Author Nadine Aisha Jassat has been working on a Live Literature school residency project with P5 pupils at Prestonfield Primary School in Edinburgh. We spoke to class teacher Anna, who told us about the impact of the project:
‘It was Sam, our Support for Learning Teacher and Literacy Co-ordinator, who applied for the residency last year and we’ve worked together on the project with Nadine Aisha Jassat. Sam had read this book about pupils in an inner-city school in London, and how they didn’t write in their own voice, but using American language. This felt relevant to our school, as we really want the children to feel confident sharing their story and developing their own voice. For more than half of our kids, English is an additional language and lots of our pupils have moved from overseas.
We decided to work with our P5 class as they’re particularly reluctant writers. They were starting school during the pandemic which definitely impacted them, and we’ve struggled to engage them in writing since.
Nadine encouraged a lot of talking and listening so the kids could share their own experiences. . . [She] was really good at providing a structure, so the kids didn’t always have to write a lot to participate.
We were so lucky to have Nadine, as we really wanted to work with an author who could encourage our pupils to share their diverse stories. Nadine is all for sharing home languages in class which was really important to us. We hadn’t thought too much about what genre we would write in, but it was poetry that Nadine did with the class, or at least that was how their stories were presented at the end of each class. I think poetry was a really good way to engage the children, without forcing them to sit down and write a full story in the traditional way.
During the sessions, Nadine encouraged a lot of talking and listening so the kids could share their own experiences. She introduced a lot of arty activities and brought the children outside. She wasn’t about having the children sitting in their seats the whole time, she provided lots of opportunities for them to move, share and listen. We also have lovely gardens at the school, so we made the most of that.
The children were pretty open from the start, as I think they warmed to Nadine very quickly. When it came to the actual writing part some of them did find it challenging, but Nadine was really good at providing a structure, so the kids didn’t always have to write a lot to participate.
During one session we did spine poetry which was great for our reluctant writers. The children could either pick out books that they were drawn to, or pick ones around a certain theme, and then they could play around with stacking them up in different ways to create a poem. There are some very able children in my class and others who find writing really challenging, so this allowed everyone to get involved.
I remember one child had a standout moment. He’s a very reluctant writer, to the point where he would just shut down and not engage with writing at all. Nadine introduced the idea of using props one day, and it just so happened that he had a lot of his own little plushie toys from home. His group of four came up with a brilliant story using his toys and then he actually went on to write the story down. It was a huge moment for him as he hasn’t written anything like that for probably about two years. He seems a little less reluctant to write since then, which might not be entirely down to Nadine, but this definitely helped. There have been lots of special little moments, but that felt like such a turnaround for him. Nadine led the sessions in such a way that they were accessible for all the children.
Some of them aren’t confident readers, but we saw a real difference in the children. Both Nadine and I found it quite emotional!
During our final lesson, all the pupils shared a poem they’d written, then around nine of them went on to read their poems during a school assembly. It was important to us that our pupils felt pride in what they’d shared and created. Some of them aren’t confident readers, but we saw a real difference in the children. Both Nadine and I found it quite emotional!
Nadine also did spine poetry with staff during our CLPL session, and some of the poems we created were really moving, while some of them were really funny. During that session she really managed to switch up the attitudes of the teachers, providing useable ideas that could work for so many different classes. Nadine also gave us loads of book recommendations, including ones with characters of all different backgrounds and ones for children with additional support needs. We sometimes struggle to find the time to read new books for our classes, so this was really helpful.
The residency had such a positive impact on our pupils, and we all wish that Nadine could stay longer.’
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