TEACHING ADULTS
PETERBOROUGH & FENLAND MIND
“We booked Teresa to work with our established writing group here at the Fenland Project . She was booked for two whole days to give the writers a ‘hands on writing experience’ The class loved it. They were highly motivated and satisfied with the resultant work. They were also exhausted - but not too exhausted for them to ask us to get Teresa to come back and do another two days which she did a few months later. Likewise, a triumph.
The launch of the anthology, entitled Swings and Roundabouts, will be on World Mental Health Day 10th October 2006.”
Brunel University
"Teresa Benison has come as a visiting speaker, to the second level creative writing course within the undergraduate English programme at Brunel University, four times. Each occasion was an excellent stimulation for students, who all gained a considerable insight into a professional writer's work and many interesting and helpful suggestions for their own practice. Teresa's approach is both accessible and professional; the structure and timing of the sessions has developed most effectively over the different visits; her enthusiasm and interest in her own and others' work is inspiring. I would warmly recommend Teresa Benison for other work of this type; I am hoping that she will make further return visits to my own institution."
Dr.J.R.Atfield, Brunel University
FROM A RANGE OF ADULT STUDENTS:
I have been described variously as "a
brilliant alchemist”
TEACHING CHILDREN
From Mrs. E.C. Hedges, Special Needs Co-ordinator, Manor Community College, Cambridge.
"…after working alongside Teresa and seeing how ‘real’ writing – writing for a purpose – was brought alive for these twenty-five nervous children, watching their enthusiasm grow as they discovered techniques and skills hitherto unknown, and coming to believe that they too might ‘write’, I have no hesitation in recommending Teresa Benison to any school. Everyone benefited from her infectious enthusiasm."
From Elsenham Primary School
"I found the time working with Teresa stimulating and rewarding. I was impressed by the outcome, level and standard of work achieved, particularly from those children on stages of assessment and those lacking in confidence. I particularly enjoyed working on exploring the senses (fruit) and visualisation and would use these ideas myself in further work. I have already found myself building on the experiences set up by Teresa in the writing the children have done since she left us. All in all, a very valuable experience." Linda Coley, teacher yr. 4/5
"This was a very enriching experience. I was particularly impressed by the work produced by some of the less able children. The whole process was exciting and kept the children involved and motivated. One of the most useful elements was the time and extra adult input on conferencing each child. This really helped the children to develop their ideas in an imaginative but structured way." Lorraine Laudrun, Deputy Head and teacher y.6
"These were very rewarding sessions and it was lovely to see all the children, particularly those with special needs or poor listening skills, involved – especially with visualisations. Words are now ‘in fashion’ in my classroom, we often hear "Teresa would like that word" – even in the context of mathematics: ‘estimation’ is a recent example." Sally Westwood, Language Co-ordinator & teacher y.1/2
AND - BRIEFLY - FROM THE CHILDREN
"I liked the writing a lot."
"While Teresa was here I found it was a lot easier to write a story if you think about it."
"I learnt that if you describe things more in stories it will sound better."
Copyright (c) 2005 My Company. All rights reserved.