Sometimes I feel like the luckiest person in the world! An average day for me starts by hopping onto the computer and reading emails from teachers about how engaged their students are and how amazing their writing has become. This one is from Cherie from Prescott College Southern in South Australia. I remember a young…
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Step by Step Blog
So you want to be an author?
Lots of our students tell us they do. Which is wonderful, because it really motivates them to write! It can be a great boost to a class to ask each student to think like a real, professional author. Teach them the questions authors ask themselves: How are you going to start the story and grab…
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Making Magic with Words
Wearing all black today? Hair looking a bit odd, or is that a funny hat? No, you’re not in Melbourne for Fashion Week – it’s Hallowe’en and the costumes are out again! Before you groan – some of us do love the dress-ups and spooky stories – we just wanted to share some of our…
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That Sinking Feeling
Sometimes a story can express so much about how we feel. Look at the first of the four picture writing prompts below. Is the hand sinking into the puddle – or rising out of it? That depends on your point of view. Maybe the puddle is an illusion – or perhaps the hand is an…
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Two things we’ve learnt from NAPLAN 2018
Every year, our Seven Steps creator and CEO Jen McVeity sits the NAPLAN writing test – in pretty much the same conditions Australian students face. And every year she finds it hard. As an author, it’s obviously not the actual writing that’s a challenge. In fact, Jen feels that the NAP Marking Criteria truly values…
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The Writer’s Game
Have you ever played the writer’s game? You know, the one in which you listen in on a random conversation between strangers on the bus, in the park or at the train station – and write down every word? Feels a bit odd, doesn’t it? It’s not just the fact that we’re taught it’s not…
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Picture Your Story
We all do it: when asked to think of a story, ummm, err…. the mind goes blank. Especially if we feel under pressure. Our series of picture writing prompts helps students leap over that little hurdle and start writing. Ask them to describe it. Ask for details about the main person or people. What are…
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Turning Around Hearts, Minds and Writing Results
A remarkable school in Northern Queensland has taken tremendous strides in improving student writing. Since implementing the Seven Steps at the end of 2014, principal Claudine Moncur-White and the teachers of Rasmussen State School have transformed their school from one of the worst performing Queensland schools to significantly outperforming the state in writing improvement between…
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