Jan who?

Jan Dean has published two collections of poetry (Macmillan and & Blackie) and has had poems published in over a hundred anthologies. She has also written teenage fiction (Macmillan & OUP) and fiction for KS2 (CUP, Hodder Wayland, Blackie, Scholastic, Ginn.) She describes herself as ‘a poet who sometimes writes fiction, not a fictioneer who knocks off the occasional poem’. 

Jan has worked as a writer-in-schools for 25 years – in mixed ability groups, ‘family’ groups, in SLD and MLD schools and with young offenders. She also works with the Able Writer’s scheme set up by Brian Moses.

Outside school based projects she has worked with groups as diverse as Covent Garden's innovative music theatre education programme in the Purcell School for gifted young musicians, to ‘Writing in the Environment’ with schools in Northumberland. She has worked in Manchester, Liverpool and Chester cathedrals, both with children and adults – and performed and run workshops in major festivals, including the NCBF, Ilkley, Bristol and Chester.

After assembly I lead class workshops for the rest of the day (50 - 60 mins each). First we write a group poem: I become the ‘word processor’ for the class. Their ideas and my know-how shape the poem. Along the way we discover ‘hot tips’ for writing – all kinds, not just poetry.   

Starting points for group poems can be rooted in ‘How To’s’ - e.g How to create character/ mood/ sense of place, or they can arise from themes/topics the class are covering. The group poem models the process of writing.

Finally the class write their own pieces, individually or in pairs – that’s the teacher’s choice.  

Sometimes I work with a group for more than one session – then there’s time to look at individual writing , work out its strengths and develop them. 

By the end of the day the school will be bursting at the seams with poems.