Julia Skinner is a retired head teacher and set up 100 Word Challenge to encourage youngsters to write creatively, the scheme has really taken off and here she tells you more so you can propose it to your children’s school too…spread the word!
As bloggers we’re passionate about writing. For many of us, that was the reason we started blogging. I wonder though how many of us enjoyed writing when we were at school. For many children, writing is a chore and when it has to be done by demand it is a real challenge.
The 100 Word Challenge is going some way to help. It is a weekly creative writing challenge for young people under 16. They are set a prompt of a few words or a picture and have just 100 words to produce a creative piece. The emphasis is on the creative as often the punctuation, grammar and technicalities can add to the burden of putting words down.
Once written, the pieces are posted on the class blogs (did you know lots of classes have them now?) and then, using a linky, linked to 100wc.net. It is here that the magic really starts because the world can visit! It is the provision of an audience that makes this writing challenge so engaging for the youngsters. They have a purpose beyond pleasing Miss or Sir. One of the philosophies of 100WC is that if you post you visit so we have youngsters commenting on each other’s work. That is SO powerful and can make more difference than the teacher explaining over and over again. It is here that 100WC has had its greatest impact.
For teachers the mantra ‘It’s only 100 words’ is great – for those who struggle as they can be persuaded it is not even a page and for those high flyers who write reams but have to be very selective when they are limited in wordage.
To make sure that there is input from ‘grown ups’ Team 100WC is a group of volunteer adults who comment on a given number of entries each week. This has really helped teachers when they are assessing the children’s work. When you see the same work over and over it is easy to think you know what has been written, where a new visitor may well see that gold nugget. The Team is made up of teachers, students, writers and others who are passionate about the power of blogging. They follow a set of guidelines to make sure that there is a consistent tone to comments.
100 Word Challenge has been very successful this past school year. In the 38 weeks it ran there were 8,000 entries from 50 countries with over 68,000 links back to class blogs. We have home educated children taking as part as well as those based in all types of school and they don’t even need to have a blog. There is a blog available for those children who either don’t have a class or a blog to use.
So, is this something that would interest your child? Could you persuade their school to take up the challenge? Would you like to join Team 100?
Do get in touch either by Twitter @theheadsoffice or through the comment form on 100wc.net
Julia Skinner
Julia Skinner is a retired head teacher who joined twitter then began blogging to fill the void left by retirement. She set up Julia’s Place and soon found herself hooked by the interaction with a virtual world. Her blog The Head’s Office is where she writes about educational matters but there are still lots of links with parents.
She founded 100 Word Challenge at the end of 2010 to encourage youngsters to write and link across the world with each other. The blog ‘100 Word Challenge’ (100wc.net) has had thousands of visitors over the past 12 months and is making a real impact on writing in classrooms. It was runner up in ‘The Most Influential Blog’ category in the recent Education Blog Awards
Julia is happy to visit schools in person or to Skype or join Cover It Live sessions. She has spoken at a number of educational conferences and has recently been invited to present at the Global Education Conference in November.
She is a chair of Governors of a Pupil referral Unit and is passionate about school governance and how it can support school improvement.
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WallyMummy
Monday 20th of August 2012
What a fab campaign - my LO is 8 months old so just slightly too young to take part herself... lol - but I will be sure to RT and spread the word! x
Julia Skinner (@theheadsoffice)
Monday 20th of August 2012
Many thanks! you could always start the ball rolling by being a commentator!