Teresa Cremin outlines how short stories can offer exciting possibilities for classroom work

UKLA believes that drama is both a creative activity in its own right and a vehicle for learning.

In an extended cross-curricular project, Years 3 and 4 create a poem scroll based on a traditional Bengali form of poetic narrative. Through drama, discussion and close examination of the original poem, the children came to understand the horrors of the tsunami and wrote and illustrated their own narrative poem, which they made into a scroll.

UKLA has published several reviews of tried and tested books. These aren’t new publications but books which members recommend as practical and accessible.

This paper originally appeared as a chapter in the UKLA book Connecting, Creating: New ideas in teaching writing edited by Susan Ellis and Colin Mills and published in 2002. The book is now out of print but some of the chapters have been revised and updated as part of a new series of downloadable papers for members of UKLA.

In this popular series, the published Books for Keeps review of the featured story is combined with a summary of the key themes in the book, some teaching ideas, and connections to other stories that teachers may find useful.