It’s been a lovely few days running workshops for teachers as part of the Edau (falling in love with the arts) project.
The teachers are really enthusiastic about finding new approaches and ideas for stitching poetry into their classroom work so that I’ve genuinely felt the workshops have made a difference.
Sometimes poetry can been seen as difficult or hard to engage with so I’ve enjoyed making these sessions accessible and fun. I’ve written a blog, I Am Taliesin, up on the Dark Mountain website that goes into more detail about the processes and philosophies behind the workshops and community poet role.
Working on projects like this fosters a real appreciation for the fact I live and work in Wales because this level of support for creativity, and respect for the benefits of The Arts, is a wonderful thing to be part of and I’m not sure it happens over the border.
Taking this further – the one thing I’d love to see is for teacher training days to be focussed on teachers having creative days that are not about learning classroom tips but that look to nurturing their creative soul; where they sign up for a day of theatre, art, spoken word or puppetry… anything that makes them feel valued and inspired as an individual and not just a teacher.
It was also announced today I’ve been successful in being awarded a Literature Wales / Llenyddiaeth Cymru writers bursary. This next writing project has been gestating for a while so I’m honoured to have been given the opportunity to get it written.