This week in our English lessons we have been creating diary entries based on the race to the South Pole back in 1911. I noticed some of the class were struggling to identify or express the emotions the explorers would have felt effectively whilst writing their second diary extract. In a bid to improve their emotive writing and develop the depth of their vocabulary we tried using a two page spread from Amulet to prompt our writing.  Each child was given a photocopy of page 10 and 11 from Amulet: The Stonekeeper. They examined the pages with a partner whilst discussing what was happening and how the characters involved may feel.

Following their discussions we looked at expressing emotions as a class with a particular focus on being more creative with our description, rather than just saying something simple such as ‘I feel devastated’ or ‘Everyone is upset.’ These phrases  were common in the work produced earlier in the week which is why it was important to look at the level of description and emotion provided in their work.

In a bid to focus on quality rather than quantity I suggested to the class that they try and aim for no more than 12 lines in their book. Although this was only a rough guide it was important to make them understand that success wasn’t related to the size of their diary entry, it was all about the content.

Once the tricky first line was out of the way the whole class worked incredibly hard to ensure their language and vocabulary was the very best it could be. Words such as ‘cascading’ and ‘immense’ worked their way into sentences without adult prompting, followed by others creating vivid phrases to describe the despair shown on the page. Soon everyone in the class was working methodically to create the most powerful and atmospheric writing they could rather than settling for the first word that sprung to mind. Below are some examples of this:

” My voice is empty and I don’t have anything to say”

“My life is a roller coaster of horror that only goes down and never comes up again”

“I am a puzzle, never to be finished, my dad is the last piece, lost forever”

“I want to stand up against the devastation but it keeps beating me down”

“I’m waiting for that moment he will walk round the corner. But he never will…”

“It feels like I’m cascading down into a black hole, my heart feels like it can’t beat any longer”

“The immense pain flowing through my body like an electric shock”

Previous to this task many children in the class would have struggled to create such atmospheric descriptions.  By using a visual prompt that displays so clearly how a character feels about a situation they were able to empathise and put themselves in her position with ease. This helped them to create more powerful writing and more importantly they enjoyed the writing process involved as well which was equally as fulfilling for me to witness.