Morton Schools Project – Literacy (ages 11–14)

We suggest that these activities would be most suitable for pupils aged 11-14, but please feel free to explore all the articles in this series.

A black and white photograph of a person standing on an empty road. The wind is blowing their open jacket back, and they are holding on to their hat on their head.

A black and white photograph of a rough sea, with waves crashing against the rocks on the shore.

A sepia photograph of a large horse standing outside a stone farm building with four men. One of the men is shoe-ing the horse and another is holding the horse’s reins.

The times suggested beside each activity are intended to be a guideline; you’re welcome to spend as much time on each activity as you like.

Activity 1

(30–60+ minutes)

Choose one of the photographs from the top of the page. Write a piece of creative writing based on the image. This can be a poem, a short story or a scene from a play.

If you’d like to think about this a little bit more, you could try recording yourself presenting your piece of writing once you’re done.

Activity 2

(30–60+ minutes)

Choose one of the photographs from the top of the page. Imagine this photograph was on the front page of a newspaper. Using your own knowledge, online resources and books to research journalistic techniques, write a news article that would accompany this photograph.

We’d love to see what you come up with! Feel free to send them to us at @NTSCollections on Twitter or @nationaltrustforscotland on Instagram.