Kids love to write, right?
Okay, maybe not always.
But they will when you bring me to your school for fun, exciting writing workshops.
This exciting new series of workshops allows teachers at any grade level to pick a workshop topic for their students to work on during the Artist in Residence Program.
I’ll come to your school for a day of presentations and then return for a few more days of workshops with individual classrooms or grade levels. Students (and teachers) will have fun as they develop their writing skills.
Because the writing process is so time consuming, I’ve designed these workshops as hour-long lessons that can be used at many grade levels and applied to any writing curriculum. By working on shorter, more focused topics, I can visit more classes during a school residency and be sure to target the skills that classroom teachers are interested in.
Please contact me for details about scheduling a residency program.
I’ll come to your school for a day of presentations and then return for a few more days of workshops with individual classrooms or grade levels. Students (and teachers) will have fun as they develop their writing skills.
Because the writing process is so time consuming, I’ve designed these workshops as hour-long lessons that can be used at many grade levels and applied to any writing curriculum. By working on shorter, more focused topics, I can visit more classes during a school residency and be sure to target the skills that classroom teachers are interested in.
Please contact me for details about scheduling a residency program.
Workshop Descriptions
Really, Really Bad Superheroes - Thinking Creatively: In this workshop, we develop the vitally important skills of thinking creatively, being okay with failure, and working slightly outside our comfort zones. We will flex our creativity muscles by designing the worst superheroes we can imagine. We'll take usually desirable superpowers and twist them into hilariously awful or completely useless non-powers. We will discuss expectations and how creative people can use those expectations in unexpected ways as we design powers and outfits for our new, really bad superheroes. The skills addressed in this workshop are ones that students seem to be struggling with more and more. this is a fun way to introduce these skills, which can be applied in all areas of life and learning.
From Pose to Prose: In this workshop, we will share ideas for how we can successfully work in ways that may initially feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable. We will draw very fast gesture drawings of student volunteers and use the drawings as a springboard to creating exciting stories. Partners will combine art and words to create a fun story with a sense of structure.
Idea Generation: We discuss where ideas come from, how the students generate ideas, and then use drawings as a springboard to create characters and put them in an interesting situation. Students work with partners to create a drawing and create a story. The students spend some time creating a rough draft of a story to accompany their picture, focusing on the first sentence, creating an interesting hook to grab readers' attention.
Comic Book Pages (Plot Development): Graphic novels are becoming an increasingly popular form of writing. In this workshop, students work with a partner to create a one-page comic story. Storytelling conventions and story structure are the primary focus of this very popular workshop. We work unusually, developing a plot form the middle of the story to build a strong story structure.
Visual Storytelling: We discuss how writing and illustrating are linked and how illustrations help tell the story. Students create thumbnail sketches to accompany a very short story. We discuss point of view, chronological sequencing, focusing visual attention.
Editing/Revising: This fun workshop focuses on word choice, not grammatical rules. We revise a very short story together as a group, discussing what is wrong with the story and how it could be improved. Then students work in pairs to revise a story that I supply them with. They get to share stories and see the wildly different way that people chose to revise the same story. We focus on choosing strong, specific language, use of similes and metaphors, and sentence fluency.
From Pose to Prose: In this workshop, we will share ideas for how we can successfully work in ways that may initially feel unfamiliar or uncomfortable. We will draw very fast gesture drawings of student volunteers and use the drawings as a springboard to creating exciting stories. Partners will combine art and words to create a fun story with a sense of structure.
Idea Generation: We discuss where ideas come from, how the students generate ideas, and then use drawings as a springboard to create characters and put them in an interesting situation. Students work with partners to create a drawing and create a story. The students spend some time creating a rough draft of a story to accompany their picture, focusing on the first sentence, creating an interesting hook to grab readers' attention.
Comic Book Pages (Plot Development): Graphic novels are becoming an increasingly popular form of writing. In this workshop, students work with a partner to create a one-page comic story. Storytelling conventions and story structure are the primary focus of this very popular workshop. We work unusually, developing a plot form the middle of the story to build a strong story structure.
Visual Storytelling: We discuss how writing and illustrating are linked and how illustrations help tell the story. Students create thumbnail sketches to accompany a very short story. We discuss point of view, chronological sequencing, focusing visual attention.
Editing/Revising: This fun workshop focuses on word choice, not grammatical rules. We revise a very short story together as a group, discussing what is wrong with the story and how it could be improved. Then students work in pairs to revise a story that I supply them with. They get to share stories and see the wildly different way that people chose to revise the same story. We focus on choosing strong, specific language, use of similes and metaphors, and sentence fluency.
The Fine Print:
Workshop Fees:
First day of residency: (Up to 4 presentations/workshops) - $1,550.
Each additional day: $850 per day - up to 4 workshops per day.
Travel/lodging fees apply to schools more than an hour away.
Contact me for more details.
First day of residency: (Up to 4 presentations/workshops) - $1,550.
Each additional day: $850 per day - up to 4 workshops per day.
Travel/lodging fees apply to schools more than an hour away.
Contact me for more details.