Chapter 4 The shape of the workshop
The amount of time needed on each phase of the workshop
will vary according to how long you are allowing in total and whether you are
completing it all in one session or whether it is spread over several days,
weeks or months.
The notes below will help you to decide how long you need
for each activity. There is a suggested timetable at the end of this
chapter.
Establishing motivation
This may take a little less time if you have
established a charity beforehand. Nevertheless, this tends to be a fixed event
and takes about one hour. In this time you need to establish:
·
Which charity you will support, if you have not
already done so
·
How the book will support the charity financially
·
How the book will support the charity in its
theme
·
Who is the target reader of the book
You might even like
to discuss, during this time, the desired book length. For example a book
containing 130 pages offers a good model, as the book will cost exactly £2.00
to print, if you use our printing suggestions. How will you arrive at that
length? Will every student have at least one piece of work in there? This
obviously relates to the size of your group. What will happen if the group
produces more or less work than is needed?
You might like to forewarn the students about what might happen during
editing.
The creative writing element
This is perhaps the most crucial element and possibly
what motivated you in the first place to establish the workshop.
In the following chapter, there are several suggested
activities. Even in a workshop that is just one day long it is possible to
complete many of these, though you might rule out longer fiction and articles
unless you have an excellent strategy for post workshop completion.
Generally, the writing should take just under half of the
time you have for the full workshop. Naturally, some students will finish in
this time, others won’t. It is possible to allow students to move on at their
own pace. As they complete one creative writing exercise, they may move on to
the next. Then they may start editing. Once they have polished pieces, they can
start illustrating. Some can move straight on to design.
The creative writing exercises work well if you present each
one and then allow half an hour or so – slightly less for the early exercise,
slightly more for the later ones – and provide a written guide.
An alternative, especially if you know your group well, is
to arrange tables for each activity, provide the written guide and you and your
helper(s) wander round and give help and advice as it’s needed. As students
complete one exercise, they move to another table. You can of course direct the
students where to work according to what you know about their strengths and
weaknesses.
You can also stop the students every so often, and point out
some common mistakes and highlight some very good work. This actually provides
a welcome break for them.
Word processing
Your students will at some point move from working on
paper to working on a computer. This will vary according to your preference and
that of your students.
One strategy is to allow part of the writing time for word
processing. In this case writing plus word processing takes just over half of
the time available.
Unless your group has worked straight on to the computer and
they also have very good IT skills, you will have to allow time for work to be
completed post-workshop.
Remember also to create a strategy for saving work. Gather
it all on to one disc or memory stick or get it saved to a shared area.
Whichever you do, someone, at some point – probably you – is
going to have to do some donkey work.
Editing
As students complete written work, they may move into
editing. First, they will edit their own work and then they will work in pairs
or small groups. This is all explained in the chapter on editing.
Also, there may be some editorial decisions to be made. If
you have far more work than is required for the book, you and your students may
need to exclude some work. Strategies for this are also explained in Chapter 7.
Editing time will bleed into writing and illustrating times.
One eighth of available time should be allowed for core editing activities.
Illustrating
This can be very relaxing and very enjoyable. Students
can move on to illustrating as they finish editing. Full details of how to
organise this are contained in Chapter 8.
Students will often work in silence at this point,
especially if you are conducting the workshop over one day. By now, they are tired and want to keep their
thoughts to themselves. It might be nice
to play some quiet music in the background at this point.
Allow one eighth of time available for this, though the
activity may bleed into editing and design times.
Naturally, if your workshop is spread over several weeks and
if it is part of the students’ normal curriculum, you can involve the art
department in this in an exciting way.
Design
This is about how the book is put together. You need to
discuss this with your students. You may
well be able to do this as a whole group, especially for workshops that last
just one or two days. You might allow half an hour for this.
Details of design strategies are given in the chapter on
design.
If you are working over a longer period of time and with
able students, you might consider creating a design team who will be
responsible for putting the book together as a Word document. See Chapter 13.
Marketing
Allow one eighth to one quarter of the time available
for this and consider making it an on-going activity. You will need to spend
some time discussing ideas and allow some time for students to work
individually, in pairs or in small groups.
More ideas are discussed in the Chapter 10.
Alternative ways of managing illustration, design
and marketing
You could decide on teams for these three activities
before the workshop or at the beginning of the workshop. Brief students on what
is involved in all three activities. You may find it helpful to provide crib
sheets describing each role. Sample crib sheets are provided in the
photocopiable resource.
Alternatively, you can allow student to choose which team to
work with as they finish their editing and word-processing.
Design will probably take less time than the other two.
Students just need to make a few decisions. Unless you have some very able
students and some time afterwards, you will probably have to manage the
technical aspects of design yourself or delegate to an expert. Once the design
team is finished, members can choose whether to move on to illustration or
marketing and publicity.
Timing and Organisation on
the Day
A copy of this chart is provided in the photocopiable
resource.
|
Type of
Workshop |
Establishing motivation |
Creative writing |
Word processing |
Editing
|
Illustrating * |
Designing *
|
Marketing * |
|
One day |
First hour |
Until just before
lunch-time |
Start before lunch,
finish after lunch |
First quarter of
afternoon |
Second quarter of afternoon |
Third quarter of afternoon |
Fourth quarter of
afternoon |
|
Two day |
First hour |
Until mid-afternoon first
day |
The rest of first day |
First half of second
morning |
Second half of second
morning |
First half of second
afternoon |
Second half of second
afternoon |
|
Over eight sessions |
Session 1 |
Sessions 1-5 |
On-going |
Session 5 |
Session 6 |
Session 7 |
Session 8 |
|
Classroom setup |
Students sitting in a
circle |
Students enabled to work
individually |
IT suite or laptops in
classroom |
In pairs or small groups |
Working on tables of four
to six |
Students sitting in a
circle |
It suite or laptops in
classroom or mixed space |
·
See notes on alternative ways of managing these
activities.
Consider also
allowing a “washing-up” / celebration period at the end.
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