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THE PRESENTATION No matter what the size, I work to keep my presentation very hands on and interactive with the audience I begin by drawing and storytelling about how and where I get my ideas. I then take the students through the process of creating a book. I bring sketches, dummies, original art and proof sheets. Students in the audience help me hold the dummies that can stretch the length of ten children. The older the students, the more involved I get in the writing process of making picture books. |
| . The final part of my presentation involves slides of my family, studio, home and town. Because the books that I write and illustrate are often based on my family and community, the students can see where these stories come from. I end by answering questions from the students and teachers.
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The presentation can be followed directly, or later that day or even the next day, by the workshop.
In the workshop I become the publisher and the students become the illustrators. Using a short simple poem, first we brainstorm ideas together and then the children draw their own illustrations. They each create their own dummy.
The workshop is a lot of fun for everyone. But it also pulls together everything that I have talked about in my presentation. The students see that even though they all have the same text, they are different artists. As long as they are true to the words, they can go crazy with their own illustrations. Like each child, each book is unique.
An
important function of the workshop is that it is a time when the students
can share with me what they can do. They can call me by name, pull on
my skirt and see that I am a real person. I have found over the years
that this approach to working with children is not only enjoyable for
me, but also beneficial for the students. I am told there are children
that have saved their dummies for years!
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THE DUMMY I have a sample dummy that I send to the teacher
or librarian a month ahead of my visit. This has a poem divided
up on pages in a booklet. The school copies one dummy for each student.
The dummy is three 8 1/2 x 14 pages folded in half and is easily
run off on a photocopier. |
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SUPPLIES Besides a dummy, the students will need drawing materials such as pencils and/or colored pencils, crayons, markers. I have found the older students like the detail they can get using pencils and the younger ones love the strong colors from markers. |
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