Rain is coming, it said on the news, and outside there is a stillness in the air above the mountains and a hushed light, as if all is waiting.

Meditating before you write is like that quiet time before the rain falls. It’s a way of stopping one life – that of jobs, family, friends, incessant thoughts, finances, housework – and stepping into a land where there is only quietness, as if for a few minutes, or half an hour, we are bathed in a stranger light.

Standing, we are stilled. Silent, we are called to action.

Then we move, as if from a decontamination zone, to a more exuberant world.

Is it possible to write straight from the ordinary world?

Yes – in the moment of turning from the world to the keyboard or page there is a change: I give up this world for that.

With meditation, or prayer, or time of thanks, that time is extended. It is a time to renew, so you are not rushed from world to page, and importantly it is a time to be thankful. It’s like saying grace before a meal.

Writing proceeds then from a sense of acknowledgement that it is not the thoughts of the writer but the grace of the subconscious, the sum of all, that is coming through.

*Taken from my eBook which will be available later this year.

Teacher resource notes for Shreves’ Promise Download PDF

Teacher resource notes for What About Bo? Download PDF

Unit Plan for Silverstream, Year 10

This is a 20 lesson resource for teachers.  The following is a brief description of the lessons.  The complete lesson plan can be downloaded here: Download PDF

Unit Plan English – The Novel

Title: Silverstream, by Jillian Sullivan

Rationale: Silverstream is a book that offers year 10 students an adventure story with tension and drama to keep them reading and on a deeper level an exploration of the meaning of freedom for a society. The story has strong female and male characters and good use of language techniques for studying. It offers scope for discussion and activities exploring to what extent an individual can and should go against the rules of the day when their conscience tells them it is the moral thing to do. The book is set in New Zealand slightly in the future, when the government has gone back to putting unemployed people in work camps, but then uses these camps as a way to control people.

The main themes in this novel are to do with freedom – and how much freedom should a community give up to achieve a standard of living, the dangers of someone else deciding what rights a person has and the role of the individual in standing up to a regime. The book can encourage a look at the heroes who have stood up for society as well as showing teenagers who do this and make a difference. It examines courage and choice, concepts students of this age group are facing in their lives as they grow towards adulthood.

Links to other units: Poetry. The main heroine in Silverstream carries a poetry book into the dangerous camp with her and at certain points the poems stand as an inspiration or explanation or even prediction of what is to come. One activity I use is to look at the role of poets in fighting against war, abuse of power and encouraging people to stand up for freedom. This will link into a future unit on poetry that will look specifically at the war poets. By reading some poetry in the context of a teenage adventure novel, students could go into the war poet unit with more understanding of what the poet was protesting against.

The unit also links to a future unit on myths and legends, specifically studying the hero’s journey within myths of different cultures. The main threads of a hero’s journey can be studied in this novel and can also be linked in to units on film as well as myths. The book used in this unit is Myths and Legends – the gift of stories from our cultures, by Jillian Sullivan (Pearson Education 2007).

The current unit will be linked to achievement objectives at level five of the English curriculum in three strands – written, oral and visual.

Skeleton of Unit:
Total of Lessons – 20
Includes Reading Time – 6 periods plus homework

Lessons 1 & 2 AO 2 a, b, e, d. LO 1, 4.
Pre-reading classes
Links (interpersonal speaking, interpersonal listening, using texts, thinking critically,
Ten minutes -Introduce novel briefly – name, author, NZ book,
Twenty minutes – Whole class discussion on nature of heroes
Ten minutes – Read first few pages to introduce style and voice in novel and to lead into the idea of a quest
Twenty minutes – Teacher led discussion of hero’s journey as related to myths – Ordinary world, Call to Adventure, Crossing the Threshold, The Wise Mentor, Trials, Allies and Enemies, The Innermost Cave, Combat with the Shadow, Return with the Reward. For first task, model example of story of Orpheus and Eurydice.

Next lesson
Ten minutes – Pass out myth books and task sheet. Break class into groups, 6 x 4 or 5 for duration of unit.
Assign myth stories one to a group. Define expectations for group for task
Thirty minutes to read story and discuss in light of questions will be asked by class. Twenty minutes – First three groups present to class. One person introduces context, one performs short speech as hero, rest to answer in hot seat questions from class as shadow, mentor, threshold guardian or ally.
Class to write down paragraph in books about each hero and one aspect of their journey.

Resources:
Silverstream – Jillian Sullivan
Myths and Legends – the gift of stories from our cultures – Jillian Sullivan, using
stories – Rau-whata, Hine-marama, Theseus, Meng Chiang, Odysseus, Tautini-awhitia (three Maori, two European, one Asian)

Lesson three: 1a, 2a, d, e. LO1,2, 4.
Reading, interpersonal speaking, interpersonal listening, thinking critically
Fifteen minutes – rest of groups present hero stories. Teacher to carry out formative assessment that they understand the archetypal stages can answer questions in character; can perform speech with some understanding of character.
Ten minutes – think pair share on personal aspect of hero quest they have been on themselves – sports, hobbies, race etc. identify one issue that was against them and one thing that helped.
Ten minutes – think pair share with another student on a time they have stood up for someone or something.
Ten minutes – report back to whole class with responses.
Fifteen minutes – Teacher distributes three level reading guide and books. Reads out first two chapters

Lesson four: 1a, c. 2a. LO 4
Ten minutes – Recap on beginning of book. Ask a few questions what could be ahead.
Twenty minutes – Read three chapters – one teacher, one class, one silent.
Twenty minutes – Group work on three level reading guide.
Ten minutes – Class goes over first two levels

Lesson five: 1a,c. 2a,c,d,e. LO 4
Thirty minutes group work on three level guide and report back to class.
Thirty minutes – Read three chapters – one teacher, once class, one silent.

Lesson six: 1a,b, LO 3
Five minutes – Check all up to date with book.
Thirty-five minutes – Read (combination) four chapters
Twenty minutes – Recap on board hero journey elements so far.

Lesson seven: 1a, b. 2a,c,d,e LO 3,4
Twenty minutes – Combination read two chapters
Ten minutes – teacher reads (or chooses good reader) full poem that is quoted. Whole class discussion on what poem means in story
Fifteen minutes – next two chapters read (solves above questions)
Fifteen minutes in groups looking at idea of foreshadowing as related to other poems and presenting ideas to class

Resources: photocopy of poem, appendix four

Lesson eight: 1a, 2a,d,e. LO 4
Thirty-five minutes – Combination read four chapters
Five minutes – Explain task coming up, campaign to either promote or ban the book so students can be thinking about which direction they want to go.
Twenty minutes – Whole class discussion about banning of books, some examples, what has happened.

Lesson nine: 1a,d,e. 2a,c,d,e. LO 3,4.
Fifteen minutes Final two chapters read out.
Ten minutes Post reading response. Students to write in book what they think outcome of book’s events will be.
Twenty five minutes Whole class discussion – favourite parts of book and why, what part they didn’t like and why, what characters they liked best or didn’t like and why.
Ten minutes Wordfind exercise to finish class

Lesson ten and eleven: 1a,b,c. 2a,c,d,e. LO 2, 3,4.
Close reading, exploring language, thinking critically,
Language features in writing – creating meaning and effect
Thirty minutes – Teacher led discussion of linguistic features in text
Metaphors, adjectives, active verbs, similes, sentence structure, sensory imagery, authentic details.
Teacher models and demonstrates with examples from text.
Ten minutes – Teacher led discussion about threshold guardians.
Pass out task sheet. Students to plot at which point in novel threshold guardians operate (could be main character’s fears as well) and back it up with quotes. Paste in workbooks.

Task – as individuals identify a passage in the book where a threshold guardian stood opposed to the main character Lorna to prevent or persuade her from an action. Identify the language techniques that contribute to the feeling of tension and drama in this scene.

Twenty minutes- break into small groups of five or six to discuss choices of scenes and importance of threshold and guardian. Students to identify scene they have chosen for working on in next lesson.

Next lesson –
Forty minutes to work on task.
Twenty minutes class sharing at end of lesson. Students to write in books at least two other scenes discussed and three features from them. Books collected for marking assessment.

Task: Rule up a chart in books under headings – adjectives, specific nouns, active verbs, sentence structure, metaphor, simile, chapter structure, direct speech, indirect speech, sensory image (taste, sound, touch, smell, sight)
Under each heading write if this feature applies to the chosen passage, put in the specific examples from the text and a brief explanation of how they helped add to tension in scene.

Example - (p 77-80) Lorna walks three paces from one end of the room to the other – specific detail to show how cramped the room is and feeling of being trapped. She sees the guard has tomato sauce on his collar and he smells of deodorant – this shows he is close in her personal space, adds to cramped and trapped feeling and possibility of being overpowered.

Resources – photocopy of task instruction. Appendix five

Lesson twelve and thirteen: 1a,c,2a,c,d,e. LO 3,4
Close reading, thinking critically, exploring language, interpersonal speaking and listening,
Character
Fifteen minutes – whole class discussion of characters. List major and secondary characters
Fifteen minutes – Teacher led discussion – how is a character defined? List as class under characters on whiteboard – physical descriptions, what it is they want in the book.
Thirty minutes – hand out character task sheet, model an example, then class to work individually on sheets and paste in workbook – telling what a character is like by what they say, the use of dialogue to define character. Fill in direct quote and write what this says about the character.

Next lesson -
Thirty minutes – hand out duplicate character sheet. Whole class sharing on last lesson’s work. Class to listen and write in other’s observations on four characters
Thirty minutes – in pairs decide on a character that does not have much voice in the novel or direct speech, eg Simon who was drugged, and construct outline of a missing scene for them. Individually write some dialogue for that character. Share with each other. Listening student to say what they think this dialogue shows about the character. Suggestions – Simon, Violet, Amanda’s last boyfriend, Rachael’s father

Lesson Fourteen: 1a,b,c.2a,c,d,e, LO 3,4
Close reading, thinking critically, exploring language
Plot and Theme
Twenty minutes – whole class and teacher led discussion on what is theme.
Plot plotted out on whiteboard. Shape looked at. How does theme differ from plot?
Twenty minutes – break into groups.
Task – decide on major themes of novel
Twenty minutes – report back from groups to class.

Lesson fifteen: 3a,b,c. LO 5
Presenting, thinking critically, processing information.
Static Images
Twenty minutes teacher led discussion on visual and verbal features for static image. Class to choose to do book cover or poster. Poster can advertise and support the book or used to ban the book.
Ten minutes reminder of themes for static image
Ten minutes – Pass out exemplars of posters and written concept. Discuss. Pass out task sheet and explain.
Twenty minutes to begin planning choice and concepts for project

Lesson sixteen – eighteen: 3a,b,c. LO 5
Working on task.
Task:

Resources: Exemplars, poster, task sheets, art supplies and heavy paper.

Lesson nineteen: 3b,2a,b,,e LO 4, 5
Presenting, interpersonal speaking and listening, process
Thirty minutes – Presentation to class of posters, students to answer questions about them. Posters pinned on wall
Ten minutes – teacher led discussion of role poet’s place in protest and politics.
Twenty minutes – reader’s theatre, end unit by class breaking into groups, assigned full poem from book, time to practice and then performing poem to rest of class.
This leads on to next unit on poetry, specifically the war poets.

Lesson Twenty: Fun.
Show movie to class of Sleeping Dogs (103 minutes, carry on into lunch?)

Chapter one: The Two Words

If you don’t carry on to read this book and I only have ten minutes of your time, here in brief is what it’s about. Read this, follow this, and you’ll be fine.

Open any book and select two random words; nouns or verbs – naming or action words, not a, the, she etc. (Or, as a friend and I did, take turns choosing and texting words with another writer.)

Image by karindalziel

I once wrote a book, without meaning to, by this very method; by each day taking a breath, saying a blessing and thanks for everything in my life, and selecting two random words to write at the top of the page. I then wrote for ten to twenty minutes without stopping, incorporating those words.

That manuscript grew to 250 pages and went on to become published as Fishing from the Boat Ramp – A Guide to Creating (Steele Roberts Publishing 2009). (http://www.fishingfromtheboatramp.com/)

Though I had written and published four other novels and over sixty short stories by more conventional means, I decided to write a novel consciously using the method above to see if it could be done. The result – another 250 page manuscript achieved almost effortlessly by ten to twenty minute a day slots, without thinking, over a ten month period.

Why the two words? Firstly, the random words acted as a talisman to remind me language is all around me and within me; I am immersed in the tools of my own endeavour and only have to reach for them.

Secondly, to use words you have not consciously chosen is like throwing a stone in a pool of water. The words act to stop the flow and track of mind and drop you into the deeper well of the subconscious. When it happens for one sentence, it sets you on a path. And later, another random word jolts and changes the pattern and sends you somewhere else.

Those words remind you that you are not in charge. Though you hold the pen and own the paper, and though your mind – educated and aesthetic as it may be – is in charge of what you think, if you drop below that veneer of civilized thought, of thought that must be so, or only knows what it knows, you realize your conscious mind is not everything. It is a band of thought. And below that, and beyond that, is a far greater knowledge and awareness.

Your mind is a computer that records from the moment you are born: all the visuals, the sensations, the sounds, the people, the information around you. That data is immense. And that data includes not only what we do as a child, a teenager, an adult, what we felt and thought, but also what the people around us did as well. We have access to different ways of thinking and feeling, to different characters, simply because we are part of the human race and we have grown up surrounded by humans, and by landscapes.

To write is not to come only from the conscious mind, which is the you that can recall what you recall. To write is to drop below that to the unconsciousness of all you do not know that you know. And here is where there is no fear. Once you are writing from this level there is no fear because everything you need is within you.

The fear comes each time you face the conscious level. Even though you know the deeper level is there. Even though you know how simple it is to get there. Even so, that fear once more casts its shadow. How do you get past it? The shadow of fear only works when you stand in its blackness and let it bar the way. And the quickest way I know to get through it, is to write for ten minutes and to use the two words.

What is ten minutes? Anyone can find that time. It can be in the bath, or on the bus, or outside on your break with the world on hold. Ten minutes can be achieved.

The second thing: you find two words from a book. You’re two words into your own writing already and you didn’t have to write them. They are your guide posts and your stones. At the top of the page they remind you help is with you, and when you use them they drop you, however briefly, from one level to the next.

Here are two words. Shadow. Edge.

Begin.

Jillian Sullivan

(Versions published in New Zealand Woman’s Weekly 13 March 2000, and School Journal Part 4 Number 3, 2000)

Image by eltham_mob via Flickr

All night the river wept,
moving in its dream world state.
And all night the train approached the bridge
while Lilian slept.

As she woke and shifted in her space,
she thought of Christmas, turned,
and caught her smile in glass –
the last time she would see her face.

For all night the mountain stirred,
the crater broke,
and mud swept down – a lahar bound
for Tangiwai.

Lilian thinks of her family, gifts,
of how the tree will look, what they will eat.
But water takes the bridge, and only one man sees
too late the treacherous rift.

And there, as Lilian dozes, sleeps again,
fury explodes in water, bridge, rock, train –
the detonating of so many dreams,
the hopeless collision of nature and machine …

The river slides by now, as ever,
the mountain broods, another song to sing.
And on my finger, I wear
Lilian’s ring.

Lilian was my great-grandmother. On Christmas Eve, 1953, she and her son Gordon were going up to Auckland by train to have Christmas with her daughter. That night, a section of the wall around Mount Ruapehu’s crater lake had broken away, and millions of cubic metres of water rushed down the mountain, into the Whangaehue River. It damaged the bridge at Tangiwai before the express train reached it. One man, Cyril Ellis, ran waving his torch to stop the train, but before the driver could fully brake, three carriages plunged into the flooded and silt laden waters. 151 people died.

My Mum remembers early on Christmas morning there was a knock on the door, and policemen were there to tell her father his mother Lilian and brother Gordon had died at Tangiwai. Grandad went with the police and travelled to Tangiwai to identify them. Lilian was the last person to be recovered. She had been swept fifty kilometers down the river to the sea.

Lilian’s ring is over 100 years old now (she was married in 1902). The large diamond in it is actually made of cut glass, because she eloped to be married and they didn’t have money for a diamond. On Christmas Eve l wear the ring to remember her.

Jillian Sullivan