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Deborah Delano Creative Writing CPD
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Narrative Writing Student Workshop
Creative Writing CPD:
The creative writing element of the English Language GCSE is an enormous challenge for the young candidates and their teachers. Examiners' reports from all the major providers have identified this significant component of the course as problematic and poorly executed by a significant number of youngsters.
The CPD opportunity I offer provides practical ideas for teaching this aspect of the GCSE courses, as well as helping teachers to develop their personal confidence and proficiency in tackling creativity in the English Language classroom.
I am in the rare position of having more than twenty years of successful teaching experience, alongside being a published author. I practise creative writing every day and have done so for the last decade. The understanding gained from this experience enables me to deliver high quality insights in an engaging and accessible manner.
What teachers have said about the course:
‘It wasn’t just that it was practical, it provided insight into which parts of the process are going to cause students anxiety…..so we can try to alleviate it.’
'It kind of reminded me why I love English.'
‘So engaging and useful. Really simplified the method of storytelling. Fab! Thank you.’
‘Amazing session. Superb ideas that will be fully implemented.’
‘Totally inspirational.’
‘Fantastic! Lots of food for thought.’
‘Really useful, interesting and delivered in an intelligent, thoughtful and engaging way.’
Click here to read a short résumé of Deborah Delano's teaching career.
Deborah Delano Fees
My rate for a 90 minute session is £275 (including resources and preparation).
Other sessions are available by negotiation.
I work across Yorkshire and the North West. Schools further afield may incur additional cost.
What the CPD course includes:
Participants will:
1. Gain insights into the creative writing process.
2. Feel more confident about their ability to inspire creativity in others.
3. Begin to develop their personal creative potential.
What is covered:
1. The nature of narrative and its place in the development of language and culture
2. Practical ideas for delivering this element of the GCSE – including strategies to reduce marking workload, thoughts on differentiation and responding appropriately to the examiners’ reports.
3. An examination of character, plot and setting in storytelling.
4. Assessing relevant examples of original short fiction pieces based on exam style prompts.
5. Opportunities to develop personal confidence in creative narrative writing.
Narrative writing student workshop
The workshops I offer are bespoke according to the particular needs of different schools.
My central stated aim is to enable people to uncover and develop their creative potential. I use my own experience, of both memoir and novel writing, to encourage participants to engage with the processes involved in storytelling. I look at the place of narrative in human development, how to build character, use setting and create compelling plots in 'flash' fiction. I provide several resources aimed at building and reviewing stories, as well as strategies for responding to creative writing prompts.
For a student cohort, ideally, the sessions are longer and include more interactive and discursive elements as well as short 'timed' piece of writing which forms the basis of a peer/self-review session. I have been working with both the Eduqas and AQA syllabi, so I'm familiar with both the structure of the exams and the examiners' reports.
I can create a full morning workshop for your students or alternatively a shorter 'double lesson' session.