Outline Workshops for Schools Workshops for Adults Comments Recent Workshops and Residences (2005-9) Schools Adults Readings and Talks Teachers’ Resources Education and Participative Projects Outline I worked at the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh, from 1996 to 2004, as Fieldworker and Assistant Director, running poetry sessions in schools, libraries, community centres and prisons across Scotland. Since then, working freelance, I've led workshops for children, young people and adults for organisations including the National Library of Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council, RCAHMS (Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland), Edinburgh College of Art and Creative Partnerships Tees Valley. In workshops I encourage participants to draw on their own knowledge – of the local area, of objects with personal associations, of a subject they are interested in – then offer stepping-stones and structures to enable them to write in their own voice about it. Workshops for Schools An overview of the schools workshops I offer is in there & then, here & now – poetry sessions for schools There is a poetry workshop for older secondary pupils in the teachers' resource On the flyleaf Some particular sessions are also listed below. Riddles & Rhymes A selection of poems for younger children which emphasises participation – rhymes to learn, refrains to chant, riddles to guess, lines to add their own names to, poems to adapt. Some simple writing exercises can also be included. (P1-P3) Football Haiku Pupils are asked about where they play football – organised games to kickabouts with a friend – places they know, not what they see on TV. They are introduced to the 'football haiku' form – three words, one word per line – by examples printed on t-shirts, which they are invited to wear, so others can read the poem. Different types of approach are highlighted: rhyme, alliteration, list, command, etc. Pupils write their own 'football haiku'. (P5-P7) Odes An ode is a poem addressed to someone or something. Pupils choose a favourite thing, and can even bring it to the workshop. One of Pablo Neruda's Elemental Odes, such as 'Ode to the Seagull', is read and discussed, then pupils make notes about their object - what it looks or sounds like, people or places they associate with it, and so on. They write ‘An Ode to...’, addressing their chosen object as 'you'. (P6-S2) Two Hands ‘Making a Poem-house’ is a writing and art workshop I run with Brigid Colins. Pupils are asked to imagine, then describe in writing their ‘poem-house’, using this as the ‘blueprint’ for then actually making it. Pupils can also write poems and then make a specially designed page to ‘house’ it, with each individual page being bound together to make a unique book. (P4-S2) Mesostics In an acrostic poem, reading down the first letter of each line reveals a new word or words. In a mesostic poem, any letter within the word can be highlighted; these form a central ‘stem’, with the other letters as ‘branches’. The ‘stem-words’ can include names – of people, places, plants – or subjects studied at school. The form helps to consolidate and extend vocabulary, and to use words in imaginative combinations. (P4-S6) Haiku & Renga A haiku is a three-line poem about nature and the seasons, and ideally the session includes a 'haiku walk' outside. We read haiku from Scotland and Japan (where the form originated), and compile a word-list to help write haiku about the current season. Renga is a group composition of linked haiku-like verses. A short session outlines the principles, while an all-day session (involving one or more groups or classes) leads to a full twenty-verse ‘nijuiin’ renga. (P6-S6) Riddles Writing a good riddle requires similar skills to devising a metaphor – the ability to describe an object accurately but from an unusual angle. After reading both ancient and modern riddle-poems, pupils make word-lists around particular objects, and from these write a riddle, which others can try to guess. (S3-S6) Workshops for Adults Some of the topics for schools also work well with adult groups. The short forms of haiku, mesostics and one-word poems are enjoyable and challenging, while haiku can be extended by way of a communally written renga. Flyleaf poems and odes draw on memories, and encourage the telling of stories unique to the teller. Additionally, a session such as 'Everyday Writing' looks at diaries, notebooks and letters, and takes the minutiae of day-to-day experience as a starting point for writing. Comments I really enjoyed working with you because I learnt about haiku poems and you only use 3 lines for it. I liked going for the walk and getting good ideas for the haiku poems. I also enjoyed the presentation when we read our haiku poems to our parents. [P5 pupil, Midlothian] My favourite part was when we got to write our poems. I have been inspired and now want to be an author or poet when I leave school. I liked writing the poems and was annoyed when you told us to stop. I didn't really like poetry before you came but now I am much more interested in it and I am sure I will write more poems on lots of other different subjects. [P6 pupils, Glasgow] [The pupils were] very interested an enthusiastic about poetry. They enjoyed presenting their poems and were proud of them. I was surprised by the sheer variety of options available. [Primary school teachers, Aberdeen, on 'Inside Out'] The workshops again were a great success. I have spoken to the children about the workshops and they really seemed to enjoy the sessions and learned a lot about poetry. The teachers were delighted and would love to have you back next year. [School librarian, Glasgow] Very enjoyable for someone like myself with a very limited understanding of poetry. A useful, interesting and enjoyable two hours especially at the end of a busy day. [Primary school teachers, Glasgow on 'twilight' CPD session] A very enjoyable session with many user-friendly ideas for all age groups with lots of possibilities for extension. Great practical ideas that would suit any class/stage. Getting us to participate made me feel I could achieve this with my class. [Primary school teachers, CPD session, Aberdeenshire] I popped in on the last Mesostic workshop today and really enjoyed it. Bethan and Ken have worked incredibly hard and have some really interesting work from the school children. I am very excited about seeing the next stage. [Arts Manager, Milton Keynes Council, on 'Mesostic Curriculum'] An enjoyable evening, the tutor struck a very good balance of leading and letting those attending loose. [Adult writer on a 'flyleaf' writing session] Recent Workshops and Residences (2005--10) Schools wide waves small circle workshops with schools on Lewis and Harris centered on the exhibition Ian Hamilton Finlay: Sailing Dinghy at An Lanntair, Stornoway, 2010 Offsite school workshops for the Scottish Poetry Library in venues including Gladstone's Land (17th century house), The Georgian House, Holyrood Palace, Scottish Parliament and Scottish National War Museum, 2006-10 CPD poetry CPD sessions for teachers in Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Angus and Edinburgh, 2007-10 Patriotism, Privations and Peace a workshop for secondary schools based on the letters of Amelia Laws, who worked as a nurse in France during the First World War, WORD Festival, Aberdeen, 2010 Robert Tannahill workshops for primary schools centered on the work of the poet, who died in 1810, Paisley, 2010 Tales of the City workshops with Edinburgh secondary schools looking at their immediate environments, 2009-10 Inside Out residency at Middleton Park Primary School, Aberdeen, working with all classes from nursery to P7, 2009 The Diaries of Andrew Mathieson a workshop for secondary schools based on these 19th century farming diaries, WORD Festival, Aberdeen, 2009 Mesostic Curriculum Sir Frank Markham Community School, Milton Keynes, and Billingham Campus School, Tees Valley – writing mesostic poems on the names of curricular subjects, with selected poems later painted up as artworks / signage in the school, 2009 / 2007 Edwin Morgan Archive sessions with primary and secondary pupils, and CPD sessions for primary and secondary teachers, reading and discussing Morgan's poems, 2008-9 Gothic in the City writing workshop for S5/6 pupils, drawing on the work of Iain Rankin & James Hogg, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2008 Moving Stories poetry workshops on immigration and travel with primary schools in Edinburgh and Glasgow, 2008 Nine Colours mesostics project with Reception and Year 3 pupils at Tweedmouth West First School, Berwick-upon-Tweed, 2008 Ravenscraig mesostic workshops at Dysart Primary School and Viewforth High School, Fife, 2006 Leaving it all behind: Scottish soldiers' wills workshops at the National Archives of Scotland with secondary pupils, 2006 Time Capsule workshops with two primary schools, Leven, Fife, writing poems for a time capsule, 2006 Write On! residency in Aberdeenshire working in seven secondary schools on the subject of Land/Sea, 2005 Adults Pandora’s Light Box working with visually impaired people and their helpers as part of a writing commission for artLink and Talbot Rice Gallery, Edinburgh, 2010 Strathcarron Hospice, Denny creative writing sessions for patients, 2010 A Renga for St James verse-chain written over four days with 17 participants and presented on hoardings by the River Wensum, Norwich, 2009 Edwin Morgan Archive sessions with writers’ groups, prisoners, reading and discussing Morgan's poems, 2008-9 Renga mastering renga days at venues including Ten Hill Place, Edinburgh (a hotel run by Royal College of Surgeons), Linlithgow Book Festival, the hidden garden, Glasgow, and An Tuirrean Arts Centre, Portree, Isle of Skye, 2005-8 Edinburgh College of Art writing sessions for returning adult students, on Haiku, 20th Century Scottish Poetry, and Everyday Writing (journals, notebooks, letters, etc), 2007-8 Aberdeenshire Literacy Project poetry workshops for literacy tutors and learners in Banchory, Peterhead and Inverurie, 2007 Treasured Places poetry workshops with army veterans from Erskine Edinburgh and Royal British Legion Scotland, organised by RCAHMS (Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland), 2007 Readings and Talks I can read from my collections On the flyleaf and Souvenirs and Homelands, and work published in pamphlets, anthologies and magazines; from my translations including those gathered in Feathers & Lime; and work in specific forms, including haiku and mesostic poems. In recent years I've read my work at WORD (Aberdeen), StAnza (St Andrews poetry festival), Edinburgh International Book Festival, Ars Poetica (Bratislava, Slovakia), Literaturhaus Schleswig-Holstein (Kiel, Germany), National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh), Wigtown Book Festival. These are some of the talks I've given in recent years. Facing the Blank Page how art students can start writing poems, Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen, 2009-10 Old Town Poetry Tour a poetry walking-tour of Edinburgh's Royal Mile, 2007-10 Edwin Morgan a talk on the poet’s life and work, Central Library, Manchester, 2009 Selected Works conversations / readings with Galway Kinnell, Dumfries, and with Tessa Ransford, Edinburgh, 2006 / 2009 Goethe-Institut Glasgow chairing readings by German writers Thomas Rosenlöcher, Sasa Stanisic and Jan Wagner, 2005-9 Archives and Creative Writing a talk for the Society of Archivists, National Archives of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007 Gothic Gloom & Doom readings for Halloween from works by Byron, Hogg, Stevenson, Rankin, etc., National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh, 2007 No circumstance not grounded in reality a personal look at the John Murray Archive, Wigtown Book Festival, 2006 Ganging Up Against the Void Ian Hamilton Finlay in the ‘50s and ‘60s, National Library of Scotland, 2005 A personal introduction to Slovene poetry Lennox Literary Society, Dumbarton, 2004 Other topics I can speak on include 20th century and contemporary German poetry Translating poetry Concrete and visual poetry Writing as a collaborative art Teachers’ Resources National Poetry Day In 2010 I wrote resources for poems by Laennec, MacCaig, Mackay Brown and McLaren, and in 2009 for poems by Imlah, Jamie, Kay and MacCaig. http://www.spl.org.uk/ed_npd/npd_poems.htm Edwin Morgan Archive Eight resources centered on poems by Edwin Morgan from the 1950s to the 2000s for primary and secondary schools, published online at www.edwinmorgan.spl.org.uk/resources/index.html Wer d'ye come fae Seven lesson plans for secondary school teachers, based on poems written in 2007 during workshops involving Scots and refugees, with poets Gerry Cambridge and Iyad Hayatleh, published online at www.spl.org.uk/ed_resources/wer_dye_lp.html Poems United: resources for teachers Eight lesson plans for Poems United: A Commonwealth Anthology, ed. Diana Hendry and Hamish White (Black and White Publishing / Scottish Poetry Library, 2007) published online at www.spl.org.uk/ed_resources/poems_united_lp.html Moving Stories: An Ode to... A lesson plan for primary school teachers using poetry writing to look at issues of identity and belonging (Scottish Executive, 2006) http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Education/Schools/CelebratingSuccess/resources/poetry Four different lesson plans for using the Scottish Parliament as inspiration for writing poetry. http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/education/resources/teachingResources/poetry.htm Education and Participative Projects http://www.alecfinlay.com/ninecolours/animation/index.html Nine Colours, an animated colour specification and mesostic poetry project conceived and managed by Alec Finlay, was a collaboration between Ken Cockburn, Evee Garner, Jack Lowe and pupils of Tweedmouth West Infant School, Berwick-upon-Tweed. http://www.alecfinlay.com/Mesostic_Curriculum.pdf Mesostic Curriculum is a new web-book that features poems composed on the subjects of the curriculum, by pupils of Billingham Campus Secondary School in collaboration with Ken Cockburn and Evee Garner. A selection of poems were realised as signs in the school and photographed by Ginny Reed. http://www.nas.gov.uk/about/060605.asp Poems from a schools workshop with the National Archive of Scotland, based on soldiers' wills http://www.renga-platform.co.uk/ Alec Finlay developed his 'Renga Platform' events in 2001, and since then I've participated in and 'mastered' renga events in Scotland and beyond. http://www.renga-platform.co.uk/webpages/rengawithchildren.htm I've also run renga with primary and secondary school children – some of these are featured here. http://www.jarrold.com/content/renga.htm A renga written in and about Norwich, 2009 http://linlithgowbookfestival.blogspot.com/2007/11/double-yellows-linlithgow-renga.html A more recent renga (November 2007).