How to support your (exceptionally) creative students

In 2023, Year 12 Kilvington Grammar School student, Claudia Sherman, won the prestigious Kill Your Darlings School Writing Prize. Offered annually by the Kill Your Darlings literary journal, this national prize recognises outstanding writing by secondary students. Accepting multiple genres, including fiction, essays and genre pieces, the Prize is designed to sit within students’ current workload—whether for assessment, exam preparation, their project-based learning model or an extra-curricular writing club.

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“The piece I wrote was titled Woke Up in the Middle, and it was initially for my Literatureco ursework,” explains Claudia. “My short story shares the experience of a young woman navigating her ageing mother’s Alzheimer’s disease. I focused on the shift in the dynamic of their relationship, with the mother no longer able to provide the warmth and stability of childhood as she becomes dependent on her daughter.”

“Winning the competition changed my perspective of my own abilities and my grades significantly,’ explains Claudia. ‘Until this point, I had measured my success and intelligence by the marks I achieved and my position in the cohort. This competition showed me that intelligence and success are not binary, nor are they only determined by academic performance.”

Claudia acknowledges that she was surprised by the win, as she did not consider creative writing her ‘forte’, but it was her literature teacher, Sonia Murr, who encouraged her to look beyond school for opportunities.

“My Literature teacher, Sonia Murr, was amazing throughout the year,” explains Claudia. “She was one of the first to highlight that VCE is not the only measure of success and capabilities, emphasising that in real life, success can be found across different avenues and standards.”

Related story: How to be a Teacher with a Creative Side Hustle

Provide safe opportunities to create and play

“I never believe students when they tell me “I’m just not creative”,” says Sonia Murr, Academic Dean of English at Kilvington Grammar School. “Often that is a response that has been programmed into them because of the way they have been perceived at some point. Creativity is often a mindset. The same can be said for those who claim not to be creative.”

Murr believes that creativity can emerge as a result of developing confidence, so the best way to nurture students is to offer opportunities for them to ‘back themselves as creative thinkers and writers’.

At Kilvington, this manifests as the Kilvington Writers Festival, where students from all year levels are invited to enter creative pieces such as short stories, micro and poetry. Students are also encouraged to enter other competitions such as the Kill Your Darlings, the Dorothea Mackellar Poetry Prize and a local competition, the My Brother Jack Awards.

“I think that lots of opportunities for low-stakes formative feedback are fundamental to building the confidence.  Building a trusting classroom culture that makes space for students to share their work and feel validated is really important too,” explains Murr.

“I think primary teachers are amazing and secondary teachers can learn a lot from them; from the way a room is set up, encouraging play, and incorporating joy as much as possible,” she adds.

Claudia agrees that one of the best ways to support students is to provide an environment that enables and encourages vulnerability in a safe space.

“Creative expression is much more vulnerable than other areas of writing, as it requires people to share their personal ideas and creations to be judged by their peers or teachers. This can produce feelings of self-consciousness and fear of sounding stupid or – for lack of a better term – lame, and it is especially intimidating for those who don’t consider themselves writers or imaginative thinkers.

I believe an environment that acknowledges, celebrates, and encourages this vulnerability nurtures creativity, which is more constructive than simply providing framework for a narrative.” Year 12 student, Claudia Sherman

Shift the horizon beyond school

“I think placing emphasis on the world outside VCE is important. It is so easy to feel overwhelmed as you near the pointy end of the year, especially given the inherent competition and comparison of the ATAR,” explains Claudia. “The revelation that success is broader than academic performance is what I am most grateful for in this experience, as it opened my eyes to the bigger picture outside the bubble of VCE, and really helped my confidence.”

Murr, who does a lot of work with VATE in the professional development space and co-wrote the teacher guide for the new VCE ‘Creating Texts’, says that teachers should be prepared to learn alongside their students.

“Secondary teachers need to think carefully about texts that are relevant and engaging and be prepared to learn alongside their students. Rinsing and repeating the same classics year in and out can not only act to stifle student creativity, but also put a limit on how fresh and energised our approach is to teaching. I always find that teachers who are prepared to say to their students, “Let’s find out”, model curiosity and possibilities for inquiry in the best possible way. Teachers who present as “knowing everything” are not always providing a helpful model for young people who are developing creative and critical thinking skills.”

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2024 – A Year of Writing Competitions for Your Students to Enter

How to Be a Teacher with a Creative Side Hustle