i‑Learner Education Centre

Teacher Diaries

Teacher Diaries – Mr. MacDonald

I want to take the opportunity to talk about the importance of imagination in story writing as well as more generally in the other schoolwork and tasks children often have to do. I believe that having a good imagination is a key skill for anyone to possess in modern society. With so many new challenges and opportunities facing young people today that didn’t exist previously being able to think creatively and imaginatively puts one at a great advantage. No matter what field of study or work a young people might go into there is bound to be novel technology and new breakthroughs awaiting them. These demand the ability the think creatively in dynamic situations. These skills are learned at a young age through story writing and other activities which are used to craft and develop new ideas and thought processes.

At i-Learner even our youngest students are exposed to interesting engaging stories to nurture their budding imaginations. I always enjoy quizzing students on their thoughts just after finishing a book. What do they think happens next? Who really came out on top? Or does the story really finish happily ever after? Asking questions like these often elicits unexpected answers and students commonly surprise you with their responses. I find even the young kindergartners can speculate on the endings of stories and this I feel is vital for their development.

I’ve picked some examples of my students’ work to share with you. These are examples of when the student was asked to think creatively and produce some writing or fictional work from a prompt.