated PTA, who have funded the purchase of ten new netbooks for use in the library. This is a move that we couldn't have hoped to make with our current budget and makes a very significant difference to what we can offer our students. Once lending agreements have been drawn up and signed, there will also be the opportunity for these machines to be loaned out to students who don't have computers of their own, which will be a huge help to them during coursework crunch times.
So far our novelist have written a staggering 264,314 words, and we're beating the US school who challenged us to a Word War by 19% to 17%, which may seem like a small margin, but their target wordcounts are significantly lower than ours! The level of ambition shown by our students is truly remarkable. Almost as remarkable as the sheer numbers of snacks they can get through...
*This is not an exaggeration, have been ill and everything has been distinctly fuzzy...
This year we have a staggering 59 students signed up to take part with us, and some added extras too: the younger brothers and sisters of some of our students who are still in Primary school but who have signed up and are working with us in our virtual classroom and visiting the library for the after-school write-ins. The down side f numbers like this is that we only have 21 computers in the library, and they're heavily over used even when there aren't nearly 60 novelists trying to bash out 50,000 words before the end of the month. We've been saved though, by Mrs Wilkins in ICT who has allowed our writers to use one of the ICT rooms most lunchtimes, and by Ms Twomey in MFL who has offered us use of their IT room too.
Additional salvation has come in the form of a very generous investment from our dedicated PTA, who have funded the purchase of ten new netbooks for use in the library. This is a move that we couldn't have hoped to make with our current budget and makes a very significant difference to what we can offer our students. Once lending agreements have been drawn up and signed, there will also be the opportunity for these machines to be loaned out to students who don't have computers of their own, which will be a huge help to them during coursework crunch times.
So far our novelist have written a staggering 264,314 words, and we're beating the US school who challenged us to a Word War by 19% to 17%, which may seem like a small margin, but their target wordcounts are significantly lower than ours! The level of ambition shown by our students is truly remarkable. Almost as remarkable as the sheer numbers of snacks they can get through...
*This is not an exaggeration, have been ill and everything has been distinctly fuzzy...
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Victory and Celebrations!
Victory and Celebrations!
Yesterday, twenty of our students crossed the NaNoWriMo finish line and watched their percentage bar change from green to the winning purple.
Massive congratulations go those who made it to the massive 50,000 word mark:
Nick
Rachel
Kirsty
Abi
Megan
Sophie
Oscar
Lucy
Rachel
Will
Nathan
Jenna
And a big well done to those who chose slightly lower word counts on the Young Writers’ Program:
Ben
Alex
Lucy
Matt
Pippa
Sophie
Islay
Delphine
I’m hoping that most of them will continue writing and finish their stories, but those who finished early have already discovered how much harder it with without the impetus of NaNoWriMo. But all are planning to send their work away to have a single copy printed and bound by one of the site sponsors so that they can wave their volumes around triumphantly. We’re been really lucky with the support that we’ve had from staff this year; although none of the teaching staff were able to join us writing, all our novelists were excused from lessons yesterday so that they could spend the day tapping away. Special thanks go to those who teach Year 11, as they have mocks starting today (good luck Abi and Rachel!).
This morning, all of the 'Warning! Novelling in Progress!' signs came down and the library feels a little empty. Time to fill it with fairylights I think...
Yesterday, twenty of our students crossed the NaNoWriMo finish line and watched their percentage bar change from green to the winning purple.
Massive congratulations go those who made it to the massive 50,000 word mark:
Nick
Rachel
Kirsty
Abi
Megan
Sophie
Oscar
Lucy
Rachel
Will
Nathan
Jenna
And a big well done to those who chose slightly lower word counts on the Young Writers’ Program:
Ben
Alex
Lucy
Matt
Pippa
Sophie
Islay
Delphine
I’m hoping that most of them will continue writing and finish their stories, but those who finished early have already discovered how much harder it with without the impetus of NaNoWriMo. But all are planning to send their work away to have a single copy printed and bound by one of the site sponsors so that they can wave their volumes around triumphantly. We’re been really lucky with the support that we’ve had from staff this year; although none of the teaching staff were able to join us writing, all our novelists were excused from lessons yesterday so that they could spend the day tapping away. Special thanks go to those who teach Year 11, as they have mocks starting today (good luck Abi and Rachel!).
This morning, all of the 'Warning! Novelling in Progress!' signs came down and the library feels a little empty. Time to fill it with fairylights I think...
Sunday, 28 November 2010
The Finish Line is in Sight
It's the 28th November, two days of NaNoWriMo remaining. Three of our students have crossed the 50,000 word mark, so huge congratulations to Nick, Rachel and Kirsty. What's really impressed me about these three is the way that they started out at a normal pace and then just shot a head as they got more and more involved in their stories. Made me feel very proud and slightly teary!
We have an occasional day on Monday, so there's extra writing time for everyone who is still going, and then most of our Wrimos have been signed out of lessons on Tuesday (thank you, lovely and understanding teachers) so they'll be arriving in the morning armed with snacks and Thermos flasks full of tea. Keep writing everyone!
We have an occasional day on Monday, so there's extra writing time for everyone who is still going, and then most of our Wrimos have been signed out of lessons on Tuesday (thank you, lovely and understanding teachers) so they'll be arriving in the morning armed with snacks and Thermos flasks full of tea. Keep writing everyone!
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Passing the Halfway Point
NaNoWriMo continues to rattle along, with some students so frighteningly far ahead that I wonder if they're sleeping or eating. Others have had to give into the pressures and either drop out (with a promise to try again next year from nearly every single one of them) or adjust their word counts to a more appropriate number, a luxury only afforded to those on the Young Writers' Program. We celebrated the half way point on Monday, and recalculated possible targets, doubling the number of words already written and adding a couple of thousand to make sure that it's still a challenge. This has helped many of those who were feeling disheartened to pick up their stories again with renewed energy. We've also been having great fun at our Plot Clinics, deciding on horrible things to do to our characters if they were starting to bore us. To Pippa's characters I can only apologise. It was my idea to have you fall off the mountain.
Students in the KS3 Creative Writing group, led by Holly and Megan in Year 12, will soon be starting work on their entries for the Red House Young Writers' Yearbook competition. We'll also be opening up the competition to GCSE English students, who may be able to double up and submit a piece of their GCSE coursework. Good luck to all who enter!
The news for schools and budgets is horrifically doom and gloomy at the moment, and we're all being asked to make cut-backs wherever humanly (and sometimes inhumanly) possible. Chances are we'll have less to spend on books next year, but we're already plotting ways to make sure that all our students get access to what they need, be it fiction, websites or good old-fashioned information printed on paper. Signing up to free book schemes and strengthening our connections with other local schools should mean that we can share our resources and make the most of what we've got. The biggest risk is to our staffing and hours, which could have a huge and instantly detrimental impact on what we can do. Though I know that there are people within the school who will fight for us, there are also staff (worryingly) who don't see why we need a library like the one we have. Please keep your fingers crossed for us! With the local public libraries looking at a staffing hours cut of almost 40% and potentially disastrous spending budgets for next year, the role we play in providing our students with essential services is only going to increase in importance. There will be no alternatives.
Students in the KS3 Creative Writing group, led by Holly and Megan in Year 12, will soon be starting work on their entries for the Red House Young Writers' Yearbook competition. We'll also be opening up the competition to GCSE English students, who may be able to double up and submit a piece of their GCSE coursework. Good luck to all who enter!
The news for schools and budgets is horrifically doom and gloomy at the moment, and we're all being asked to make cut-backs wherever humanly (and sometimes inhumanly) possible. Chances are we'll have less to spend on books next year, but we're already plotting ways to make sure that all our students get access to what they need, be it fiction, websites or good old-fashioned information printed on paper. Signing up to free book schemes and strengthening our connections with other local schools should mean that we can share our resources and make the most of what we've got. The biggest risk is to our staffing and hours, which could have a huge and instantly detrimental impact on what we can do. Though I know that there are people within the school who will fight for us, there are also staff (worryingly) who don't see why we need a library like the one we have. Please keep your fingers crossed for us! With the local public libraries looking at a staffing hours cut of almost 40% and potentially disastrous spending budgets for next year, the role we play in providing our students with essential services is only going to increase in importance. There will be no alternatives.
Friday, 12 November 2010
Frantic Scribbling
It's now Day 12 of NaNoWriMo and the target wordcount for the end of the day is 20,000. We've had eleven days of hard-working, excited students hammering away at the keyboards, churning out words at a rate of knots. The progress they've made has been absolutely stunning, with many of them putting in extra time at break, lunch and for an hour and a half after school. It's the after school sessions that have been making the most significant difference, when they all gather in the computer area and we go for twenty and ten minute word sprints. All you can hear is the clacking of keys, until the alarm goes and the sighs of relief, shrieks of frustration or pent up giggles escape. They're making good use of our virtual classroom and have been posting discussions on the forum, sharing ideas and working collaboratively when they need to.
I think it's starting to dawn on them quite how much hard work NaNoWriMo is. They're starting to realise what writing is when it becomes a job and how very, very easy it is to get up and do something else. A couple of them have developed the shakes and several are well on their way to yelling out seemingly irrelevant words in class as their novels start to take over their minds. I feel slightly as though I'm creating an army of vaguely confused mini-mes. Today, we'll celebrate the end of the second school NaNo week with plenty of snacks and some mammoth word sprints as they all get a head start at the weekend rush. They're making excellent use of Write or Die.
For the first time ever, I'm ahead! Having switched my home computer over to mac a while ago, I've been working this time using Scrivener, which is making a frightening amount of difference to how difficult the process of writing can seem. Annoyingly, the things that it's doing that make it seem so much easier are things that I could quite easily have done myself before: proper outlining, breaking up the text into manageable chunks. I don't know about you, but when I'm in the midst of trying to make a piece of writing sound the way I think it's supposed to, I utterly lose sight of such things as logic and organisation. Scrivener puts the logic in front of you, pats you on the head and tells you that everything will be fine.
They've just released the Windows version in Beta, so I'm trying that out on the office computer. No hiccoughs yet, and my home file from the mac seems fully compatible. Hoping that for next year we'll be able to consider buying it for the library machines, to return to our novelists the logic that seems to be fleeing from many of them, screaming.
I think it's starting to dawn on them quite how much hard work NaNoWriMo is. They're starting to realise what writing is when it becomes a job and how very, very easy it is to get up and do something else. A couple of them have developed the shakes and several are well on their way to yelling out seemingly irrelevant words in class as their novels start to take over their minds. I feel slightly as though I'm creating an army of vaguely confused mini-mes. Today, we'll celebrate the end of the second school NaNo week with plenty of snacks and some mammoth word sprints as they all get a head start at the weekend rush. They're making excellent use of Write or Die.
For the first time ever, I'm ahead! Having switched my home computer over to mac a while ago, I've been working this time using Scrivener, which is making a frightening amount of difference to how difficult the process of writing can seem. Annoyingly, the things that it's doing that make it seem so much easier are things that I could quite easily have done myself before: proper outlining, breaking up the text into manageable chunks. I don't know about you, but when I'm in the midst of trying to make a piece of writing sound the way I think it's supposed to, I utterly lose sight of such things as logic and organisation. Scrivener puts the logic in front of you, pats you on the head and tells you that everything will be fine.
They've just released the Windows version in Beta, so I'm trying that out on the office computer. No hiccoughs yet, and my home file from the mac seems fully compatible. Hoping that for next year we'll be able to consider buying it for the library machines, to return to our novelists the logic that seems to be fleeing from many of them, screaming.
Monday, 1 November 2010
It begins!
Day 1 of NaNoWriMo. At lunchtime, the novelling hoards should descend and start work on their masterpieces. Then they'll be here after school too, hammering away at their keyboards with me until half four.
Sadly the writing cafe is not to be - it seems that Health and Safety will not allow it. The big no-no, I'm told, is the possibility of students carrying hot drinks across the library. Drinking them is fine, spilling them on books and computers is not a concern, but clearly carrying is a risky business. The irritation here is that we're expecting these students to act as young adults, but we deny them the responsibilities of it and treat them like children. This doesn't make any sense. And no, apparently it is not enough to gather parental consent forms for tea carrying and offer special training. Nor is it relevant that they do this every week in food tech, and take hot dishes out of ovens with their bare hands*. But I'm allowing them to bring snacks and drinks, and, y'know, flasks. Of tea. *subtle wink*
*This is not entirely true.
Sadly the writing cafe is not to be - it seems that Health and Safety will not allow it. The big no-no, I'm told, is the possibility of students carrying hot drinks across the library. Drinking them is fine, spilling them on books and computers is not a concern, but clearly carrying is a risky business. The irritation here is that we're expecting these students to act as young adults, but we deny them the responsibilities of it and treat them like children. This doesn't make any sense. And no, apparently it is not enough to gather parental consent forms for tea carrying and offer special training. Nor is it relevant that they do this every week in food tech, and take hot dishes out of ovens with their bare hands*. But I'm allowing them to bring snacks and drinks, and, y'know, flasks. Of tea. *subtle wink*
*This is not entirely true.
Wednesday, 20 October 2010
NaNo Plans
The NaNoWriMo work books have been printed and are ready for collection! Big thank you to Su in Reprographics for doing them so quickly. They're going to be really useful for those students who would like to do a mass of planning and research for their novels over the half term. I'm getting really excited about this year.
The difficulty that I think we're going to have is that there just aren't enough computers available for all of our writers to write together, and having spoken to the ICT department, I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of us getting the use of any of the school laptops. The plan then, is to do something new. For all of November, the library will become the Writers' Cafe from 3.30 until 4.30 every day. An hour-long writing session, with tea, coffee and biscuits available to all who require sustenance! It'll be self-service, and though we will have to ask for a donation for drinks and things, and we'll be doing this through an honesty box over by the kettle. * This should give our writers the extra time that they'll need to really get a hold on their wordcounts, while surrounded by others doing the same. I'll be in the corner with my laptop, clutching my coffee and rocking gently back and forth...
*Which probably won't last the month - does anyone have a spare they could donate to a worthy cause?
The difficulty that I think we're going to have is that there just aren't enough computers available for all of our writers to write together, and having spoken to the ICT department, I don't think there's a snowball's chance in hell of us getting the use of any of the school laptops. The plan then, is to do something new. For all of November, the library will become the Writers' Cafe from 3.30 until 4.30 every day. An hour-long writing session, with tea, coffee and biscuits available to all who require sustenance! It'll be self-service, and though we will have to ask for a donation for drinks and things, and we'll be doing this through an honesty box over by the kettle. * This should give our writers the extra time that they'll need to really get a hold on their wordcounts, while surrounded by others doing the same. I'll be in the corner with my laptop, clutching my coffee and rocking gently back and forth...
*Which probably won't last the month - does anyone have a spare they could donate to a worthy cause?
Monday, 18 October 2010
Preparations
Two weeks until National Novel Writing Month and we're counting down the days. Twenty eight students have signed up for NaNoWriMo this year. Twenty eight!* And about a dozen more said that they couldn't make the meeting but would very much like to write. This is absolutely wonderful! We're taking full advantage of the Young Writers' Program this year and have already set up the RPS Library virtual classroom, and we've offered participating students a spiral bound copy of the workbook to keep them going. All students in uniform are signing up for the YWP, while those in sixth form are overage and will be taking part in the full-on, hardcore that is NaNoWriMo. The timings are wonderful this year: we'll return from half term on the 1st November, just in time for it all to kick off. Then we have an occasional day on the 29th before finishing on a Tuesday.
Looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on! If anyone knows of any UK secondary schools taking part, please let me know.
And as for me, yes, I'll be taking part again this year. Quite how it will fit with work, roller derby and studying I have no idea, but I'll make it work somehow. Some of my research material arrived today and I'm very excited about it all.
*Yes, I know we only have twenty one computers and a handful of them fail to work even on a good day. And no, I haven't figured out how we'll all fit in.
Looking forward to seeing how everyone gets on! If anyone knows of any UK secondary schools taking part, please let me know.
And as for me, yes, I'll be taking part again this year. Quite how it will fit with work, roller derby and studying I have no idea, but I'll make it work somehow. Some of my research material arrived today and I'm very excited about it all.
*Yes, I know we only have twenty one computers and a handful of them fail to work even on a good day. And no, I haven't figured out how we'll all fit in.
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