Workshops

creative writing workshops photo by humphrey muleba

Creative Writing Workshops for 2022

Young Writer’s Workshop – online January 27-February 24, Thursdays 10-11.15 am Brisbane time live, online.

5 weeks in a row, 1 hour each week with lots to do in between if you like, this session of workshops is aimed at young writers ages 7-14. If you can write, you can do this! Parents are invited to join too and write with us! The first hour will be devoted to exercises that are fun and exciting, which lead to new skills. There will be an additional 15 minutes of PD for parents to discuss the value and purpose of the exercises and guide the next week at home. In short, Creative Writing is the methodology and approach to literacy which I’e developed over the years, and which can be found in long form in my book Playing with Words.

The workshops are designed to be engaging, fun, challenging and above all, empowering. Through creative writing, every skill and element necessary for literacy can be developed, and absolutely without the ‘pain’ that so many approaches to writing and English and spelling and grammar elicit. As the author of 45 books ranging from children’s fiction to adult non-fiction, I want to share my love of words with the next generation of writers. You don’t have to be a good speller. You don’t have to be a good grammarian. You just have to hop online with a pen, some paper and an open mind. For the parents: after 20 years in the classroom teaching every age and stage, I have distilled what works to build literacy and love of writing. So come and join the first session of 5 workshops which will inspire you to love words and story and perhaps become a writer who never stops!

Each 1 hour workshop costs $30 per student per session (parents welcome free).
$150 for 5 weeks, session 1. Session 2, 3 and 4 to be offered later in the year.
January 27th, Thursday mornings 10-11.15 AEST – February 24, 2022.

Zoom invite will be sent the week prior. Sign up via Eventbrite here:

Workshop Downloads

Creative Writing Workshop Testimonials

Teaching Creative Writing Years 1-6 Mumbulla School

Smoke Signals:
A review of Shelley Davidow’s writing workshop for the teachers of Mumbulla School during the Black Summer fires.

She certainly had her job cut out for her. The staff training day had been booked long before the fires and now, Shelley Davidow was flying into ground zero, Bega Valley, to run a NESA accredited training day on ‘Literacy Through Creative Writing, Years 1-6’. The minds and hearts of the teachers were with their houses ringed by burning forest, their families in army-run evacuation shelters, their cars loaded with what they grabbed when door-knocked, their partners who’d stayed to fight… Tomorrow the children would arrive, the 2020 school year begin. Staff and students would be back in classrooms that some of them had lived in as evacuation shelters.

What could Shelley Davidow possibly offer these teachers?

Originally from South Africa, in addition to lecturing in curriculum and pedagogy in the School of Education at the University of the Sunshine Coast, Shelley Davidow is also a Restorative Practice Facilitator, well-versed in the language and reality of trauma, how to process, express and heal it. Her background in Steiner Education means she also keeps playfulness, creativity, imagination and feeling at the centre of educational practice. There could have been no better fit for our school and our story.

‘Everything. Everything is story.’ Brimming with empathy and intelligence, that is how Shelley began. She deftly guided us into authoring our own voices, by leaving the writing topics open but setting the forms. We were the children, our own students, and Shelley the teacher, modelling a sequence of developmental writing activities which were inspiring, attainable, practical and quick. They included whole class, group, partner & individual approaches as well as buddy-writing activities across grades. She demonstrated non-threatening and non-time-consuming methods of sharing written work post-task. These writing activities were just as enlivening for adult creatives as they were applicable to classroom teaching the very next day.

So, the very next day, that’s what we did, and continue to do. Armed with a new-found playfulness towards language and a lived understanding of the catharsis available by putting pen to paper, we share with our students the gift of writing, that Shelley shared with us, the healthful properties of creativity.
Arriving at school that Professional Development Day, through the heavy smoke, we found each other. Under Shelley’s tutelage, each of us was seen and heard. Each piece of writing we shared was a smoke signal, a message – I’m not okay, but I will be/ my summer was hell, but it will end/ my house is gone, but the valley is home/ everything is black, but green will bud soon/ threat is a lonely place, but we have each other.

Written by Monique Watt
Class Teacher & College Chair
Mumbulla School ​

Teaching Creative Writing Years 1-6 PD

This session was fantastic! I loved doing practical activities and actually learning ideas to use in my classroom!! No other workshops have been as useful as yours. Georgia.

I love teaching reading and writing in primary school. This has been the most inspiring and useful workshop I have ever been to. I found the lower and upper primary workshops to be practical and useful for getting my students to write enthusiastically. Shelley was an engaging humorous and inspiring teacher. Thank you so much Shelley. Cheers, Dan.

It was an inspiring and encouraging three days. I loved the way the workshops made explicit the craft of constructing writing from yr 1-12. I feel I can take age-specific activities to my class to improve my lessons…I really enjoyed the whole experience and will take so much back to my children. The resources and your teaching strategies were perfect. Jacinta.

Excellent content, structure and presentation. Great teaching tips. I particularly enjoyed the exercises—doing them ourselves helped me access how suitable they will be for my students. Thanks for the resources. Anon.

Shelley- a beautifully articulated session, full of valuable insights and accessible activities…lovely tone throughout. Rory