Captivating Creative Writing

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Year Level:

Year 10 – EAL Students

Subject Area:

English – Creative Writing (Focusing on Narrative Short Story Writing)

Australian Curriculum Links:

• English Level: Year 10
• Strand: Literacy / Literature
• Sub-strand: Creating Literature / Text Structure and Organisation
  • ACELY1754: Create imaginative, informative and persuasive texts that present a point of view and advance or illustrate arguments, including texts that integrate visual, print and/or audio features.
  • ACELA1570: Understand how paragraphs and images can be arranged for different purposes, audiences and contexts.
  • ACELY1746: Create a range of texts, including imaginative, informative and persuasive texts, using visual, spoken or written language.

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Term:

Term 2

Week:

Week 5

Lesson Duration:

120 minutes (2 hours)

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Learning Intention

We are learning to build our understanding of expository and informative writing and structuring short narrative stories based on visual stimuli.

Success Criteria

I can:

• Identify the purpose and structure of expository and informative writing
• Create clear instructions using informative writing conventions
• Explain ideas clearly without bias using an expository style
• Structure a creative short story based on an image prompt with clear introduction, body, and conclusion

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Materials Required

• PowerPoint presentation: 04 – Informative and Expository
• Handouts with models of informative, expository and narrative writing
• Origami step-by-step instruction sheets
• Printed image prompts for creative writing
• Colour-coded paragraph organisers
• Graphic organisers for planning responses
• Sticky notes, A3 poster paper, markers
• Exit ticket templates

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Lesson Breakdown

1. Engage / Explore (30 minutes)

Hook (5 mins)

Show an intriguing short animation without dialogue (e.g. a Pixar short – teachers will choose the medium, not a hyperlink). Ask:

"Was this story informing you about something, or explaining something about life?"

Let students break into pairs to discuss, then share answers popcorn-style.

Class Discussion (10 mins)

Use 04 – Informative and Expository PowerPoint to explicitly highlight the difference between:

• Informative writing (e.g. “How to make a sandwich”)
• Expository writing (e.g. “Why sandwiches are a popular lunch in Australia”)

Teacher questions:

• What are some things you know how to do well?
• What topics do you think are important to explain to someone else?
• What is difference between explaining and telling how to do something?

Origami Task - Kinesthetic Link (15 mins)

Hand out origami instruction sheets. Students work in pairs: one reads instructions, one folds. Everyone switches roles.
Afterwards:

• Was it easy to follow? Why or why not?
• What made the instructions good or difficult?

Highlight linkage to ※ informative writing = clear, logical, step-by-step.

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2. Explicit Teaching (15 minutes)

Modelling: Compare Writing Styles

Handout with three short texts:

1. Informative (e.g., “How to Tie a School Tie”)
2. Expository (e.g., “Why Uniforms are Important in Australian Schools”)
3. Narrative (e.g., 300-word story about finding a lost school badge)

Together, identify:

• Purpose of the writing
• Tone and formality
• Structure and paragraphing
• First or third person

Mini whiteboard activity or sticky wall – students guess which paragraph belongs to which genre.

3. Apply (Creative Writing Skills Focus – 50 minutes)

Activity 1: Collaborative Genre Sorting (10 mins)

Provide mixed-up paragraphs. In groups, students sort them into:

• Informative
• Expository
• Narrative

Activity 2: Topic Writing Practice (20 mins)

Part A
Students choose one topic to practise:

• Informative: “How to survive a school camp”
• Expository: “Why school camps help students grow”

Use the Information Writing Template to structure their response.

Teacher guidance:

• Use TEEL for expository
• Use numbered steps for informative

Part B
Swap papers and peer-assess using a “traffic light” code: Green – well explained, Yellow – needs clarity, Red – confusing.

Activity 3: Preparing for Narrative Writing (Body of Lesson)

Prompt: Show students an image (e.g. a lost shoe on a beach, or a deserted train station).

Instructions (10 mins):

• "You’ll write a 300-word short story with 3 paragraphs:
  1. Introduction (setting, character, problem)
  2. Body (events develop)
  3. Conclusion (how it ends or changes)"

Use a Paragraph Colour Organiser – Intro: Green, Body: Yellow, Conclusion: Red

Planning Scaffold (10 mins):
Use a 5W1H (Who, What, When, Where, Why, How) graphic organiser with visual prompts to prepare for their story.

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4. Review (15 minutes)

Link Back to Learning Intention

Discuss together:

• What did you learn about the difference between writing styles?
• Why does it matter when to use expository vs informative?
• Was it easier or harder to write based on an image? Why?

Share responses – Invite a few students to read their narrative paragraphs so far.

Feedback Techniques:

Thumb rating system:
👍 = Understand clearly
🤷 = Unsure
👎 = Need help

Students use sticky notes to write one thing they learned, and one question they still have. Stick on exit board.

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5. Exit Ticket or Quick Language Fix (10 minutes)

Option A: Grammar Mini Review
Quick punctuation task – fix 3 jumbled sentences about a topic we've discussed.

Option B: Reflective Exit Ticket
Prompt: “One thing I now understand about writing is...”
Hand in on the way out.

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Next Lesson Link

Next week: Begin Argumentative/Persuasive Writing

• Homework: Research and list 3 persuasive techniques (e.g. rhetorical question, statistics, emotive language). Find a school-related issue you have an opinion about.
• Build from understanding of informative/expository to writing with a viewpoint

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Teacher Notes / Differentiation Suggestions:

• Pair EAL students with stronger readers for collaborative work
• Use sentence starters and visually scaffolded templates for writing exercises
• Allow use of bilingual dictionaries or visual aids
• Use physical movement tasks (origami, sorting, traffic light assessment) to engage kinaesthetic learners
• Include oral storytelling as optional task for hesitant writers

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Extension Opportunities:

• Create a digital version of your short story using Microsoft Word with images
• Create an “Instructions Video” of a task you wrote about using iMovie or PowerPoint

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This detailed lesson not only supports weak literacy students but ensures engagement through targeted, multisensory activities and scaffolded, purposeful writing tasks. Through the clear structure and intentional links to the curriculum, students of all levels are set up for success.