The Education Show!

On the 15th March The Literacy Tree was invited to lead a seminar at The Education Show entitled ‘Engaging Reluctant Writers through Deepening Understanding of Picture Books’. So, with a large suitcase of books, an armful of case studies and a powerpoint with children’s work to share, we headed up to Birmingham to present our work in schools to a completely unknown audience. After a morning of meeting other speakers in the Speaker’s Lounge (always looking for further inspiration) stall browsing (hard not to be easily distracted by shiny resources) we prepared to present at 12, in The Primary Live Lounge. As we were on in the middle of the day there were plenty of people around and all seats were filled within minutes – and not just to eat to their lunch (there are a distinct lack of seats in the NEC!).

Within the session we shared some of our favourite picture books and went through some of the many engagement techniques we had used to support children’s understanding of text and how that had impacted on children’s writing. It was wonderful to have the opportunity to ‘show off’ some of the children’s achievements.

Now, it doesn’t matter how many times you present, getting the timing right can be tricky, and although 45 minutes feels like an eternity to talk for, it soon passes by and all of a sudden you realise you could go on for another 45! Still, many people gathered round to chat afterwards (including a teacher who had come from Russia for the show!) to continue the ‘discussion’ which was heartening and meant that we had an opportunity to meet some of the people we were presenting to – always a bonus.

www.education-show.com