Dan Bar-el

Readings

Storytelling for Preschoolers (Ages 3 – 5)
A mixed bag of stories and action rhymes just right for preschool children. Thirty minutes of giggles and mayhem honed from my years of experience as an early childhood educator.

Storytelling (Kindergarten – Grade 2; Grade 3 -4 and can include Grade 5)
A human voice, a simple hand gesture, what could be more basic? I offer two presentations, each one age appropriate. I include old tales and new yarns and stories connected to the books in your school library. This year’s presentations will include a telling of my new picture book Such a Prince.

The Funny Author Presentation (Grades 5 & 6, but can be modified to include Grades 4 or 7)
A one-hour whirlwind presentation that begins from the basic question of why we laugh. From there we come to understand two basic concepts of what makes something funny and how it comes to play in what we read and what we write. Then we learn about one specific type of humour: satire. I will refer to my two satirical chapter books as guides, explaining my process as a writer. This is a fun, entertaining presentation and one that teaches interesting, useful concepts.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Workshops

Comedy Writing Workshop
A lively, fun hour of learning how to think and write “funnier”. We will cover the basic rules of comedy, how to brainstorm ideas and formulate a joke, how language breaks down as a tool and serves humour, understanding the importance of lateral thinking and ways to change your perspective of the world around you. There will be short exercises so students should come with pencil and notebook and a desire to be funny in a safe, relaxed environment.

Special Equipment:

A flip chart.

Book Sales:

Copies of books can be brought to be sold and autographed.

Biography

Before devoting my time to children’s books, I had always been writing in one form or another, whether it was plays and monologues, poetry, comedy sketches, routines and jokes, film scripts, greeting cards, or the thousand little scraps of paper I leave around the house. Writing is just something I have always done.

Yet at first, I never saw myself becoming a writer. At age ten, I discovered theatre and loved acting. Up until the end of high school, I was devoted to theatre, constantly involved in classes and productions outside of regular school. Then I attended the Ryerson Theatre School for three years before embarking on a professional acting career. During that period, I formed a writing partnership with a comic performer and together we started a comedy troupe that toured across Canada.

But it was through volunteering at an out-of-school program that I discovered how much I enjoyed working with children. From then on, I shifted my focus to running creative programming for school age children and later, becoming an early childhood educator. And that’s how I came to writing children’s books.

I did not always read “age-appropriate” books when I was young, so it didn’t surprise me to rediscover a love for picture books when I was an adult. What did surprise me was finding a new focus for writing that complimented my other pursuits. I now balance my writing time between touring as an author and storyteller, and facilitating a preschooler program in which children’s stories are recorded and acted out with classmates.

I love taking photographs wherever I go, and I relish any opportunity to host a meal, especially making desserts. For fun, I play blues harmonica but am currently trying to master the penny whistle. I was born in Edmonton, Alberta, grew up in London, Ontario, and lived for many years in Toronto before moving to Vancouver where I currently reside.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
Dan Bar-el is available for a professional development day for kindergarten teachers.
Workshop Title: Stories in Our Own Words
Play is a child’s natural way to learn, and stories are at the heart of child’s play. In this program, we will explore the process of eliciting children’s own stories, recording them and then allowing each child to act out her own stories with the help of classmates and under her own direction. This is a program that promotes literacy in a way that evolves out of a child’s own curiosity and self-interest. This is a program that allows ample opportunity for documentation and group assessment. But even more importantly, this is a program that promotes inclusiveness, as children accept each other for the individual storytellers that they are.

This workshop is partially hands-on. There will be two no-pressure exercises that will demonstrate the program that I facilitate. Participation is expected, but everyone will be made to feel comfortable.

Keynote address

Title: From Storytelling to Children’s Books –
Why authors and storytellers should be in your schools

Building from my experiences working with preschool children and my observations of students in the schools where I tell stories, it is obvious that narrative is elemental to our lives. I see how story-making and storytelling create a strong foundation for a child’s future life as a reader.