Burke and Hare, Martin and Will

A group of 5th and 6th year pupils discovered a new graphic novel at Motherwell Library on Tuesday, when they encountered Burke and Hare, written by Martin Conaghan, drawn by Will Pickering.

Martin Conaghan first discussed comic book characters from the past and present, pointing out Lanarkshire success stories, and gave some good advice on keeping a share of the profits for any would-be authors and artists in the audience. He and Will Pickering then outlined the process of creating a graphic novel, from the highly detailed script, to the covers.

Will also explained the amount of research involved in this novel, which involved visits to locations, searching for contemporary portraits of the characters and examining old Ordnance Survey maps. Even the clocks drawn show the correct time!

Pupils were particularly interested to see the finished article and pored over the original A3 artwork. Questions at the end ranged from financial enquiries and careers advice, to requests for information on other work, both in art (Will) and on BBC Sport (Martin).

Everyone then headed downstairs to the main library to check out the graphic novel collection before walking back to Our Lady’s.

Copies of Burke and Hare are now on sale in bookshops or through Motherwell Library, price £13. If anyone is interested in purchasing a signed copy, please see Mrs Macfadyen.

 

Reading Trail Winners

Five pupils accompanied Mrs Macfadyen and Mrs Mitchell to Borders on Friday as winners of the S1 Reading Trail.

The group (Rhys Bevan, Jay McMahon, Ross McQuade, Nadia Warnock, Colette Wilson) vanished amongst the shelves from the minute they entered the store and spent a happy morning discovering and exploring books on lots of different topics.

At lunchtime, everyone toured the Fort to decide where to have lunch before agreeing on Pizza Hut (which was back where they had started, naturally) where the staff made a fuss of them, which the pupils quite enjoyed.

During their walk, the group also spent ten minutes petting a puppy, which turned out to be a trainee guide dog called Venice, and building an appetite on the monkey bars in the park.

After lunch, the whole group returned to the bookshop to spend the remainder of their money, and choose a book for themselves. This involved some serious decision making, mind-changing, walking back and forth between authors and trying to remember what already existed in the LRC back at the school. Eventually everybody was happy (and relieved that they remained within budget), collected their bags and headed back to the school.

The staff were delighted that the pupils had so much fun, which was summed up by the demands that the Reading Trail be run again next year.

 

S5 Induction: Interview skills

New 5th year pupils learned how not to act in an interview, thanks to the English department. Principal Teacher, Mrs Millar, took the part of a gum-chewing, untidy, rude job applicant while the rest of the department took the role of the interview panel.

Pupils were asked to spot all the reasons why she wouldn’t be offered the job, before drawing up their own lists for more successful interviews.

 

Reading Trail Winners

Reading Trail winners from each class, holding their team labels.

The S1 classes have selected their winners. Many congratulations to the five pupils who were voted for by the others in each class for their hard work and effort.

• Ross McQuade
• Jay McMahon
• Colette Wilson
• Rhys Bevan
• Nadia Warnock

Each class was asked to vote for three pupils who had consistently worked hard and tried their best, in their reading, in their mind-map analysis of the books they had read, and in their behaviour.

Every pupil examined the work of the whole class before selecting three colleagues to vote for (secretly). In most cases, every pupil received at least one vote, and the results were incredibly close.

The five pupils will take part in a book buying away day with Mrs Macfadyen and a member of the English department.

The winning 1st year class has still to be decided.

 

Oisin McGann

3rd year pupils enjoyed a visit last Friday  from Irish author, Oisin McGann.  Oisin soon had the audience giggling helplessly as he explained how teenagers lose the ability to put their arms up and can only raise them to their shoulders.

Oisin McGann at OLHS

He then explained how he is inspired by everyday things:  hair sticking up at the back of your head, or an unusual face. He seems to have left OLHS with plenty of inspiration!

He left us with a fantastic illustration from his latest book, Strangled Silence (which also has cool black pages).

Many thanks to Scottish Book Trust and Scottish Friendly Children’s Book Tour for bringing Oisin to OLHS .

 

Educating Rita

Higher English in the pink at the Citizens' Theatre

Report by Emma Crielly

As part of our Higher English course, the play that was chosen for us to read was Educating Rita a funny and believable piece of work by Willy Russell. Educating Rita is set in Liverpool. Rita is a cheeky 27 year old Scouser who decides she wants to be an ‘educated woman’. She is given a tutor, Frank, a worn out creative hippie who would prefer to be in the pub instead of teaching. A way to help us understand the play more was to go and see a live performance in Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre.

Other than the cold, I really enjoyed the play, which had only two actors, Charlie Lawson and Emma Cunniffe. They put on a really good performance and kept the audience’s attention right until the end. I would recommend the play to anyone who likes a laugh.

 

Sensory Garden

2nd year English classes are helping to create a variety of Spots for Thought for our Sensory Garden. Most S2 classes have now visited the garden (in all weathers) and have been inspired to create their own work and find verse and quotations from other writers. 

Pupils have also created Wordles, word clouds created from another piece of writing or a collection of appropriate words. A wordle for this blog entry is below. 

A wordle from this blog entry

Each piece of writing is added to a background photograph (selected from creative commons photos on FlickrStorm) or decorated with Clipart with the words carefully formatted to best advantage.

The Thoughtful Spots will be laminated before being hung from the fence of the Sensory Garden.

 

Reading Trail Update

The 1st year Reading Trail is now at its halfway mark, with Team Supreme taking the lead, although The Thompson Terrors are close behind. The figures change with every Period as more books and mind-maps are completed and more feet added to the wall.

How many feet does your class have?

Each pupil has set themselves a target for a number of books to read before Easter, completing a mindmap for each book, and adding a foot to their class trail to mark that achievement. From this point on, the competition becomes more intense as classes leapfrog each other on a daily basis.

All five classes have now recorded more than twenty completed books, with many more pupils insisting that they have almost finished theirs. The final class winners will be selected not just on the number, but more importantly, the quality of their work, which so far this year, is extremely impressive.

• 22 Mitchell Crew: 29
• HYT: 30
• Team Sneddon: 25
• Team Supreme: 40
• Thompson Terrors: 34

 

Oisin McGann

3rd year pupils have a special event on Friday afternoon when Irish author, Oisin McGann, arrives at OLHS to talk about writing and his latest book.

Mr McGann will talk to 3rd years in the school theatre, with time for questions afterwards. You can also buy a copy of one of his books and have it signed, if you want to. There is absolutely no obligation to buy.

If you already own one of Oisin’s books, feel free to bring it along and get it signed as well.

Oisin McGann’s website is here, and includes information about his novels, interviews, articles and writing tips.

Please see Mrs Macfadyen if would like more information.

 

Reading Trail

1st year pupils have started this year’s  Reading Trail, a collaboration between the English Department and the Library Resource Centre.

The aim of the Reading Trail is to encourage a more positive attitude towards reading and pupils are rewarded for effort, perhaps by reading before going to sleep at night, or not giving up on a book too quickly. There is also a competitive edge, between classes and between individual pupils within classes;  prizes are awarded for effort and achievement, and judged by both staff and pupils.

Pupils are asked to complete a brief mindmap for every book they complete, and then add a footprint to the class “trail” in the Library Resource Centre.

The Reading Trail will run from now until Easter and parents can help by ensuring the children have an opportunity to read for a short while every day, and that they have something to read with them.