Engaging teenagers with book trailers: course report

Book trailers are an excellent means of engaging teenagers in reading and writing. Gordana Nesterovic recently attended a course about them and has shared her report:

I recently attended this CPD session which was organized by Scottish Book Trust as a follow up to the ReadIT course on digital storytelling. ReadIT was a pilot scheme aimed at developing teachers’ skills through the inclusion of ICT tools and digital storytelling techniques in classroom practice. Students and teachers from Denmark, Italy, Romania, Turkey and Scotland took part.

The first part of the CPD session was a video-link presentation by Shirley Brice Heath (linguistic anthropologist and Professor of both English and Dramatic Literature) who talked about young people’s reading habits, preferences and how they choose to interact with texts. I thought it exemplified an interesting approach in trying to encourage teenagers to read and write by "finding them where they are most comfortable" – in social media websites. In creating book trailers, students are applying knowledge gained outside the school back into academic achievement. Creating a book trailer is a form of translation, shifting something from a page in the book into a different medium and timescale. It shows multi-literacies at work: music, visual effects, movement, animation and character portrayal. This method makes the students think of what the book is about, rather than what the book says. Shirley Brice Heath also mentioned ideal outcomes of trailer production: pupils identify with the "good company" of other authors and artists, and take on roles other than that of “pupil” by becoming imaginative, creative and artistic, and by acting as critics and definers of their own work.

The second part of the session was a presentation by two Scottish teachers who took part in this course. They talked about their experiences in implementing these ideas and their feedback was very positive. The children enjoyed the project and the project brought out the best in them. It worked really well with reluctant readers and children who generally came across as being very shy. It developed their analytical, artistic and technical skills. I thought the example of a school that did it as cross-curricular project was very good, it got the Art, Computing and English departments working together which showed the possibility of using this tool in teaching other subjects, not just English. I do not work as a teacher or in a school library, but I can see how this example would be interesting for student teachers and would shed an inspirational light on teaching practices.

Here is an excellent example of a book trailer, as mentioned at the IBBY UK/NCRCL MA Conference Beyond the Book a few weeks ago. It's for A monster calls by Patrick Ness:

The Spark

The Spark is a new online community for young people aged 13-16 who are interested in creativity and reading. Set up by Faber and Faber, the publishers, and hosted on Facebook, it will feature exciting projects around acting, film-making, writing and music. Each project will be inspired by a Faber young adult title. The current competition is linked to the publication of The things we did for love by Natasha Farrant and the prize is an iPad! In the story, Arianne and Luc fall in love in Occupied France during the Second World War. Luc gets involved with the Resistance and, although Arianne will do anything to keep him safe, there is a rival for her love who doesn't feel so kindly towards him. To tie in with the book's themes, entrants should submit a story, poem or article about love or war. The closing date is 10th June.

The next competition will be looking for a budding film maker to direct a book trailer. Sounds like an excellent way to get teenagers to engage with books and reading.

Bali Rai

Bali Rai is an author of teenage novels, largely inspired by his working class Punjabi / Sikh background (in Leicester) but accessible to everyone. He recently finished a stint as Writer in Residence at MyVoice, a  creative reading and writing programme for young people run by The Reading Agency, and is now Online Writer in Residence at Booktrust*. Read his last post for MyVoice and his first for Booktrust and you will find a passionate advocate for young people and the roles of reading and literacy (and libraries) in helping them develop their full potential. We have some of his books in stock here.

In The Crew, meet tough and street-smart Ellie, Jas, Della, Will and Billy. They're the Crew, and they live in what they call the Ghetto - the city centre estates where everyone is skint and it's important to stick together. One day they find a fortune in notes and life suddenly becomes very dangerous.

In Dream on Baljit is mad about football and dreams of playing for Liverpool, much to the disapproval of his parents, so when he is invited to trials at Leicester City, he has to lie about his whereabouts.

(Un)arranged marriage, set partly in the UK and partly in the Punjab region of India, is a perceptive and up-to-date glimpse into a young man's fight to free himself from family expectations and an arranged marriage that he rejects.

 

*PS talking of Booktrust, it has a recently revamped website which is worth looking at, especially the children's books and books for teens sites.

Scottish Book Trust Young Writer's Conference 2011

Budding writers from across Scotland are being offered a rare opportunity to access the expertise and knowledge of published writers and experts from within the industry.

Scottish Book Trust’s second annual Young Writers Conference will take place on 12^th November and is open to all young people based in Scotland, aged between 14 and 17. Attendees will receive advice from some of the most exciting names in writing, including best-selling Skellig author David Almond, playwright Douglas Maxwell, teen author Gillian Philip, poet Elspeth Murray and literary agent Lindsey Fraser. If you know anyone who would like to take part, click on the link above for details and a booking form.

Competitions for budding young writers

Wow, lots more writing competitions to blog about. Lets start local with Scottish Book Trust's Young Writers Awards. They are looking for three enthusiastic writers between the ages of 14 and 17 who could have the chance to be mentored by an established teen writer over a period of six months as well as meeting industry professionals and visiting a top London publisher. In order to be eligible you must be living in Scotland - if interested, follow the link above and apply by 31st August.

Canongate Young Writers' Competition is aimed at 16-19 year olds who are invited to enter either a short story or extract of no more than 3,000 words. You'll need to be quicker with this one as the closing date is 1st July.

247tales is an online writing competition open to UK residents between the ages of 10 and 16. The challenge is to write a short story using 247 words or fewer, and the prize for the winning story is £75 worth of Bloomsbury Children’s books plus a framed copy of your winning story which will also appear on the website. There's a new competition on a different theme every month - the closing date for June (theme: The Game) is Monday 27th.

The smash hit West End musical WICKED has announced the second year of its hugely successful WICKED Young Writers’ Award.  The Award recognises excellence in writing, encourages creativity, and helps develop literacy and writing talent in young people between the ages of 5 and 25 years old. This one runs until 31st July.

So - if you know any budding young writers, tell them about these competitions. They could have a busy summer ahead of them!

What would you do if you were invisible? Teenage writing competition

The Booktrust Teenage Prize writing competition has launched. Tell all the 12-16 year olds you know! Here's the brief:

"Bod, the main character in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book, the winner of the 2009 Booktrust Teenage Prize, can become invisible to living people, when the situation calls for it – he can ‘fade’. What would you do if you could ‘fade’? How would it work? Where would you go? Think about the different interpretations of invisibility, not just the literal meaning. Would you feel powerful or lonely? In no more than 500 words, write a short story that is original and creative. You might like to read The Graveyard Book for background and inspiration."

There are details about prizes on Booktrust's website and the deadline is 5th July. If you want to borrow Gaiman's book, we have it in stock. Other relevant titles you might consider borrowing from us are Robert Cormier's Fade and HG Wells' Invisible Man, both excellent.