The importance of experience: supporting pupils’ creative writing about the natural world

Hanley, Christopher ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0470-1125, Cooper, David ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6143-3772 and Rowntree, Jennifer ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8249-8057 (2024) The importance of experience: supporting pupils’ creative writing about the natural world. Changing English. ISSN 1358-684X

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Abstract

The first part of this article considers the challenge of supporting pupils to write creatively about the natural world. It examines a text by a gifted young writer: Diary of a Young Naturalist by Dara McAnulty. It asks what the challenges might be for pupils who may be motivated to model their writing on McAnulty’s, but have limited experience of the natural world. Drawing on the scholarly work of John Dixon, Robert Eaglestone and others, the article highlights the importance of pupil experience in the formation of their writerly voice, thereby emphasising the need for writing pedagogies that deepen and enrich pupils’ experiences. In the second part, the authors present a series of interdisciplinary activities that are intended to enrich pupil experiences, and ultimately encourage creativity. The plan is aimed at pupils in Manchester in the north-west of England, but the activities can be adapted to work in other locations.