Day 4 began with a journal entry provided by Emmet which captured the events of the previous day and served to prompt us all to write. This urging was continued in the only demo of the day which was from Ellen. Ellen works in FE and she sketched her journey to becoming a teacher in that sector noting along the way the startling fact that when she returned to learning in Maynooth University a good few years ago there were only 12 mature students enrolled - what a trailblazer! Ellen provided us with a great overview of her work and emphasised how she wants her students to engage with English and to enjoy it. She also wants them to succeed. As part of the demo we all wrote a piece inspired by a number of objects that Ellen had brought. We weren't restricted by genre so there was a a range of reactions. We all spoke about what we had chosen and how it had influenced what we wrote.
The second half of the day was devoted to writers' group and to a contribution from two returning fellows Mary and Claire. Mary and Claire spoke about how they teach poetry and how they combine written texts with performance. Mary has several examples of student work which helped us to see the results of her and her students efforts. It was great to be reminded by Mary about how much she likes teenagers (I recalled her saying that at her demo last year but had forgotten).
Tomorrow is the last day of SWIFT 2015 :-)(
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