Adult Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldy Steaming up SAFI's Saturday's Gala Dinner were the Victorian Era Sci-Fi cast from either The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Wild Wild West, H.G. Wells - War of the Worlds or Jules Verne - Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea. Ipswich's Metro Hotel guests were privy to the era's steampunk costumes. The passing parade of corsets, vests, bustle skirts, ruched skirts, twill riding pants, fingerless gloves, black leather boots — lace-ups, ankle, spats and gaiters raised a few eyebrows. What lay underneath were discreetly in place — camisoles, chemises, petticoats, bloomers, pantaloons, thigh-high striped nylons and even the odd gold-engraved single-barrel received reassurance. To top it off, the black coachman’s hat and top hat added the finishing touch to the layer of feathers, lace, bows buckles, clasps, lace and netting — with not a zip in sight. Onlookers were entertained when their favourite Stars stepped onto the red carpet. The centring of a cravat, slight touch of a choker, checking of a pocket watch or an adjustment of a utility belt may have hinted at the big night that lay ahead. Fans pointed, delighted at the aesthetic mechanical contraptions. The light sparkled off the brass, leather and cogged goggles atop, monocles, monoculars, folding brass binoculars, brass sextant keychain, short-handled brass theatre glasses, phial wristband and compass wrist bands. Cheers and applause - and a little disappointment, received the Inventors and Adventurers — Expeditionists, Scientists, Explorers, Alchemist, Horticulturalists, Bounty Hunters, Aeronauts, Overseers of the Museum of Mysteries and perhaps a Denizen of the Night — as they disappeared into the sanctuary of the Gala Dinner. Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com
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School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Picture Book author, Kim Toft, a former Prep teacher, had some 120 preps to year 2 following her every move. She uses silk painting to illustrate the preservation of our oceans and coastal habitats. Toft performed her cautionary tale ‘One Less Fish’ in song and dance. Her clever use of alliteration and counting had students call out the number of fish left unprotected. Students learned the jump, jiggle, be jolly and jostle dance where they acted out the ocean’s underwater world. Many hands flew up when she asked what letter the words started with, which represented an ocean creature often affected by plastic bags. Toft treated her students to a silk painting demonstration on an Angel fish Gold Gutta outline. She showed how the orange and yellow dyes didn’t run past the outline because the Resist acted as a barrier. Her books’ silk paintings illustrations can take up to 2 years, but her time-lapse video of one painting had students mesmerised as it sped up the process. Her ‘Coral Sea Dreaming’ is an educational resource for the whole of primary, with a picture book at the beginning, followed by an information text on Coral Reefs’ rich ecosystems which provide shelter and food for its marine life. Needless to say teachers and parents headed for the bookshop after her presentation. Toft left the students with this advice, ‘If you practise, practise, practise, one day you’ll be able to paint pictures and write stories too.’ www.kimtoft.com.au Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey When Brisbane author Yvonne Mes introduced herself, she had some 100 year 3, 4 and 5 students putting their hands up wanting the glamorous life of a Picture Book author — a three story mansion with giant playground, red Ferrari and private jet. One young man was so convinced, he wanted to meet her bodyguard. As Mes let them down gently, she explained to create her glamorous story, she had to use her ‘imagination’. She had nurtured her ‘imagination’ through story telling and reading lots of books. She would read about 80 picture books a week. She loved being transported somewhere else through stories. When writing a story, the students learned to always ask the ‘What if? question. ‘What if you fell over or your underwear fell down? What happens next? And then what would happen… and then what would happen next… and then?’ The students learned that Mes’s Sidney Nolan is part of an Australian picture book series. During her research, she tried to find a connection between Sidney Nolan - painter, and Ned Kelly - bushranger. She showed students how the illustrator left little clue ideas in the illustrations after studying Nolan’s paintings. Some of the symbolic clues showed the three stripes on Nolan’s forehead as war paint, his paint pallet represented a shield — making him a warrior artist. Mes’s book is also on Virgin’s airlines’ inflight audio and I anticipate will become an Australian favourite in the classroom. www.yvonnemes.com
Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Suspense… Danger… Comedy… Horror… Jack Heath, best selling author of 500 Minutes of Danger. He held his audience captive, until his final word was met with an uproarious applause. When Heath asked who had read his books, he received a resounding thumbs up. He acknowledged his readers and launched into inspiring our future writers. ‘Each story takes about 100 hours to write and 200 hours of editing. The editing is the most important bit. And you’ve got to be willing to write the kind of thing you want to read.’ Heath wrote short stories because it forced him to boil stories down to the most basic ingredients. Stories have two main components — suspense and surprise. Eg., A man was walking down the street… He doesn’t see the banana peel… He walks closer… and closer… to the banana peel — suspense. At the last second, he steps over the banana peel and falls down a manhole…Aaaahhh — surprise. With his horror story he used an extension of this technique — suspense, suspense, suspense and then surprise. Heath liked to start stories with a check list. What were 10 horrible ways to die? He listed problems (P), solutions (S) and complications (C) - where things needed to go wrong unexpectedly. Eg., plane to crash (P), parachute (S), rats had eaten holes in the parachute (C). Heath said, the most entertaining way of telling a story was to start with the problem — Opening line from ‘300 Minutes of Danger’ —‘You’ve been poisoned’. Then he used a ‘broken version’ leading into this opening line. He told the students a series of boring… events… yawn… leading up to the same line. ‘If you start at the beginning of a story you have to work forwards, but if you start in the middle of a story you can work forward and backwards.’ Also, Heath enjoyed the power of similes which allowed readers to not only picture something, but to feel and react — The pill was about the size of a maggot. It was like standing on a giant birthday cake. To show the contrasting impact of smilies, students were asked to picture two scenes. 1. The man fell down the stairs and hit the ground very, very, very, very hard. 2. The man fell down the stairs and hit the ground like a dead rhinoceros. Add Heath’s dramatic resonance and you have 240 students leaving the auditorium laughing. jackheath.com.au Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey ‘What’s your dream?’ Falkner asked year 5 students. Marine biologist, Hollywood actress, lawyer and a room full of nasty criminals made the list. Falkner confessed to the biologist, he didn’t really eat dolphins. Dreams were something you struggled and strived to achieve. It takes years of study to become a marine biologist, lawyer or an author. Falkner reached his dream after 30 years of perseverance, releasing his first book The Flea Thing, about a boy, 12, who had an unusual dream. Students listened as Falkner revealed his story layer-by-layer, until he stopped… . ‘Aaahh,’ chorused year 5. To distract them, Falkner pulled out his story ideas goggles and cast the first magic words authors used to develop their story. ‘What if?’ All around us were hundreds of ‘cool’ ideas. Even right before us, said Falkner as he eyed the students, then glanced at their teachers and whispered, ‘What if… your teachers aren’t really human? Falkner's second magic ingredient was ‘Research’ where authors looked-out for story ideas. Often they ‘stumbled across cool stuff they didn’t know before’. Falkner had used ‘research’ to find his next character for his second book, The Real Thing. In short - three scientists with secret Coca Cola formula, kidnapped, boy flown across globe as a taste tester to somehow save formula. Once again storyteller Falkner stopped short leaving students hanging… . ‘Aaaahhh,’ they chorused louder. The last magic element was ‘Emotion’ where people wanted to read stories that made them feel something. Think about real life incidents when writing, ’Start with something that makes you feel something.’ Falkner shared a powerful emotional experience from 40 years ago, which had students holding their breath and clenching their hands. To reiterate, Falkner reminded students that ’Books Change Lives’ when least expected and in unpredictable ways. One book that changed Falkner’s life has allowed him to write full-time — the international best seller and movie, ’The Tomorrow Code’ followed by ‘Brain Jack’. http://www.brianfalkner.co.nz Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.comwf
School Program Story by Maria Parenti- Baldey Author and public servant with a legal background, Cori Brooke wears a cool hat for every story. In her Early Childhood shortlisted, ‘All I Want for Christmas is Rain’ the Preppies guessed right — a farmer’s hat. Ninety Preps and a sprinkle of 1/2s, also learned how Brooke's Picture Book endpapers tell you about the story. Because of the drought, the first endpaper was splotchy brown for… ‘Dirt!’. And the last endpaper was splotchy green for… ‘Grass!’ symbolising young Jane’s wish for rain. Also no words on the page meant the story was being told through the Illustrator’s pictures. Students saw the illustrators first pencil drawing of a scene. Starts with an Sss… it’s called a… ‘Sketch!’ The second drawing showed the illustrator working out colours for characters and setting. Next, students had their chance to write the first line of a story. Brooke said, ‘The first line has to draw your reader in.’ She used a story cube - starting with Once upon a time… and the word ‘parachute’. The little-ones were vocalising ideas as they worked in groups with their teacher. Starting with Once upon a time… we found a yellow and orange parachute and it was magical. Once… there was a pig and a pigeon and a parachute landed in front of them. Once… we went swimming in the pool and a parachute landed. Brooke gave them high praise for their imaginative story starts for such a young age. Brooke also encouraged students to write and draw their own book, like she had in year 2/3. She held up her first hand-created self-published book ‘The Dream’ from ‘a time when there was no computers’. She wrote her first draft by hand, which continued today in an A4 notebook before putting it into the computer. Writing by hand allowed her story to flow, make notes in margin and add drawings. Before she read ‘Fearless Dad’ she asked the kids, ‘What do I need first before I read this… ‘A HAT!’ coribrooke.com.au School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey Author and engineer Andrew King used this catch-cry to his young year 1 to 2 audience. King said engineers liked to draw and design. They were like big kids, just like the students. He encouraged students to think and imagine. To build planes, bridges, buildings, cars and playgrounds using cardboard boxes. To get outside, get dirty and see what the environment was like. Before publishing ‘Engibear Builds A Playground’, they drew bear characters and a playground at home. Then they talked and combined it altogether to write a fun story. King said a child’s mind could travel ‘to infinity and beyond’ when using their imagination. When travel brochures promoted ‘escaping’ on holidays, by driving, riding in a train etc.,. so too could our imagination travel to the beach or fairytale castle without going there. He showed students a slide of his son’s writing and drawing. He said although his writing was early-stage, his son’s brain was already doing amazing things because he could ‘think’. Pointing to the students, he said, ’Your brains can also do amazing things by thinking.’ King's Engineer books encouraged students to delve into the world of engineers. ‘If you can draw it, then you can build it.’ Like a Minecraft city or the city of Munnagong in the Engibear series. Or the engineering feats in Englina’s Train where the Maglev Train, with its magnetic levitation would one day be able to travel from Ipswich to the Gold Coast in 8-12 minutes, instead of 1.5 hours. However, King said of dreaming, drawing, designing and creating, ’You’ve got to be willing to try. Never give up. Try, try again.’ School Program Story by Maria Parenti-Baldey New Zealand author and storyteller, Tanya Batt, had year 1 and 2 students wild with enthusiasm when she took centre-stage. Eyes were glued to her orange-field-of-flowers and trees landscape dress, ebbing beneath in a sea of tulle. ‘No matter where you go in the world, everybody has stories to share. Not everybody can read or write, but they can tell stories.’ That was how old stories survived from other cultures. Batt performed a Native American story about Gluscabi and the Wind Eagle. Her wind and voice sound effects had students so captivated, that one asked how she did it. Batt pulled out her 1000-voice sim card from the back of her neck. ‘Whoooaaa.’ Then she said, ’Do you think that’s true?’ as students’ mouths stayed agape. ‘I made that one up.’ The world needed old stories as well as new stories. She performed her story, My Dad’s a Dragon Catcher. Kids scootched a little closer. They loved the idea that Toby’s dad might have a team of dragon catchers because it was a big night-time job. See her YouTube version. Batt felt lucky to tell stories from other cultures that been around for a very long time. When she travelled the world people told her stories. She felt like it was being in service to the story because they weren't her stories. Being a good storyteller was not about talking but ‘being a good listener’. But most of her stories lived inside her because she often told stories and not read stories. She encouraged students, when it was story time, to be the story teller. Tell a story from the workshop, or about Princess Poo Tower — recycling horse poo into her compost or make one up. Her passion for telling stories started 27 years ago, ‘as the world becomes increasingly more rationalized, mega -fied, screen -ified and compartmentalized the need for arts education is greater than ever. The Batt website Maria Parenti-Baldey, primary teacher, writer, amateur photographer and blogger. www.bigsisterblogs.com |
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