JOURNAL OF A DEBUT AUTHOR - CHAPTER ELEVEN: Excuse me, but what the hell are Teacher's Notes?

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During the publication process, I got an email from Wakefield Press asking me to have a go at writing Teacher's Notes.

My first thoughts were what on earth are those, and how on earth do I write them?!

But obviously I gave it a red hot go!
And it was a very interesting experience...

What are Teacher's Notes?

The hope with a lot of books, especially books in children's fiction, is that they may be distributed to schools and taught to kids as part of their curriculum.

This could be a lesson specifically about creative writing, and using a YA book to examine point of view, voice, descriptions, characters, dialogue etc.

Or it could be a lesson that digs a little deeper, looking at interpreting theme, symbolism within text, or maybe even just trying to raise some open ended questions to get kids thinking differently. 
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And a lot of teacher's notes include little tasks that students can do, or discussions points etc.

​Well, at least this is what I figured out after reading a lot about them on the net, and finding a whole heap of examples to go through!
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Examining Your Story from a completely Different Angle.

Actually, it was a really interesting experience working on these notes, because it really forces you to examine your story from angles you’ve never thought of before, basically to see what questions, themes and ideas you can draw from the text.

The whole time I kept thinking how strange it was, to start pulling out hidden symbolism or themes from a story I’m so familiar with, which I obviously didn’t insert on purpose, but if you look closely enough you can find all kinds of questions that teachers’ could ask their students to encourage critical thinking, emotional intelligence and skills like interpreting themes beyond the text.
So all in all it was a very interesting experience.
 
My version of the teacher notes was a bit of a massive brain dump, and I believe that Wakefield Press then did some tweaking and editing of them a little bit, but hopefully I will have the opportunity to share them here in the future, for anyone who is interested.

The process was quite fascinating, and I also really liked googling teacher notes of other YA novels to see how they were structured and what sort of questions and activities they drew from the text. It is a wonderful way to further explore a story, and I am kind of fascinated to start reading more teacher notes, particularly for YA novels I really loved, as I think they can give a deeper understanding of the meaning behind certain stories and help with the skill of critical reading, which I am still learning myself.

​Embarrassing Yourself.

I will admit that writing the teacher notes was extremely hard for me.

Whenever I am in the position of doing something creative with a direct end goal of showing it to other people (unlike writing novels where you have no idea if you’ll ever manage to get it in front of someone who matters) I find myself burning with embarrassment for the dumb things I am sure I am writing. Working on the teacher notes was no exception. I was positive every question I was asking was dumb and that I was embarrassing myself, so it was a real struggle.
But at the same time, I felt very proud of myself when I had completed the first draft.

It is a wonderful thing to be given a new challenge that you’ve never faced before, and ultimately succeed in creating the thing you set out to do.
 
So that was great in the end, despite the struggle!
But hey, what is art without a bit of struggle?

Nothing, apparently.
 

Some Examples from my Teacher Notes Draft!
So I guess I better show some of the things I put together to give you an idea, though I'm not yet sure how these may have changed for the final version.

There's some little bits and pieces in here from the book, but nothing too spoilery!
Here are some of the draft questions I put together!

• In chapter 8 (p. 52) Alice states that she refuses ‘to be embarrassed by what I liked.’ Do you think it is brave of her to stand by her opinions even if others don’t agree? Describe a situation where you felt embarrassed because of something you liked? Do you ever pretend to like things to fit in with those around you?

• Describe the difference between Alice and Teddy’s home-lives (for example: their houses, locations where they live, their bedrooms, relationships with their family). Do you think these differences matter to Alice or Teddy? Who do you think they might matter to?

• In chapter 4 (p.31) Alice states: ‘When I get to school all anyone can talk about is how Stacey Green made out with some guy at the party. There’s even a photo, a big wet mess of glazed eyes and sloppy tongues, and everyone is laughing about it, whispering and pointing as Stacey walks through the halls.’  Our lives are often caught on camera or video and posted online (by ourselves or by others). Do you think it is easy to move on after making mistakes or doing things people make fun of? Why do you think everyone in the statement above made fun of Stacey Green but barely mentioned the boy she was kissing? Do you think people made fun of him too? 

• In chapter 6 (p.41) May says, ‘Having a social experience is part of high school too. It teaches you how to relate to other people.’ Do you think it’s an important skill to be able to interact well with others? Is this something you can learn to do well? What difficulties do you think face people who are shy?

 

• In chapter 8 (p.54), Alice is with Teddy Taualai at the Art Gallery looking at a painting they both like (In the Sassafras Valley, Victoria by Isaac Whitehead – Art Gallery of South Australia). The following quote appears; ‘I glance back at the painting of the forest. At first there doesn't seem to be much besides the shadowy gum trees. But if you peer a little closer it is dark and deep like a well with no bottom. Anything could be hidden there, if you bothered to look hard enough.’ Alice is describing the painting in this statement, but what else is she talking about? Talk about symbolism in text and how it can be used to show what a character is feeling / the progressing stage of a relationship. 

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So it basically goes on and on like that, and then gets even more into pointed questions about creative writing and POV and stuff like that.

Anyway, I hope that was interesting, as I certainly hadn't come across Teacher Notes prior to this experience!
:)


Thanks for reading!
Had you ever read Teacher Notes before?
Let me know your thoughts!