Creative Writing Exercise: The Teacher Learns

Purpose

In this creative writing exercise, delegates get to write a short piece about an interaction between a teacher and a student where the teacher learns something from the student. This is of course contrary to the role of a teacher but it is actually more common than one might think. It requires thinking beyond the direct lesson to see what a teacher can learn while teaching a student.

Objective

Write a short piece where a teacher gets to learn something from a student while teaching.

What You Need

• Papers

Setup

• Divide the delegates to pairs. If you have an odd number of delegates use a group of 3.
• Explain that each group should work together to write a short piece of about 600 words on an interaction between a teacher and a student where the teacher learns something new.
• Encourage them to brainstorm on ideas before embarking on the task.
• Allocate 30 minutes for this part. They should write their story on paper.
• Bring everyone back together and ask each group to read through what they have written. Optionally, you can get groups to roleplay their stories.
• Ask other groups to provide feedback on the story.
• Follow with a discussion.

Timing

Explaining the Exercise: 2 minutes

Activity: 30 minutes

Group Feedback: 5 minutes

Discussion

How difficult was it to write your story? What approach did you take to make the process easier? Which group had the best story in your opinion and why? What can you learn from their approach?