Turn your most wayward apprentices from scruffy-lookin’ nerf herders into Jedi Masters with this creative writing and illustration workshop. Creative writing workshop -- six sessions -- fiction EPISODE I II - SOME AMAZING ILLUSTRATIONS!   As well as exploring the Star Wars universe through discussion and writing, the wonderful drawings in the graphic novels were also a great source of creative inspiration. I taught the children some basic drawing skills: shading, colour and inking. These practise illustrations were a chance for the children to put those skills into action.    

History Focus Week - Leeds primary school, Year 5 .  The Vikings - February 201 6 Bu ilding on the children's work on the Vikings during their hi sto ry topic wee k, I decided to put the rich vocabular y they had been learning to good use with these fantastic word-art portrait s.  We discussed the meaning of Viking runes and the children matched a n appropriate symbol to a n image : s tr ength with a horse, protection with a helmet , fire with a drag on.  The children charcoal - transferred an image onto a strip of pape r (their first time!) and then used the vocabulary to fill in the lines. As a set they look very effective! Visit the gallery to see more examples of thi s great w ork !  

Turn your most wayward apprentices from scruffy-lookin’ nerf herders into Jedi Masters with this creative writing and illustration workshop. Creative writing workshop -- six sessions -- fiction EPISODE I I - T HE PROCESS BEGINS! Darth Vader illu stration by Vict o r in ink, charcoal a nd wat ercolou r Picking up this tale from where we left off, six boys who find writing challenging were chosen to join a creative writing workshop using Star Wars graphic novels as their inspiration. After having time to watch snippets of Episode IV and freely pore over various graphic novels, their enthusiasm for Star Wars had been well and truly tapped into. It was time to start the process of producing a piece of writing. My basic ethos with writing is not revolutionary. Guiding children through a detailed and immersive process rather than springing a writing assessment on them might seem like an obviously, preferable route. It is, however, surprising how seldom this approach is really f...

ARTiculate Bulletin wc 22.2.16 Have you tried Flotsam by David Wiesner Buy this book! Image copyright by the owners.  This is a strange book; the good kind of strange. The sort of book that will keep you and the children puzzling and poring over it in the hunt for hidden meaning and the intricate details you almost certainly missed the first ten times you read it. Almost completely wordless, children of any age or ability will find this a stimulating and thought-provoking starting point.  If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for  Flotsam  can be found  here .  To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking  here  and sending me your details.

Turn your most wayward apprentices from scruffy-lookin’ nerf herders into Jedi Masters with this creative writing and illustration workshop. Creative writing workshop -- six sessions -- fiction A few weeks ago, in a primary school not far away, six young boys strapped on their lightsabers, set the coordinates for the jump to light-speed and began a journey that they would never forget. Now stop making a lightsaber noise and concentrate... This, of course, was a Star Wars creative writing and art workshop. Using graphic novels and the original movies as the starting point, the six Padawan writers were guided through the process of turning an idea (and enthusiasm) into rich, controlled story telling whilst also experimenting with simple illustrations. And worthy of Master Yoda, the results were. Over the next week, I will post a series of short articles explaining how Star Wars in the classroom can turn your most wayward apprentices from scruffy-lookin’ nerf herders into Jedi Ma...

George Lucas (yes mom, the guy who directed Star Wars) talks here about how the school system in America is obsessed with teaching the 'grammar' of communication and how the arts, drama, cinema and music are labelled as 'creative fun'. He's spot on. ARTiculate workshops help children understand how ideas can be communicated in ways additional to writing. Click here to see the creative literacy workshops I offer.     

Inspired by a visit to the cinema, this week's bulletin features creative ideas for Shakespeare's epic Macbeth by Leon Garfield. This is taken from a collection called Shakespeare Stories and is a book I remember knocking around our house when I was a little boy! It's brilliant though and easily my favourite retelling of the classic plays. If you try any of the ideas I'd love to see the work your children produce. A  'Have You Tried?'  ideas sheet for Macbeth can be found  here .  To request this in pdf format, please join the mailing list by clicking  here  and sending me your details. ------------------------------ ------------------------------ -------------------------- Book a FREE taster workshop for your school   ------ ------------------------------ -------------------------------------------------- This half term I am offering FREE creative literacy taster workshops to primary schools in Leeds. If you ...