Jacqueline Guest

Readings

Jacqueline Guest, Métis author of fourteen novels, combines literacy with history in a curriculum based, highly visual interactive presentation that has teachers and students asking for more. Her historical presentation, with artefacts ranging from Métis Sashes to buffalo teeth and beaver pelts, transports students back to the era of the fur trade and the hearty Voyageurs who helped build Canada. The Hudson’s Bay and North West Companies involvement in the past are shown as well as the importance of the beaver to European society and the buffalo to Indigenous peoples. History comes alive when student volunteers dress in Voyageur costume to paddle their canoe to the trading post while learning about long forgotten Métis culture along the way. Through the use of traditional toys from different ethnicities, Canada’s diversity is shown as a strength to be celebrated. An intriguing overview of her novels with topics ranging from the Great Depression to grizzly bear poaching to hockey tournaments has students lining up to sign out the books. Titles include Red Cedar, Hackmatack and Arthur Ellis nominees, OLA Best Bet and Edmonton Public Schools Best of the Best Winners, as well as Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Selections. Jacqueline’s final words of wisdom: READ TO SUCCEED!

Sixty-minute session filled with literacy and learning, history and culture, with a direct tie-in to Canadian social studies curriculum.

Special Equipment:

Two long tables.

Book Sales:

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

Workshops

Grades Four to Six Workshops: A Pirate Map to Writing Treasure

Student Description
A Pirate Map to Writing Treasure:
Ahoy Matey! Join Jacqueline Guest on a high seas adventure as we discover the buried treasure in your story that will capture readers with your first sentence and see them continue the voyage to the last word. These pirate secrets will give you the gold you seek- a higher mark on that next writing assignment!

Teacher’s Description:
Brilliant Beginnings and Fabulous Finishes:
Jacqueline Guest’s pirate themed workshop is a fun session that focuses on teaching students how to write strong beginnings to engage readers immediately and linking satisfying endings that tie the plot together. Logic and natural progression are shown as important elements in their writing assignments. Engaging the imagination beyond ordinary limits is encouraged. Emphasis will be placed on the use of basic language arts skills and parts of speech as well as avoiding passive writing to produce better writing which leads to higher marks.

Grades Seven to Twelve Workshops: Wild Ride Writing!
Jacqueline Guest’s senior workshops move at the speed of light, encouraging students to put pen to paper and write from the heart. Writing exercises range from whimsical to practical with students given license to write outside the box. Innovative descriptive writing techniques combined with clinical elements such as sentence structure and narrative arcs ensures higher scores on finals. Writing success secrets including guaranteed mark improvement tools, strong starts and intriguing points of view combined with satisfying endings show how the same success techniques can be applied whether writing essays for language arts or novels for lucrative contracts. Exercises using intense visual imaging translated into evocative writing encourage students to look beyond the surface to find the brilliance burning within. Learn the "how-to's" of beating-boring-basics, jump-starting ideas, and wild-ride-writing!

Special Equipment:

Overhead projector and whiteboards or flip charts.

Book Sales:

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

Biography

Jacqueline is a Metis writer who lives in a log cabin nestled in the pinewoods of the Rocky Mountain foothills of Alberta. She is a full time writer with one goal- to produce intriguing and entertaining books that will ensure children will continue to read for enjoyment while learning between the lines. Her fast paced novels are unique in that many of the main characters are of First Nations, Inuit or Metis background. Her characters are involved in activities ranging from bullying and blind hockey to grizzly bear poaching to hopping a ride on a freight train with a hobo during the Great Depression. The well-drawn characters appeal to both boys and girls and are strong role models for today’s youth. Her curriculum-based interactive presentations appeal to students in all grade levels and are of interest as they incorporate her own background as she shows how the Metis people are part of the fabric of Canada’s history. Audience participation and a highly visual presentation ensure students remember the experience and the information they learn. She has travelled extensively from Nunavut to British Columbia spreading the good word on literacy. A strong advocate of reading, Jacqueline believes the key to the future is through better literacy today.

Jacqueline’s presentations are tailored to appeal to the grades she is presenting to and can be amended upon consultation with the teacher or librarian. Presentations for grades one to twelve are available. She will present to an audience of up to fifty students at a time and is open to travel. Please contact her for more information on ordering books, presentation content and fees.

OTHER PRESENTATIONS:
Professional Development for Teachers and Librarians

Reading Rocks! Teaching Between the Lines
Jacqueline Guest shares her torture-tested teaching techniques to bring literacy to reluctant readers and avid bibliophiles alike. See how her unique interactive presentation engages even reluctant grade four boys and has them lining up to read. Hear how her multi-cultural characters lend themselves to today’s ethnically diverse classrooms and give teachers an edge when students complain ‘there’s nothing for me to read’. Today’s Twitch Generation is highly visual and requires a new approach if we are going to increase literacy skills. Find out how Jacqueline’s old-fashioned sneak attack captures children’s imaginations and gets them reading!