Workshops
Workshops and Incursions
Download the School Visits and Workshops Document pdf
Leap into an adventure of colour, creativity, and imagination with an interactive series of workshops and incursions from one of Australia’s most exciting and inspiring authors and illustrators.
Dr Cameron is a highly booked speaker in schools throughout Australia, bringing a wealth of experience, passion and creativity to the classroom. Cameron is well known for his ability to mentor students to find the inspiration to ‘get started’, develop amazing descriptive writing skills, and move students to a higher and more sophisticated level of creativity in their writing and illustration.
His genuine interest in the students’ learning is clearly evident in his workshops. Along with a good dash of humour, excitement and enthusiasm, Cameron’s workshops engage even the most reluctant writers.
Cameron works at the ‘grass roots’ level with all primary school grades. He inspires and engages children through large group presentations as well as smaller, hands-on workshops. Cameron also runs tailored NAPLAN writing preparation workshops with Year 3 and 5 students.
He uses exciting visuals, captivating stories and humorous anecdotes to explore story planning, character creation, writing and illustration. Cameron is known for his ability to develop a rapport with students and match each workshop to the age group perfectly. Cameron is flexible and more than happy to adapt presentations to accommodate a school’s requirements. He provides outstanding pre-visit support, ensuring each school visit is a valuable and memorable experience.
Below is a list of workshop activities to choose from during a school author visit, incursion or virtual visit. Three to four workshop sessions can be run each day. Any combination of workshops can be selected.
Full details about each workshop activity can be found in the School Visits and Workshops Document pdf.
Workshops include:
- A combination of workshop sessions to suit your classes.
- Personalised and professional service to help you organise the visit.
- Free educational activities relating to each book which can be used before or after the visit.
- Specially priced School Book Sets for your library, offering great value. These sets also include hours of downloadable educational activities.
- Exclusive book signings for students, parents and staff.
Thank you so much for your visit with us last week. The kids and teachers really enjoyed your sessions – so much so, the teachers commented that this has been the best Author presentation that they have been involved in.
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1. Large Group Presentations
These sessions are designed for medium to large groups and are best run in school halls, libraries or classrooms with plenty of floor space. The presentations have been designed to hold student’s attention by being engaging and exciting as well as educational.
Write it – Read it – Live it!
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available
This is an engaging and informative behind-the-scenes look at creating an illustrated novel. Cameron uses exciting visuals, captivating stories and humorous anecdotes to explore story planning, character creation, writing and illustration. This session includes an audiovisual presentation, question time and hands-on drawing and writing components. The Pie Rats series is used as a focus.
Platinum Adventures
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available
Go behind the scenes and discover how the new Platinum Pie Rats series was created. A great session for older students and classes who have worked with Cameron in the past. This session includes an audiovisual presentation, question time and hands-on drawing and writing components. The Platinum Pie Rats series is used as a focus.
Scallywags Secrets
Recommended Group: Year 2 - 4
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available
Discover the secrets behind the new Scallywags series in this exciting presentation. Find out how the characters were created and learn about Cameron's real life inspiration for his stories. This session includes an audiovisual presentation, question time, a follow-along drawing and a quirky quiz. The Scallywags series is used as a focus.
SOS - Super Outstanding Stories!
Recommended Group: Year 1 - 3
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available
Kick-start your student’s creativity by diving into Cameron’s latest series of junior chapter books. Learn all about the characters and the inspiration behind SOS (School of Scallywags). This session includes an audiovisual presentation, question time, a follow-along drawing and an SOS quiz. The SOS series is used as a focus.
Big Screen Book Reading
Recommended Group: Prep/Kinder - Year 2
Time: 30 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available.
Nothing fires a child’s imagination more completely than a well-told story by the author. The Stroogle adventures are great for reading to children due to their rhyme and rhythm. Rhythm aids attention, retention of content and ability to recall and learn lines from the story. Cameron asks questions throughout the reading of a Stroogle adventure and encourages students to interpret and respond to the story. Using a data projector or interactive whiteboard, Cameron will read the story using PowerPoint visuals of his detailed illustrations so that all students can see. Following the reading, Cameron will reveal how some of his characters and illustrations have been created. The session also includes a fun audiovisual presentation.
Stories and More
Recommended Group: Prep/Kinder - Year 2
Time: 45- 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Size is determined by the space available.
This is a great session that incorporates a Big Screen Book Reading plus a hands-on follow along drawing activity. Cameron stimulates the students thinking by revealing the very first sketches of the Stroogle and explaining how he creates his picture books. An exciting audiovisual presentation is also shown to the students.
2. Workshops
These workshops are designed for students in middle to upper primary years, and are hands-on sessions that explore practical ways to enhance students’ writing, planning and illustration.
Inspirational Ideas
Recommended Group: Year 1 - 4
Time: 60 minutes
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
This workshop explores how an author comes up with inspirational and exciting ideas for their books and reveals strategies to assist students in planning their own stories. As ideas usually don’t just pop out of thin air, Cameron uses practical examples to show how a great story idea can originate from a variety of sources close to an individual’s life and experiences.
WOW! Words and Pictures
Recommended Group: Year 2 - 6
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
Dr Cameron uses his experience as an author and illustrator in this highly creative session. Students will participate in short writing activities where images are used to complement, enhance or substitute text. This session includes elements of cartooning, onomatopoeia, direct speech and makes reference to Cameron's illustrated Scallywags novels. This session aims to involve struggling writers as well as encouraging competent writers to try new visual strategies.
Exciting Descriptive Writing
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: 60- 90 minutes.
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
During this workshop, Cameron introduces a series of creative tools to enhance students’ descriptive writing and covers topics such as crafting an exciting introduction, describing settings, tension, dialogue, humour, similes, the five senses and alliteration. Using examples from his stories, visuals and short exercises, Cameron encourages students to explore a range of expressive and dynamic strategies to make their writing descriptive and exciting
Lights, Camera, Action!
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: 60- 90 minutes.
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
Yes, the book can be more exciting than the movie! Not for the faint-hearted, this workshop shows students how to create blockbuster action stories. Through a series of short, punchy activities, students will learn how to write gripping suspense scenes, epic action encounters, heart-racing countdowns, death-defying duels and hold-on-to-your-seat cliff-hangers. Using examples from Dr Cameron’s Pie Rats adventure series, this workshop is designed to stimulate a passion for writing fun, fast, frenetic stories.
NAPLAN Writing Strategies
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: This activity can run for 60 to 90 minutes for one genre, or can be broken into two 60 minute sessions (with a break) to cover narrative and persuasive topics separately.
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
Cameron has run NAPLAN writing workshops since its inception. This workshop has been created to motivate and inspire students who will be undertaking the NAPLAN writing task. Cameron uses a series of short activities to enhance the students’ writing and thought processes. Throughout the session, Cameron demonstrates the practical applications of persuasive and narrative genres and encourages reluctant writers to find their voice.
Imaginative Illustration
Recommended Group: Year 2 - 6
Time: 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Approx. 60 students.
This is a fantastic introduction to illustration with an emphasis on imagination and creative problem solving. Cameron begins by showing students how characters he has created are often based on real animals or people. The students then create their own characters focusing on exaggeration, outline, colour, shading and texture.
Writing Masterclass
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: 45 to 60 minutes.
Maximum size: Approx. 30 students.
This is a great small-group session for extension students, and students who show a keen interest in writing and would benefit from working with Cameron further. Through engaging and specialist interactive activities, Cameron will work with students to take their writing to a higher and more sophisticated level. This session can be added into the Author Visit/ Writer in Residence timetable (usually after larger group sessions which these students have already participated in).
Writers' Retreat
Recommended Group: Year 3 - 6
Time: A whole school day/s is required.
Maximum size: Approx. 90 students.
Cameron can work with several classes or select students over one or two days on producing short stories. Combining many of the individual activities on offer, Cameron will take students through the important steps in producing a book. This is a fantastic workshop for classes creating imaginative texts, exploring fairy tales, or classes producing their own picture books for the younger grades to read. By the end, students will have experienced how an author creates a book, developed their own narrative plan, planned the sequence of events for their story, invented and drawn their main characters, designed a book cover illustration and commenced/ completed their short story draft.
Cameron is also a speaker at writers' festivals, writers' camps, literacy and book conferences, Teacher Librarian conferences, and special events. Event coordinators are welcome to contact Jenny to discuss cost and availability.
Full details about each workshop activity can be found in the School Visits and Workshops Document pdf.