Assemblies and Classroom Writing Workshops: (K-12)

Teachers are encouraged to choose the focus of a visit. I offer a menu of many options including Creating First Sentences, Writing From Prompts, The Art of Details, Poetry Writing, Creating Classroom Picture Books, Biography and Autobiography

 

 

Teacher In-service Training:

Basic Writing Tips and Activities and Writing Across the Curriculum

 

Parent Evening Workshops:

Writing and Reading at Home with Your Children

Library and Family Concerts for all Ages:

I offer both family programs and storytelling programs just for adults.

Writing Residencies for Elementary and Middle Schools

A residency is the most cost-effective way to spend cultural programming dollars. It is my favorite way to spend a week or longer; because every child, teacher and parent has a chance to participate, work on writing projects over a number of days, see progress, and receive follow-up support.

Each school helps me design their residency based on their needs and interests. Schools have found these residencies a particularly effective way to prepare students and teachers for upcoming writing activities, as well as standardized testing.

The Schedule
The week begins with assembly programs for all of the students. These are followed-up with classroom writing workshops. The rest of the week is based on the school’s needs. Some schools opt to have every child participate in more than one workshop. Other schools ask me to devote the balance of the week working with a particular grade. For instance, in a school I may work with the just the first graders to create a picture book in which each child contributes writing and artwork for one page.

School Assembly Programs
Assembly programs are 45 minutes to an hour in length. They are designed to be age appropriate and highly interactive. I  think of  myself as a Teaching Teller. At the center of every performance is a story building/writing activity during which I teach the students and the teachers a simple technique for creating stories and generating writing. The children help create an original story, then I ask the teachers to keep the list of ideas to use for follow-up in the classroom. When the story is complete, I ask the teachers, all at once, to tell the story out loud. Everyone speaks so no one needs to be shy. The children love it and the teachers directly experience a writing system that calls for writers to brainstorm out a story and then to tell the first draft before they attempt to write. It is quite effective.

 For younger children the stories are a combination of listening stories and audience participation. For older students, I usually tell listening stories.

Writing Workshops: Building Original Tales
Fun and incredibly effective! This is a 30 minute classroom workshop that introduces techniques for generating student narratives, and can be utilized by the teacher throughout the year. No longer will you hear, “But what do I write?” Workshops are adaptable for all grade levels, even kindergarten.

Free Time
When not in class, I can be found in the school’s library or other available room, where I am happy to meet with children and teachers for one-on-one help with writing, or to work on lesson plans and classroom strategies. During the week I am often asked to present additional programming – an evening workshop for parents, or a teacher in-service training. A number of schools have had me perform an evening concert for families and the community, and used it as a fundraiser to offset the cost of my visit. Tom tailors his visits to the individual needs of each school.

BOOK TOM!
For fees and scheduling, please contact my booking agent, Ellen Augarten, at
413-586-6813, or through our Contact Us page.

Looking forward to seeing you this year!