It might seem like I haven’t been writing much lately. Partly this would be correct, due to the pressures of work and frantically trying to get all our exam students prepared for their GCSE exams, finish off coursework and prepare for possible school closures. This all came to a head on Wednesday evening when it was announced that schools were closing. Consequently, I was at a bit of a loss yesterday when faced with my group of wonderful, dedicated Year 11 students who had been told the evening before that their exams were cancelled, with no immediate plan for what would replace them. After all that wasted hard work (in their eyes, at least), and with the exam skills lesson I’d so carefully spent two hours planning sitting in my laptop’s recycling bin, I decided the only way forward was to attempt to cheer them up and provide those who needed it with a creative outlet for their feelings. To this end, I asked them to write the opening to a story following on from the first line ‘It was the end of the world as we knew it’, which included both a helicopter and a dog. Because everyone cheers up when they think about dogs flying helicopters and saving the world, right? Right.
Anyway. To cut a long story short (I’m aware this is meant to be a fiction blog, not a diary), here’s my own creative effort – constructed in 10 minutes whilst surrounded by gloomy 16 year olds. They gave me a mark of 6/10 “because your words are too fancy and confusing” and unanimously voted in favour of the story where a dog ate Donald Trump, but they also ended the lesson smiling, so I’ll take that.
It was the end of the world as we knew it. The streets were silent – unusual in what was usually a bustling part of the city. I walked past the cathedral and on towards the river. Suddenly, my reverie was broken by a loud whirring from above. I covered my ears instinctively; after nothing but silence the harsh sound was a shock. Looking up, I was astonished to see a helicopter hovering just beyond the cathedral’s domed roof. This made no sense: we had run out of fuel months ago and all vehicles had been recommissioned by the army for scrap metal. What did it mean? Squinting my eyes to see clearer, I stared into the body of the helicopter and noticed two passengers. I blinked. Surely I was mistaken. It must be my restricted post-apocalypse diet affecting my vision. Because one of the passengers appeared to be a great dane in flight goggles and army fatigues.
https://wordofthedaychallenge.wordpress.com/2020/03/20/lesson/
pencilandpaperstories 