Students imagine they have travelled through a vortex and are now trapped inside the world of a retro video game called Video Vortex. They choose their own avatar who progresses through the strange and different levels of this game as they overcome obstacles to “level up” and return home. Students develop skills in sensory writing and focus on world building and narrative structure as they create short episodes/chapters that describe their experiences moving through the game.

What is freedom to you? It means different things to different people at different times. What if you could build your very own freedom machine? What would it look like? How would it move? Where would it take you? In this one hour workshop students will explore Kirli Saunders and Matt Ottley’s beautiful picture book The Incredible Freedom Machines. They will use this as a starting point to design their own freedom machine. Students will then write a one-stanza poem describing their machine and where they would use it to go to feel free.

Ever heard of Cheese Rolling in Coopers Hill, or Worm Charming in Willaston, or the Wife Carrying Race in Dorking? In this program students act as news reporters, sent to investigate the weird traditions of small towns with odd histories. They will create a monologue for their news report, summarising town traditions, and incorporating interviewing skills in their final piece.

Looking to share contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices with your students? Each week students will explore a track by Indigenous artists and use it as inspiration for their own lyric writing. They will learn about Indigenous cultures and languages from diverse communities around Australia, and will explore their own experiences and values as they write lyrics in such forms as rap and lullabies.