This section accompanies the ones on teaching and learning approaches. It offers you a few ideas you may not have tried for a while, or at least not within the current topic. It is always a good idea to whet pupils’ appetite for a topic by thinking of a creative product, particularly one which gives scope for pupils to develop their own imaginative ideas. Good for motivation but also for creativity.
Audio-visual commentary
Pupils provide a spoken commentary e.g. for some selected pictures of mysterious looking Ancient Greek or Egyptian objects, as if for someone using a headset in a museum today. This gives the activity real purpose and, of course, a certain appeal to reluctant writers!
Bank notes
The government has just decided to commemorate a civilization or people e.g. the Romans. As a tribute to their legacy, a set of bank notes to the value of £50, £20, £10 and £5 has been commissioned. But they are not sure what image should be placed on each. First pupils brainstorm the possibilities, then they prioritise and finally decide how they will illustrate. Each member of the group of four illustrates a different legacy.
Diary
Could
