Exemplary Practices 2008

Writers Write, Don't They?

In teaching high school English, there is often a tension between theory and practice. In earlier years, as they learn the joy of reading, students are excited and enthralled by stories. Is there a danger, however, of high school students tuning out when they are taught the theoretical aspects of English such as irony, metaphor, symbol and theme?

"What I discovered," says Terence Young who teaches grades 10-12 English, English Literature and Creative Writing at St. Michaels University School in Victoria, British Columbia "is that students really liked to write their own material. They were most happy when they were handing in a poem or a short story or some sort of creative work they had invested themselves in."

Roughly 20 years ago, Young asked his principal if he could start a writing class. The principal replied that if he could get kids to sign up, they'd put it in the timetable. "What they wrote astonished me," says Young. "I was not prepared for the intensity of their feeling or their ability with language." Knowing he was on to something, he and a teaching colleague launched a literary magazine that features young writers from across the country and even, around the world. By knocking on doors of private industry, they secured enough funding to launch The Claremont Review, the name of Young's former high school.

The Claremont Review runs a writing contest each year where young writers submit stories for the chance to win cash prizes. The covers are also designed by students who submit their ideas. On the magazine website are teaching resources for educators, providing support for creative writing courses. Over the years, two of the magazine's student submissions have been short-listed for the Journey Prize, Canada's most prestigious award for short-story writing. One of those submissions was written by sixteen-year-old Nick Melling in Young's first writing class at St. Michaels University School. Melling is the youngest person ever to have been nominated for the award.

So what is the secret to inspiring teenagers to write from the soul? Part of it comes as a result of exposure to working writers who visit Young's classroom. Young is himself a published writer who has been short listed for The Governor General's Award and won a book prize from the city of Victoria. He can speak with authority and apply his own writing skills to the classroom. "I don't really believe that I teach so much as I simply model. I believe that the students are great mimics. If you say, this is a model of what is good in writing or what is good in poetry, then they will often say, why didn't you say so? I can do that. I've learned with creative writing that the best teacher is the poem itself or the poet," he says.

Some of the models Young uses are Robert Pinsky's poem The Shirt or Wallace Steven's 13 Ways of Looking at a BlackBird. Like all good writing, they show but do not tell. "If you give that to students and you say, okay, this is Robert Pinsky, he has shown you a simple item in his life. Have you got something? What have you got?" Then students go away and eventually come back with something that Young feels is "simply astonishing, convincing, powerful and true".