Inspiring literacy through Workshops facilitated by Tasmanian Authors and Illustrators

In 2019 CBCA Tasmania in partnership with the Department of Education Tasmania, received a federal grant to improve the literacy of students by participating in CBCA Book Week activities and promoting educational learning experiences. 2021 will be the third year of the grant implementation which will continue until December 2022.  

One of the programs developed is the Workshops in Schools. The program is available to all Tasmanian schools including Government, Independent & Catholic schools. The popularity of the workshops is indicated by the increasing number of school memberships which were 60 in 2019 when the program was initiated, and 73 in 2020. This is remarkable considering the pandemic challenges schools faced in 2020 and highlights the impact of interactive workshops on students and teachers around the state.

 

Student Comments

• I loved the workshop with Emily (Conolan) My favourite part was when we went off and wrote our own “choose your own” stories. 
• It was a great experience to have! I can’t wait to write some more stories! 
• I learnt that “Person, Plot and Problem” are the keys to creating a good story. 

Teacher Comments

• Lian Tanner is simply great at getting the students upping the quality of their writing, she has a real gift for connecting with kids 
• Thank you for sharing your wonderful ideas, Daniel, your openness inspired us. We now have many authors/artists-in-the-making. We can’t wait to see if any of our suggestions make it to Grandma Z: the sequel.   

Creator Comments

• I am excited to have been one of the many authors visiting schools. I gain greatly from these visits too. Being a cave dwelling creator, it is always good for the creative soul to get out into the daylight and be replenished by meeting your audience and sharing and inspiring writers and readers of all ages. One of the things I love is hearing stories from others and discussing the stories I have created. (Christina Booth)
• To be able to visit schools within our own state has a certain beauty, a real attachment for our creative place. The CBCA Tasmania grant enables small schools to benefit from interacting with creators to develop ideas to inspire written and visual narratives which is often not financially viable. (Coral Tulloch)

How can l organise for a Tasmanian creator to facilitate a workshop in my school?

An annual membership of $70 entitles your school to a half day workshop consisting of two 60-minute sessions or one 90-minute session. To augment the interactive literacy experience for your students, class size groups are recommended. Regional Coordinators are available to assist you with the organisational procedures.

Coral Tulloch and
reading fans

These workshops provide an opportunity to introduce your students to our talented local creators. Your school can select an author or illustrator and view their biographies on the Creators page of the CBCA Tasmanian Branch website at: https://www.cbcatas.org/

If you are interested in participating in the 2021 Workshops in School program, please read the membership information on the website.

Leanne Rands                                                                                                                    

Past President CBCA Tasmania                                                                Past Regional Coordinator of the Workshops in Schools Program

Editor’s note: It would be wonderful to hear from schools after they have had a visiting author or illustrator in their school. Consider writing a post and sharing your experiences with the community. This is also a great way to provide evidence of the value of such programs to support future grant submissions.