Using 6Rs, the Super 6 and Williams Enrichment tasks to engage students as authors.

1. STORY COUNTRY MAGIC IN
THE MIDDLE YEARS
Using 6Rs, Super 6 and Williams to engage reluctant writers
Lizzie Chase
With Kara West, Donna Davison and
Janelle Van Capelle – Western Sydney Teachers

2. Welcome letters project – Persuasive writing
Upper primary/lower secondary + Williams Enrichment Grid
http://welcomeletters.weebly.com/sample-pages.html
http://welcomeletters.weebly.com/gifted-tasks.html

3. Story Country – Whole class 6R tasks
2016 CBCA shortlisted picture books
http://australiastorycountrycbca2016.weebly.com/

4. Shortlisted CBCA novels 2016
• Frank Williams enrichment writing tasks at
http://williamsforwonderment.weebly.com

5. 3 keys to engaging reluctant writers
• #1 Text selection & playing with author’s
style
• #2 Tasks which are highly engaging:
Eg Super 6 based favourites, 6Rs
• #3 Providing choice and challenge:
Frank Williams enrichment tasks

6. Text selection is Key #1 – CBCA 2016

7. Text selection is Key #1 – CBCA 2016

9. Author’s style
• STUDENTS AS AUTHORS - Students write much better when they have
noticed elements of the author’s style and experiment with these in their own
writing. They may also write about the same themes…
• FAVOURITE WRITING TASKS BASED ON THE SUPER 6 – CBCA 2016
picture books http://australiastorycountrycbca2016.weebly.com/

10. Super 6
Connect, predict, visualise, summarise, monitor, question
IMAGE: https://www.tes.com/lessons/F6VIPiG_Zxp3Rg/super-six
RESOURCES: http://www.super-six.info/resources

11. Favourite Responding Tasks 1

12. Favourite Responding Tasks 2

13. Favourite Creating Tasks 1

14. Favourite Creative Tasks 2

15. Ride,
Ricardo,
Ride! by Phil
Cummings
and Shane
Devries

16. Suri’s wall
by Lucy
Estela and
Matt Ottley

17. And the band
played Waltzing
Matilda by Eric
Bogle and Bruce
Whatley

18. My dead bunny
by Sigi Cohen and
James Foley

19. 6Rs: A menu of whole class options
Read, reflect, research, respond, re-imagine, re-evaluate

20. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Read – Collect 10 interesting quotes – For example…
• The wish / Billy Gardiner & Van Uoc
• Free writing: Select All. Delete
• Fantasies come in 2 categories: nourishing or pointless
• Foreground, high-resolution girls; born-to-rule class; oblivious wealth
• Different dreams: Parent / child
• Favourite witty one liners
• Post-traumatic stress syndrome
• Ma’s story from the boat journey
• Vietnamese culture, habits, sayings
• Scholarship girl issues / bullying
• Friday English class – social justice
• Jane Eyre + power of reading
• Van Uoc’s art project - symbolism
• What does it mean to me? Home…
• The billboards + Lucy Fraser’s lesson
• Idiot life commentators
• From silence to speaking out
3 paragraphs: Choose 3 and discuss in 3 paragraphs.

21. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Reflect
“…the beauty of the overlooked object”
• Why does Van Uoc notice the small beauties around her?
What does this mean symbolically?
• Which specific factors, supports, issues, actions and
words from others propel Van Uoc to use her voice and
speak out? How does she feel each time?
• When she does speak out, what is the voice that we
hear? What does she project to others now about her life?

22. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Research
Australian history
http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2015/04/14/vietnamese
-refugees-who-changed-white-australia
• The Australian Prime Minister of the time, Malcolm Fraser,
felt a moral obligation to welcome Vietnamese people
who came in the decade after the Vietnam War because
Australia had been involved in bombing the country. Write
5 facts you have learned from this article.
• What was the White Australia Policy?

23. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Respond
• Diary entry: Jess is a fantastic friend to Van Uoc. Write a
diary entry from Jess’s point of view after attending the
King Lear film, in which she shares her thoughts, hopes
and feelings. She also shares her insights about Billy and
Van Uoc’s relationship and what she notices he does at
the English class – how he treats the kids etc… She
predicts what impact being with Van Uoc may have on
Billy, his values and his actions: two worlds colliding…

24. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Re-imagine
Small beauties
• Take a series of photographs which celebrate the small
beauties in your life or in your favourite place. Focus our
attention, so we can see them too.
• Think about: What does it mean? What does it mean for
me?
• Portfolio: You may wish to curate your art on a website.
• Artist’s statement: Tell us about the series.

25. Cloudwish by Fiona Wood
Re-evaluate
Take a fresh look at my own life
• After reading Cloudwish, it is 100% clear that a person who
seems outwardly shy can have an assertive, confident and
strong inner world. As a shy person, how could I let this voice
speak out more? What would I want to express? OR As a
talkative person, what have I learned from conversations with
friends who are quieter? What have they shown me that I
hadn’t seen before?
Reflecting: Discuss 3 of these questions.
• How did my learning go? Which thinking tool did I use? What
did I do well? What will I do differently next time? How were
my group work skills? What is a personal learning goal for next
time?

26. Challenge for GAT students
The Williams Cognitive-Affective Interaction Model
• Dimension 1 – subjects from the school curriculum
• Dimension 2 – 18 strategies that the teacher uses to develop student
thinking and creativity. The strategies are: paradox; attribute listing; analogy;
discrepancy; provocative question; examples of change; examples of habit;
organised random search; skills of search; tolerance for ambiguity; intuitive
expression; adjustment to development; study creative process; evaluate
situations; creative reading skills; creative listening skills; creative writing
skills; visualisation.
• Dimension 3 – 8 processes involved with creative thinking.
Cognitive-Intellective Factors: fluent thinking; flexible thinking; original thinking;
elaborative thinking.
Affective-Temperament Factors: risk-taking; complexity; curiosity; imagination.

27. Typical Williams Planning Grid
Requests by teachers:
• Use plain English terminology
• Cluster the tasks by category
Sample Williams tasks for picture books, using this style of grid:
http://williamsforwondering.weebly.com

33. Reading journal prompts – quick writes

34. http://williamsforwonderment.weebly.com/cloudwish.html

38. https://www.filmpond.com/#/ponds/blacktownwestps/films/delg0yl2cqxk
Task 1: Gather 10 favourite quotes
Task 2: Explain why you love the author’s writing – 1 paragraph
Task 3: Choose a task from the Williams menus and bring it to share

43. Molly and Pim and the
millions of stars by
Martine Murray

48. Stage 4 Mixed Ability – Sister Heart by Sally Morgan
Tiana – Year 7 – Good sense of story
Some issues: Spelling of ‘passed’ as ‘past’
Sentence fragment, tense switching

49. Karly – Year 7 – Good sense of story
Run on sentences, sentence splicing
Tense shifting, shift of tone [modern usage: priorities]

50. Tiana

51. Karly

52. Tymika – Year 8

53. Year 8 top class – Sister Heart by Sally Morgan
Tahnee

54. Janey
You were a beautiful friend in times of need,
Were always there and came with speed.
From your family you were stolen,
But your courage remained golden.
A sister for young Tim you were too,
Made sure he knew everything you knew.
Gave him your food when he was sick,
And made sure that he ate it quick.
When you didn’t have enough food,
You would catch some gilgies and eat them stewed.
You liked being in the wild, you felt free.
And when you were sad you went to the crying tree.
The laughing stone helped you through dark times,
And made you laugh like in the good, old times.
Memories are all you have now,
To remind you of the when and how.
And now you lie here,
Listening with one ear.
Drifting home, away where you belong
To make sure your family stays strong.
By Annie and Tim

55. Stolen Children leaflet
by Jamie

56. As you lay at peace
Your mother is sending a special message
To heaven up above
Please take care of my angel
And send her all my love
You will be missed by all the hearts your
kindness has touched
Their eyes full of sadness without you near
Without anyone to wipe away the tear
You never got to see how it all changed
How the people who took you away
Are now embracing your colour
How they treat you as an equal
By Celeste
Remember you were loved
They took you at a young age
Your mother tried to fight
But it was too late at that stage
She loved you with all her might
They changed your name
Taught you to reject your culture
Treated you as a villain
Taught you to be ashamed of your colour
They neglected you
And all you wanted was to be back in your
mother’s arms
They abused you
And all you wanted was to be back in your
mother’s arms
Her warm arms
Your tears screamed for everything to turn
out alright

57. Pamphlet by Gus:
Page 1 of 3

58. Page 2 of Rhys’’
pamphlet

59. First section of
Kieran’s speech

60. Information flyer by
Xavier

61. Secret of success – Buddy Conferencing
Buddy conferencing bookmarks:
Back of bookmark can be
reconfigured for each task:
Here is one for writing an
information report about a country

62. Buddy conferencing bookmarks:
Back of bookmark can be
reconfigured for each task:
Here is one for writing a letter
from a gold miner

63. Buddy conferencing bookmarks:
Back of bookmark can be
reconfigured for each task:
Here is one for writing
an exciting story