Writing like a writer

The content description links on this page have been updated in line with Version 9.0 of the Australian Curriculum. Use this guide to compare codes across versions.

In the new edition of Libby Gleeson’s Writing like a writer we see how teachers can support their students in their ‘narrative imagining’ and we learn this from Libby, herself a writer, who fully appreciates how story is ‘the fundamental instrument of thought’. Libby shares her knowledge of writing literary texts and suggests a range of teaching/learning experiences that teachers may employ with their students.

In the book relevant outcomes and content descriptions across year levels from the Australian Curriculum: English are referenced throughout, and are linked to full syllabus and curriculum details by Chapter on this page.

Contents this page

Curriculum and syllabus Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10

Supporting resources References Further reading Useful websites

Publications details and purchase: Book |  eBook

Chapter 2: Getting Started

Storytelling 2.1

‘In a research project involving preschoolers telling a story to their teachers and their peers on a daily basis, it was found that the stories became rich and complex …’

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F				ENe-1A ENe-4A	ENe-6B ENe-8B	ENe-10C		ENe-12E
1		AC9E1LE05		EN1-1A	EN1-6B	EN1-10C
2
3				EN2-1A	EN2-6B	EN2-10C		EN2-12E
4		AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY07
5		AC9E5LE04 AC9E5LE05		EN3-1A	EN3-5B	EN3-7C		EN3-9E
6			AC9E6LY07

Getting started with writing 2.2

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F			AC9EFLY06	ENe-2A		ENe-10C
1		AC9E1LE05		EN1-2A		EN1-10C
2			AC9E2LY06
3		AC9E3LE05		EN2-2A		EN2-10C
4
5		AC9E5LE05		EN3-2A		EN3-7C
6		AC9E6LE05

Getting started with writing 2.3

‘Read novels, short stories and poems. Invite discussion and written responses.’

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F		AC9EFLE02		ENe-1A ENe-4A
1		AC9E1LE02		EN1-1A EN1-4A
2		AC9E2LE02
3		AC9E3LE02		EN2-1A EN2-4A
4		AC9E4LE02
5		AC9E5LE02		EN3-1A EN3-2A EN3-3A
6		AC9E6LE02 AC9E6LE05

Getting started with writing 2.4

‘Drama techniques:’

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F						ENe-10C
1				EN1-1A		EN1-10C
2
3				EN2-1A		EN2-10C
4
5						EN3-7C
6

Chapter 3: Creating Characters

3.1–3.10

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F		AC9EFLE02 AC9EFLE03 AC9EFLE05	AC9EFLY05 AC9EFLY06	ENe-1A ENe-4A	ENe-7B ENe-8B	ENe-10C		ENe-12E
1		AC9E1LE01 AC9E1LE02 AC9E1LE03 AC9E1LE05		EN1-1A EN1-2A EN1-4A	EN1-7B	EN1-10C	EN1-11D
2	AC9E2LA02 AC9E2LA04 AC9E2LA07 AC9E2LA08	AC9E2LE01 AC9E2LE02 AC9E2LE03 AC9E2LE05
3	AC9E3LA07  AC9E3LA08 AC9E3LA10	AC9E3LE01 AC9E3LE03 AC9E3LE05	AC9E3LY01	EN2-1A EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-7B	EN2-10C	EN2-11D	EN2-12E
4	AC9E4LA12	AC9E4LE02 AC9E4LE03 AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY06
5	AC9E5LA06	AC9E5LE01 AC9E5LE02 AC9E5LE05			EN3-5B	EN3-7C	EN3-8D
6	AC9E6LA03	AC9E6LE03

Chapter 4: Dialogue

4.1–4.4

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F	AC9EFLA02 AC9EFLA09				ENe-9B
1	AC9E1LA10				EN1-9B	EN1-11D
2
3	AC9E3LA03 AC9E3LA07 AC9E3LA08			EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-8B EN2-9B
4	AC9E4LA12 AC9E4LA07	AC9E4LE02 AC9E4LE03 AC9E4LE05	ACELY1694
5		AC9E5LE01	AC9E5LY01		EN3-6B	EN3-8D
6	AC9E6LA09

Chapter 5: Description

5.1–5.6

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F			AC9EFLY05 AC9EFLY06		ENe-7B ENe-8B	ENe-10C
1	AC9E1LA04 AC9E1LA07	AC9E1LE01 AC9E1LE05	AC9E1LE02	EN1-4A	EN1-9B	EN1-10C
2	AC9E2LA02 AC9E2LA04 AC9E2LA07	AC9E2LE03
3		AC9E3LE01 AC9E3LE03 AC9E3LE04	AC9E3LY01 AC9E3LY02	EN2-4A	EN2-7B EN2-8B EN2-9B	EN2-10C
4	AC9E4LA12 AC9E4LA06	AC9E4LE02 AC9E4LE03 AC9E4LE04 AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY06
5	AC9E5LA06 AC9E5LA08	AC9E5LE04 AC9E5LE05	AC9E5LY06	EN3-3A	EN3-5B EN3-6B	EN3-7C
6

Chapter 6: Point of View

6.1–6.4

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F					ENe-7B ENe-9B		ENe-11D
1		AC9E1LE02		EN1-4A	EN1-9B
2		AC9E2LE05
3		AC9E3LE05	AC9E3LY01	EN2-2A	EN2-9B		EN2-11D
4	AC9E4LA04
5		AC9E5LE03	AC9E5LY01	EN3-2A	EN3-5B	EN3-7C	EN3-8D
6	AC9E6LA03	AC9E6LE02 AC9E6LE03 AC9E6LE05

Chapter 7: Voice (Style)

7.1–7.10

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F	AC9EFLA08			ENe-1A ENe-2A	ENe-7B ENe-8B ENe-9B	ENe-10C
1	AC9E1LA04	AC9E1LE01 AC9E1LE04	AC9E1LY06	EN1-1A EN1-4A	EN1-6B EN1-7B EN1-8B EN1-9B		EN1-11D
2	AC9E2LA04 AC9E2LA02 AC9E2LA09	AC9E2LE03 AC9E2LE04	AC9E2LY05
3	AC9E3LA10	AC9E3LE03 AC9E3LE04 AC9E3LE05	AC9E3LY05	EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-7B EN2-8B EN2-9B	EN2-10C		EN2-12E
4	AC9E4LA11	AC9E4LE04	AC9E4LY01 AC9E4LY03
5	AC9E5LA06 AC9E5LA08	AC9E5LE04 AC9E5LE05	AC9E5LY01 AC9E5LY03	EN3-1A EN3-2A EN3-3A	EN3-5B EN3-6B	EN3-7C
6	AC9E6LA03 AC9E6LA06 AC9E6LA08	AC9E6LE02 AC9E6LE03 AC9E6LE04 AC9E6LE05	AC9E6LY01 AC9E6LY06

Chapter 8: Design (Structure)

8.1–8.10

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F	AC9EFLA03 AC9EFLA08	AC9EFLE03	AC9EFLY02 AC9EFLY03 AC9EFLY05 AC9EFLY06	ENe-4A	ENe-7B ENe-8B	ENe-10C
1		AC9E1LE01 AC9E1LE03 AC9E1LE05	AC9E1LY03 AC9E1LY06	EN1-2A	EN1-6B EN1-7B EN1-8B EN1-9B	EN1-10C	EN1-11D	EN1-12E
2	AC9E2LA03	AC9E2LE02 AC9E2LE03	AC9E2LY03 AC9E2LY06
3	AC9E3LA03		AC9E3LY04 AC9E3LY06	EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-7B EN2-8B EN2-9B	EN2-10C		EN2-12E
4	AC9E4LA03	AC9E4LE01 AC9E4LE03 AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY06
5	AC9E5LA03	AC9E5LE05	AC9E5LY03 AC9E5LY06	EN3-1A EN3-2A EN3-3A	EN3-5B EN3-6B	EN3-7C		EN3-9E
6	AC9E6LA03	AC9E6LE02 AC9E6LE03 AC9E6LE05	AC9E6LY03

Chapter 9: Revision

9.1–9.3

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F		AC9EFLE02		ENe-1A ENe-2A	ENe-7B ENe-8B ENe-9B	ENe-10C	ENe-11D	ENe-12E
1	AC9E1LA10 AC9E1LA07	AC9E1LE03	AC9E1LY06 AC9E1LY08	EN1-1A EN1-2A	EN1-6B EN1-7B EN1-8B EN1-9B	EN1-10C	EN1-11D	EN1-12E
2		AC9E2LE03	AC9E2LY02 AC9E2LY03
3	AC9E3LA03	AC9E3LE03	AC9E3LY04 AC9E3LY06	EN2-1A EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-7B EN2-8B EN2-9B	EN2-10C	EN2-11D	EN2-12E
4	AC9E4LA03 AC9E4LA12	AC9E4LE01 AC9E4LE02 AC9E4LE03 AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY02 AC9E4LY06
5	AC9E5LA03	AC9E5LE04 AC9E5LE05	AC9E5LY03 AC9E5LY06	EN3-1A EN3-2A EN3-3A	EN3-5B EN3-6B	EN3-7C	EN3-8D	EN3-9E
6	AC9E6LA03	AC9E6LE03 AC9E6LE05	AC9E6LY03 AC9E6LY06

Chapter 10: What else—what next?

10.1–10.4

Year	Australian Curriculum: English			NSW syllabus
	Language	Literature	Literacy	Objective A	Objective B	Objective C	Objective D	Objective E
F		AC9EFLE02 AC9EFLE04 AC9EFLE05		ENe-1A ENe-2A ENe-3A ENe-4A	ENe-7B ENe-8B ENe-9B	ENe-10C	ENe-11D	ENe-12E
1		AC9E1LE02 AC9E1LE04 AC9E1LE05	AC9E1LY05	EN1-1A EN1-2A EN1-3A	EN1-6B EN1-7B EN1-8B EN1-9B	EN1-10C	EN1-11D	EN1-12E
2		AC9E2LE02 AC9E2LE03 AC9E2LE05
3		AC9E3LE03 AC9E3LE05	AC9E3LY06	EN2-1A EN2-2A EN2-4A	EN2-7B EN2-8B EN2-9B	EN2-10C	EN2-11D	EN2-12E
4		AC9E4LE04 AC9E4LE05	AC9E4LY06
5	AC9E5LA03	AC9E5LE04 AC9E5LE05	AC9E5LY06	EN3-1A EN3-2A EN3-3A	EN3-5B EN3-6B	EN3-7C	EN3-8D	EN3-9E
6	AC9E6LA03	AC9E6LE03 AC9E6LE05	AC9E6LY03 AC9E6LY06

References

• Allen, P 1990, Bertie & the Bear, Penguin Books Australia
• Bates, D 2013, Wordgames: Activities for creative thinking and writing (.pdf 49 kB), Five Senses Education, Seven Hills, NSW
• Bateson, C 2002, Rain May and Captain Daniel, University of Queensland Press, QLD
• Bob G, 1988, Crusher is coming!, Puffin Books, Penguin, Australia
• Browne, A 1995, Willy the Wimp, Walker Books, London, UK
• Browne, A 2002, Gorilla, Walker Books, London, UK
• Carroll, L 1993, 1871, Through the looking-glass, Harper Collins, USA
• Constable, K 2012, Crow Country, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Coerr, E 1977, Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes, Puffin Books, Penguin, USA
• Crew C & Hathorn, L 1999 Dear Venny, Dear Saffron, Lothian Books, Port Melbourne
• Cusworth, R & Simons, J 1997, Beyond the Script, PETAA, Sydney
• Dahl, R 1984, The BFG, Puffin Books, London, UK
• Dahl, R 1988, Matilda, Puffin Books, London, UK
• Derewianka, B & Jones, P 2012, Teaching language in context, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, p. 64.
• Dalton, J 1990, Adventures in thinking Adventures in thinking: Creative thinking and co-operative talk in small groups, Thomas Nelson, Australia
• Dickens, C 1850, David Copperfield, Bradbury and Evans, London, UK
• Dickens, C 1853, Bleak House, Bradbury and Evans, London, UK
• Dickens, C 1861, Great expectations, Bradbury and Evans, London, UK
• Elliott, A 2006, ‘Pathways to Literacy,’ Research Developments, Vol. 16, Article 3.
• Ewing, RA, Simons J & Hertzberg M 2004, Beyond the Script: Take 2, PETAA, Sydney (ePub version)
• Fienberg, A 1995, Tashi, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• French, S 2012, Other Brother, Walker Books, Australia
• Gee, JP 1996, Social Linguistics And Literacies: Ideology in Discourse (Critical perspectives on literacy and education); 2nd ed, Routledge, UK
• Gervay, S, 2000, I am Jack, HarperCollins Publishers, Sydney, NSW

• Gottschall, J 2012, The Storytelling Animal, Mariner Books, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, New York
• Hardy B, 1997 ‘Narrative as a primary act of mind’, in The cool web: The pattern of children’s reading, M Meek, A Warlow, G Barton (eds), The Bodley Head, London, UK.
• Hobbs, L 1994, Old Tom (series), Puffin Books, Penguin, Australia
• Honey, E 1996, Don’t Pat the Wombat, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Hughes, T 1968, The Iron Man, Faber & Faber, London, UK
• Hunt J & Brooks, R 2012, The Coat, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Hutchins, P 1970, Rosie’s Walk, Puffin Books, London, UK
• Jennings, P 1994, The Gizmo, Penguin Books, Australia
• Jinks, C 1994, Pagan in Exile, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Kelleher, V, 1983, Forbidden Paths of Thual, Puffin Books, Harmondsworth, UK
• King, SM 2005, Milli Jack and the Dancing Cat, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Labov, W 1970, The study of non-standard English, National Council of Teachers of English, US
• Lillico. I 2000, ASPA Conference report
• Lowe, K 2002, What’s the story: Making meaning in primary classrooms, PETAA, Sydney
• MacLachlan, P 1988, Sarah Plain and Tall, Puffin, Books, London, UK
• Mahy, M 1988, The great piratical rumbustification & The librarian and the Robbers, Puffin, London, UK
• Marsden, J 1989, Staying Alive in Year Five, Pan Macmillan, Australia
• Marsden, J 1998, Everything I know About Writing, Pan Macmillan, Australia
• McDonald, L 2013, A Literature Companion for Teachers, PETAA, Sydney
• McDonald, M & Pryor, BM 1999, The Binna Binna Man, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Millard, G, 2003, The Naming of Tishkin Silk, HarperCollins Publishers, Sydney, NSW
• Nicolopoulou A 1997, ‘Children and narratives: Towards an interpretive and sociocultural approach’ in Narrative development; Six approaches, M Bamberg (ed), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ
• Nicolopoulou, A 2002 ‘Peer group culture and narrative development’ in Talking to adults, the contribution of multiparty discourse to language acquisition, S, Blum-Kulka & CE Snow (eds), Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, NJ
• Pryor BM & Ormorod, J 2010, Shake a Leg, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Roy, J 1999, Captain Mack, University of Queensland Press, QLD
• Scieszka, J & Smith, L 1992, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, Viking, NY
• Scieszka, J 1992, The Frog Prince Continued, Puffin Books, New York
• Shanahan, L 2006, My Big Birkett, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Shanahan L & Quay, E, 2003, Bear and Chook, Lothian Children’s Books Australia
• Trinca R & Argent, K 1987, One Woolly Wombat, Kane/Miller Book Publishers, Brooklyn, NY
• Waddell M & Oxenbury, H 1991, Farmer Duck, Walker Books, Newtown, NSW
• White, EB 2006 (1952), Charlotte’s Web, Penguin Books, Melbourne, Vic
• Wild, M & Brooks R 1995, Old Pig, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Wild, M and Brooks R, 2000, Fox, Allen & Unwin, Crows Nest, NSW
• Wild M & Blackwood, F 2013, The Treasure Box, Penguin Books, Australia
• Winton, T 1993, Lockie Leonard, Scumbuster, Piper, Chippendale, Sydney
• Wells, R 1975, Morris’s Disappearing Bag: A Christmas Story, Puffin Books, NY

Further reading

• Alexander, R 2008, ‘Talking, teaching & learning’, in Essays on Pedagogy, Routledge, London, pp 92–120.
• Cremin, T, Gooch, K, Blakemore, L, Goff, E & Macdonald, R 2006, ‘Connecting drama and writing: seizing the moment to write’ (.pdf 220 kB), Research in Drama in Education, 11(3), pp. 273–291
• Davis, A. 2013 Effective writing instruction, Eleanor Curtain Publishing, South Yarra, Australia
• Derewianka, B 1990, Exploring how texts work, PETAA, Sydney (ePub)
• Hertzberg, M 2009, ‘Reader’s Theatre texts to improve fluency and comprehension’, PETAA Paper, PETAA, Sydney
• Hertzberg, M 2012, Teaching English language learners in mainstream classes, PETAA, Sydney (ePub)
• Holliday, M 2010, Strategies for writing success, PETAA, Sydney (ePub)
• Raymond A, Oatley K & Oatley M 2008, ‘The function of fiction is the abstraction and simulation of social experience’, Perspectives on Psychological Science, May 2008 3: 173–192
• Rossbridge, J & Rushton, K. 2010, Conversations about text 1: Teaching Grammar using literary texts, PETAA, Sydney (ePub)
• Ryan, ML, 2007, ‘Toward a definition of narrative’, in The Cambridge Companion to Narrative, D Herman (ed), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 22–36
• STEPS Professional Development, 2005, First steps writing resource book, STEPS Professional Development, Perth, Australia
• Turbill, J & Bean, W 2006, Writing Instruction K-6, Richard C. Owen Publishers, New York, USA
• Turner, M 1996, The Literary Mind, Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp. 4–5
• Wing Jan, L. 2009, Write Ways, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia

Useful websites

• A place for talk in a writers’ workshop, article by Erin Ciccone, 2001
• Australian Children’s Books
• English for the Australian Curriculum (website with units of work)
• ‘Exploratory talk before writing’, (.pdf 407 kB) article by Jenna Cooper, 2012
• Authors in schools: Writing workshops for primary students (60–75 minutes), by Deborah Abela,
• Ideas for free writing: Creative writing prompts, ideas and resources; Writing inspirations; Pictures to inspire creative writing; Inspirational teaching.
• Indigenous storytelling (audio)
• Writing using online journals: Write in private; It’s My Diary
• Mind mapping and story webs: Bubbl.us brainstorm and mind map online; Digital storytelling skills
• Reading games at Fun Brain
• Research on talking before writing (search results)
• Storytelling in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families
• Storytelling to celebrate cultural diversity
• Talk for writing (.pdf 285 kB) Department of children, school and families, UK 2008
• Tongue twister books; The Little Giant Book of Tongue Twisters; The Alphabet Tongue Twister Word Book
• Twenty-first Century Educational Technology: Creativity In The Digital Classroom
• Vocabulary games
• Word games
• Writers’ Centres: ACT | Allen & Unwin | NSW | NT | QLD |  TAS  |  VIC |  WA