Workshops

Slam Bootcamp

Poetry slams are easily the most exciting and interactive ways to engage young people with poetry, and this workshop is a crash course in slam, in which participants will write, perform and share their work in a high-energy, but supportive environment. And don’t worry if you think your students might feel intimidated- one of the strengths of slam is that even if you don’t perform, you still have an active role to play in the audience. I can vary the focus areas depending on time, but as a guide, a three hour version of the workshop will include writing prompts, performance exercises, an intro to microphone technique, and a hosted slam.

The Poetry Factory

Want to give your students some sure-fire strategies to get words on the page? This writing workshop will bring together some of my most accessible prompts and strategies for getting your students writing and sharing poetry. The focus of this workshop is on providing just enough scaffolding and structure to empower our students to let their imaginations take charge. This workshop takes at least an hour and can be expanded.

Beyond the Page - Exploring voice and performance

This workshop takes poetry beyond the page, and focuses on the music of poetry, and pushes the limits of the voice and the body in performance. Through collaborative approaches to writing and performance, poetry can empower young people to feel more confident as performers and speakers. This workshop focuses on individual and group performance exercises, and will get a little weird as we start to experiment with repetition, looping and the collective voice. This workshop takes at least an hour and can be expanded.

Tiny Poets are the Best Poets - Prep to grade 3 workshop

Focusing on Prep to grade 3, this workshop is tailored for our youngest poets who - to be honest - are actually the best poets. We start with the master of rhyme Dr Seuss to help us understand that poetry is what happens when words learn how to dance, then we take to the stage with a group performance, and finally we finish with imaginations running wild as we transform ourselves into metaphors that take us beyond the moon! I know that keeping interest and attention is crucial to working successfully with the youngest writers, so this workshop is paced as a quick-fire hour. 

Talks 

The art of the in-between

Targeted towards teachers’ professional development, this talk focuses on my overlapping experiences as a high-school teacher, a poet, a performer and an arts worker, and is intended to provide insights from 10 years of working with young people as writers and performers. If you are looking for ways to build a student culture of creativity in writing and performance, then this talk is for you.