never knowingly without a pen
I've used this blog before as a place to record workshop ideas, so I'm adding a post about some visual poems I've made as they would also work very well in a workshop. Here I've substituted flowers for syllables, words and rhymes in a few poetic forms (haiku, couplet, quatrain, end rhyme) but any found… Continue reading Making visual poems with flowers
In November 2018, I was lucky enough to attend two days of training with the National Literacy Trust to update and improve my skills as a writing workshop facilitator in schools. The course was based in Victoria Park Primary School, an absolutely lovely school in Bristol, and facilitated by Fay and Tim from the National… Continue reading School for Writers with the National Literacy Trust
I wanted to write a few posts before my residency at St Gregory's Catholic College ends, especially mentioning poems that prompted a lot of animated discussion and produced some exciting creative writing from school students. 'Other Clouds' by Rebecca Perry from her collection Beauty/Beauty (Bloodaxe, 2015) and 'what my mother (a poet) might say' by Mary… Continue reading Poems that find a way to say what isn’t said #writerinschool
I had a splendidly happy day at The Greenwich Theatre in London last Saturday for the Live Canon Children's Poetry Competition Prize Giving Show. I went up on the train from Wiltshire with one of my great-nieces, Hannah. When we arrived, the theatre foyer was awash with Haiku Balloons, cartons of fruit juice, a poetry… Continue reading St Gregory’s Students successful in Live Canon Poetry Competition
This week I took Alice Oswald's book Weeds and Wild Flowers in to St Gregory's Catholic College, Bath, where I'm working as Writer in Residence. I was prompted to do this by Sarah Westcott's gorgeous poem about snowdrops Fair Maids of February which was a winner in this year's Cafe Writers Competition judged by Liz… Continue reading Writing poems about flowers #writerinschool
As I mentioned before, I liked the collage feel of both Anthony Wilson's notebook posts and Julie Mellor's post about Cubomania, in which Julie cut up blocks of text and placed them together in a random way to create new poems. With this in mind, I started a new term at St Gregory's Catholic College, Bath,… Continue reading Writing poetry with secondary school students: using cut ups #writerinschool
I'm really enjoying being Writer in Residence at St Gregory's Catholic College, Bath. As well as writing with students during lesson time, I also run a Creative Writing Club at Break and Lunchtime, one day a week. When we're writing poetry, I usually take in lots of photocopies of poems but today I took in… Continue reading Reading and writing Christmas-themed poems with Year 7s: #writerinschool
I'm coming to the end of my first term as Writer in Residence at St Gregory's Catholic College, Bath. As you know, I've been using this blog as a place to document my work there. Previous posts include Beginning to Write Poetry With Secondary School Students, Reading and Writing Poems about Where I'm From, National Poetry… Continue reading Thinking about sound and other senses. #writerinschool
As I've mentioned before, I'm using this blog as a place to keep a record of my residency at St Gregory's Catholic College, Bath, a non-selective comprehensive school for young people aged 11 - 18. I go into school one day a week, run a creative club (open to any student) during break and at… Continue reading Reading and writing poems about ‘Where I’m From’. #writerinschool
Popping in briefly to say I've had a happy but busy poetry week. I was in St Gregory's all day Wednesday and most of Thursday (National Poetry Day) and I stayed for their Open Evening on Thursday so wasn't home until nearly 10pm. I think that my school residency is going well, so far! I'm… Continue reading National Poetry Day at St Gregory’s #writerinschool
Josephine Corcoran 