School Workshops

During a classroom workshop Alex will usually perform a selection of his poems whilst interacting with the children, asking them questions and generally getting them involved.

After performing his poems the workshop will commence and unless any particular topic is requested the workshop may unravel as follows.

• themes/prompts - Alex will always encourage the Children to create their own poem however sometimes it can be tricky to get going. So Alex will come equip with exercises and ideas to get the brain ticking, these prompts can be taken away later on or kept, there is no hard rule during the creating of poems. 

for example -           below is one of many ideas of a way to get a poem going through a prompt.

At the Magic Hour 

                       I have a super power.......

 These two lines are written on the board and they become the beginning of the poem,

after this the class will consider Super Powers ( which is always great fun)

Invisibility, walk through walls, fly, teleport, super strength, laser eyes, stretchy, fire body, mind reader.

But what do we do with our Super power if we only have it for one hour ' The Magic hour'?

The fact that there is a time limit on the super power unravels a variety of super power questions,

Does the Super Power drain my Energy? Do I need to keep it a secret? where does the temporary power come from? Must I use it for good?  

Whilst the Children are writing Alex will walk around the class providing encouragement and asking questions to spark ideas . 

Alex will encourage the children to use figurative language and give examples of how this can enrich their writing. 

                      Simile, Metaphor, Idiom, Personification,Onomatopoeia,Hyperbole 

                                             ( For younger children this may not be necessary)

This is always super fun and Some Marvellous Super Power Poems are created as a result.

Alternatively 

With prior notice Alex can tailor the workshops to meet the requirements of the teacher, relating to Term Topics, Nature, Environment, Inclusion, Space, Identity and so on...

At the end of each session the children are welcome to perform their poems to the class, This is great for confidence, self expression and language skills. 

furthermore, the children are advised to edit their poems when the class has chance and complete a second and third draft where necessary - here they understand the editing process and that almost everything they read has been carefully altered and enhanced to completion. they can then add illustrations to bring the writing to life if they like.