Residencies

Every Picture Tells A Story

Learn to capture the stories behind those old family photos before they slip away. I work with well-known photographer Bill Rasdell as together we take you through the steps to:

• ‘read' a photo;
• identify the story or story potential within it;
• flesh out characters and places;
• translate the pictures into both oral and written forms;
• take your own photos to preserve family moments; and
• pair them with appropriate stories you've collected.

Bill and I offer this as a multi-visit arts experience so I guess it's closer to being a residency than anything else. We attempt to tailor it to fit sponsor's needs regarding time and funding. It is easily made into an intergenerational project with several final event outcomes to choose from. More details are available upon request.

Tell it Write

A teacher recently told me the jobs of tomorrow will demand of us many things we cannot predict—but three things that we can:

1. The ability to access pertinent information.
2. Knowledge of how to work with others on a group project.
3. Presentational skills, especially in the oral realm.

Tell It Write deals with the last two—and, as the title states, with acquiring writing skills.

Here's how:

If we want our children to learn to write, we must give them all the tools they'll need for the job. This program helps accomplish that. Its main claim is that we must base the move toward writing in already established (and pre-requisite) skills: namely, oral skills. By using orally told stories and this method, we slowly help children to “translate” their established (and growing) ability in speech into a written form.

This approach is firmly anchored in small group work, allowing students (and teachers) to be both tellers and listeners, writers and readers, to give and receive continuing (positive) feedback, as the back and forth flow from speaking to writing unfolds.

Inspiration and methodology for this offering goes to a marvelous book (and the author/storyteller whose wise insights inform it)—Writing as a Second Language by Donald Davis.

This is offered as a multi-visit residency, a shorter workshop in classes, or as a teacher training session.