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Sally Murphy, Australian author

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Teaching Tips: Using Do Not Forget Australia In the Classroom

April 4, 2016 by Sally

I had an email from a teacher named Hillary  who asked the following: Just purchased ‘Do Not Forget Australia‘ to read to my yr 2/3 class . I was hoping to pick your brains about the best way to help the children relate to the story.  Their world view is not broad so I am searching for ways to help them identify with the story.  Any ideas?

do-not-forgetI sat down to reply to the email then decided that  there was so much I could say, and with ANZAC Day approaching, I might instead answer it here on the blog. Do Not Forget Australia is historical fiction set in 1918 and explaining the events at Villers-Bretonneux on April 25, 1918 and the subsequent rebuilding of the local school with funds raised by Australian children. The book is suitable for reads from primary school age through to adult but, as Hillary points out, some children will need extra help to understand the story.

So, here are some ideas, all of which I’ve used.

  1. Before reading, explain to children that you are going to read a story about friendship, and get them to discuss what friends do for each other. Ask them if they any friends who they’ve never met. Most will say no, but with prompting, some might remember that their family sponsors a child through World Vision or similar, or they (or, more likely, a parent) might have a pen pal.
  2. Briefly explain the concept of war and the reasons we commemorate it (this can be done either before reading, or during closer study). My feeling is that it’s important that we don’t glorify war and avoid using terms like ‘winning’, ‘victory’ and ‘enemies’ – because the complexities of war are so very great.
  3. Use a world map to show where France is, and especially Villers-Bretonneux, and also where Australia is, especially Melbourne.
  4. Talk about what travel and communication were like in 1918: no aeroplane travel, meaning to travel to France was a lengthy sea journey, and it was unlikely two children like Billy and Henri would have met in real life. Also highlight things like: no internet, no telephone, no television. Mail was slow (again by ships) so families at home relied on letters that could be quite out of date, as well as newspaper reports.
  5. After reading, talk again about friendship. Try to highlight the friendship between Billy and Henri, who never meet, but are linked by Billy’s father, the soldier who Henri helps. Also highlight the friendship between the two countries: Australian soldiers fighting to try to save the village, and later the Australian children sending money for the school; and French villagers helping the soldiers with food and warmth, then putting up the signs in the school to honour the gift, as well as continuing to look after the graves of the Australians who died. DNF Internal 2

I hope these ideas help Hillary and any other teacher or librarian who wants to share Do Not Forget Australia in the lead up to ANZAC Day. There are also teacher’s notes for the book available here.

 

If you have any questions for me about teaching my books, or about writing and publishing, or about things that happen in my books, why not drop me a line?

 

Teacher Characters #5: Mrs Little

August 9, 2015 by Sally

This is the last in my teacher-character series, where I’ve been talking about the various teachers who populate my books. It’s been an interesting experience for me, as I’ve noticed some similarities and also some differences which I hadn’t really stopped and thought about before, and now have ideas for future teacher characters as well.

Who is my teacher character? Mrs LittleRoses are Blue

What book does she appear in? Roses are Blue, a verse novel illustrated by Gabriel Evans and published by Walker Books Australia.

Why is she there? A large proportion of this story is set at school. Amber, the main character, has faced some big changes in her life following her mum’s terrible car accident. Among those changes is a new school, and new friends. As she struggles to come to terms with Mum’s injuries and differences, she also worries about fitting in at her new school.

What role does she play? Although Mrs Little isn’t a major character, it is two of her actions which really drive the story forwards. First, she announces a Mother’s Day high tea, which leads to Amber confronting what her friends will think when they meet her mum, and secondly she has the whole class enter a local art competition, which gives Amber the opportunity to follow something she loves.

What did I learn writing about her? A reminder that not all my teacher characters are me! Mrs Little likes cooking and painting – two things I am really not good at. It was great to give her skills that are not mine.

Favourite Mrs Little moment? It’s not a major part of the story, but I love that Mrs Little encourages Leroy Jamieson, during art time. Amber says:

Mrs Little tells him it is very goodroses toast

(even though it isn’t)

Then suggests he uses some colour

Instead of just his lead pencil.

When he is finished, Amber notes Leroy looks pretty proud. It’s Mrs Little’s encouragement that has given him that sense of pride. She’s a good teacher!

That concludes my series of posts about my teacher characters. If you have a favourite teacher character in a book you’ve read, I’d love for you to comment and tell me.

Roses are Blue, published by Walker Books is available in good bookstores and online.

Teacher Characters #4: Mary MacKillop

August 6, 2015 by Sally

As my series of posts about my teacher characters continues, today I move to a teacher character who is from history.

Who is my teacher character? Mary MacKillopmeet-mary-mackillop

What book does she appear in? Meet Mary MacKillop, part of Random House Australia’s Meet… series.

Why is she there? The book attempts to tell Mary’s story – or at least part of it. I was approached by Random House Australia to contribute to the series, and delighted when they suggested Mary MacKillop as the subject, as she is such an important Australian.

What role does she play? She’s the main character and the topic of the book, which shows how and why she set up her first school in Penola, South Australia. Mary and her sisters had to overcome many obstacles to start their school and ensure children had access to education.

What did I learn writing about her? I thought she was significant because she was Australia’s first saint. What I realised was how amazing she was as a strong woman in a time when women were expected be seen and not heard. Her role in establishing schools throughout Australia was very significant.

Favourite Mary moment? In the book, it’s when she tells the rich lady that although her son is very welcome at the school, he will receive the same treatment as everybody else. In real life, I think my favourite Mary MacKillop moments are when she stood up to Bishops and Priests who tried to dictate to her and treated her very shabbily.

Meet Mary MacKillop, illustrated by Sonia Martinez, and published by Random House Australia is available in good bookstores and online.

 

Teacher Characters #3: Miss Timms

August 4, 2015 by Sally

This is my third post about the teacher characters which appear in my books. If you’re enjoying them, I’d love for you to comment and tell me about your own favourite teacher character.

Who is my teacher character? Miss Timmstoppling

What book does she appear in? Toppling, illustrated by Rhian Nest James and published by Walker Books Australia.

Why is she there? A lot of the action in Toppling takes place at school as John and his mates struggle with the illness of their good friend, Dominic. Because of the number of school scenes, there needs to be a teacher. The way she interacts with her students is really significant to the plot of Toppling.

What role does she play? As the teacher of a class of year 6 students, she see them daily and knows them well. It is Miss Timms who has the job of telling the class that Dom is sick – and who also helps them deal with this. She is a really caring teacher, who seems to know how her students are feeling, and gives good guidance.

What did I learn writing about her? I wrote Toppling soon after I wrote Pearl Verses the World. I needed to be careful that Miss Timms and Miss Bruff were not too similar. I wanted them both to be nice people but not one-dimensional. So I learnt, as I wrote about Miss Timms, the importance of fleshing out a character who has only a few scenes. I show, for example, her impatience when Ky, the bully, is mean.

Favourite Miss Timms moment? The scene where Miss Timms announces that Dom won’t be coming back to school for a while because of his illness. I like it because it shows her efforts to be compassionate and honest, but still her level of uncertainty about how to deal with the situation. Good teachers are willing to show their human side to their students.

I hope you’re enjoying learning more about my teacher characters. Later this week I am going to post about my non-fiction teacher character, Mary MacKillop.John and DOm

Toppling, published by Walker Books Australia is available from good bookstores and online. It is also published in the USA by Candlewick and, under the title John and Dom, by Walker UK.

Teacher Characters # 2: Miss Bruff

August 2, 2015 by Sally

A few days ago I chatted about why I include teacher characters in my books, and introduced you to Stanley and Elizabeth from 1915. Today, I’d like you to meet, if you haven’t already, one of my favourite teacher characters.

Who is my teacher character?  Miss BruffPearl Verses the World

What book does she appear in? Pearl Verses the World

Why is she there? When I started writing about a lonely girl, I knew she was very lonely at school. Setting a large part of the story at school necessitated a teacher, but as soon as I introduced Miss Bruff with ‘her singsong voice’ and her passion for poetry, I knew she would be a major character in Pearl’s story.

What role does she play? For much of the book Miss Bruff seems an antagonist, she wants Pearl (and the rest of the class) to write rhyming poetry. Pearl hates it. She thinks Miss Bruff just doesn’t get her, But, when Pearl has something terrible happen in her life, she realises Miss Bruff is a lot more understanding that she seemed. And Miss Bruff learns from Pearl, too.

What did I learn writing about her? Miss Bruff reminds me a lot of myself as a teacher. Too often I just assume that if I’m enthusiastic about something, then my students will be, too. I learnt to perhaps stop and view things from my pupils’ viewpoints, and to remember that if there are twenty five kids in the class, there will twenty five different experiences.

Favourite Miss Bruff moment? I don’t want to give too much away, in case you haven’t read the story, but I love that Miss Bruff comes to see, after hearing Pearl read her poem outside of school, that poetry doesn’t always have to rhyme.

It is easy to portray teachers as either really nice or really horrible. I hope that readers of Pearl Verses the World, and my other books, can see that teachers can grow and learn, too. My next post in this series will look at Miss Timms from Toppling.Pearl

Pearl Verses the World, illustrated by Heather Potter and published by Walker Books, is available from good bookstores. It is also published in the US by Candlewick Press, and in the UK,under the title Pearl, by Walker UK.

Poetry Friday: Teachers

July 31, 2015 by Sally

It’s Poetry Friday and this week I have been thinking about teachers, partly because I am always asked about which parts of my own life appear in my books, and also partly because I saw this amazing tribute to a teacher online, which made me weep.


Amazing, huh?

Anyway, as a result of this introspection, I’ve started blogging about the teacher characters in my various books – yesterday I posted about Stanley and Elizabeth in 1915, and over the next few weeks I am going to post about several of my other teacher characters. So, today I went looking for poems about teachers.

In Pearl Verses the World, Pearl has a bit of an up and down relationship with her teacher, Miss Bruff. She even writes a poem about her:

A teacher known as BruffPearl Verses the World

Was very, very gruff.

She preached and she taught

Much more than she ought

Till the class had had more than enough.

Poor Miss Bruff! The good news is, by the end of the book, Pearl has a new understanding of Miss Bruff (who, incidentally, I’ll be blogging more about on Sunday).

One of my favourite poems about teachers is Taylor Mali’s poem, which you may have come across before. It begins:

What Teachers Make
by Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is
What’s a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?

You can read the whole poem on Mali’s website here or, you can see his performance here:

Teachers do make a difference. Thanks Taylor Mali – and thanks Mr Tamatea who was such an amazing teacher that 1700 students turned out to honour him. And thanks to the teachers who populate so many of my stories and do their best to guide my young characters, to cheer them on and to just teach them.

Have a great Poetry Friday. The roundup this week is at Keri Recommends.

poetry-friday-logo

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