Collaborative Writing - "The Arrival" illustrated by Shaun Tan and written by Room 16 Students

"The Arrival" illustrated by Shaun Tan and written by Room 16 Students

In our last week of school students were introduced to Shaun Tan, an author and illustrator. "The Arrival" is a graphic novel that took 4 years to illustrate and is suitable for children of all ages. It has lots of detail and hidden meanings within its imagery that invites students to think more deeply about the content. Using books with a ‘hidden meaning’ encourages critical thinking and questioning by inviting the students to engage in the text. This participation is important because it links with the vision of becoming confident, connected, actively involved and lifelong learners. Critical thinking challenges their learning by developing surface, deep and conceptional understanding.

Each student took a numbered page from the book and they described that moment in time. They wrote in the third person, present tense, used senses (hear, see, feel, smell, taste) and used describing words to make their writing more interesting.

However, in order for the book to flow students had to collaborate with the person that had the page before and the page after theirs. 

We are thrilled with the result and would like to share our work with you. It is also on show in the classroom. The story does continue, and we will be adding to the story during independent / free writing time.