You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself.
  --Galileo

You become a good writer just as you become a good joiner: by planing down your sentences.
   -- Anatole France

Imagination is a quality given a man to compensate him for what he is not, and a sense of humour was provided to console him for what he is.
   -- Oscar Wilde

Inset Often my inset packages involve additional days where I stay on in a school to model or co-plan and co-deliver lessons with teachers.

Typical inset subjects covered in primary schools that relate to creative writing include: Thinking like writers, including strategies in how to generate stories from objects and research (sometimes relating to history projects) and a range of visual stimuli. I also teach story, story functions and structure. I show how to use story maps and story mountains and how to both generate character biographies and develop strong narratives from them. I'm also an enthusiastic promoter of guided fantasies and give strategies in how to develop this skill for teachers and their pupils. As part of the Story Museum team in Oxford, I also offer inset specifically designed in promoting the idea that we are all storytellers – with strategies to develop traditional repertoire, improvising and anecdotal storytelling skills. The main venues for my work are schools and museums. I offer workshops targetting higher lever writing skills for the gifted and talented as well as groups perceived to be 'reluctant'.

Here are some recent testimonials.

• Following workshops for The Story Museum in Oxford aimed at KS1&2 teachers. Entertaining and inspiring – but above all, empowering.
  Chris Smith, School’s Director, Story Museum.
• Following separate workshops to KS1 and KS2 teachers in Suffolk. We had fantastic feedback from teachers about the things you did & they all went away really fired up. Beverley Long, Suffolk Advisory Team.
• Following primary school inset and two days working alongside teachers. Hello Adam. Just wanted to thank you for the day’s inset and 2 days working with the children. You did a great job and my teachers have immediately started putting they have learnt into action. I asked the children ‘What could have been better?’ and they said for you to stay a few more days! The children’s favourite bits were: The stories; helping them with description so that they could develop a picture in their heads; story maps and the assemblies. Thanks again. Christine Newton, Kingsley Primary School, Northants.

CV