Goals and Learning Outcomes
- Participants will attune to the whole-body listening experience of children by recalling and reflecting on their own childhood storytime experiences and completing suggested activities.
- Participants will have a more robust new toolkit for creating dynamic storytimes with the children and youth they live or work with using themselves and their immediate surroundings to create soundtracks that enhance the experience received by children and youth, including invitations to check in with physical and emotional sensation throughout the storytime.
- Participants will gain confidence in improvising during storytimes and model this inspiring, inclusive and fun approach to literature for other adults and children with whom they live and work.
About the Speaker: Deirdre Harrison
Deirdre grew up in Puerto Rico, Canada and across the USA Her dad was a great storyteller and her mom encouraged art and free-range play. She received a double BA in English and Theater from Yale University and was the only American in her three-year cohort at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. A dual national of USA/Eire, Deirdre lived and worked as an actress and ESL teacher in the UK and Italy for many years before settling in Chicago two decades ago. She has served in leadership roles in development, community engagement, admissions, financial assistance at Snow City Arts, Eighth Blackbird, Creative Partners, Music Institute of Chicago, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, and Baker Demonstration School. Her consulting business Big Dipper Projects, Inc. serves cultural and educational clients with collaborative development of strategy, audiences, funding and fully engaged boards. Deirdre integrated creative storytelling back into her life in 2014 when, with Kyle Gregory Price, she co-founded The Lucky Trikes, a literacy chamber band that performs with Chicago’s top free jazz and new music artists. She is the proud mother of a dual-cultural daughter who is a visual artist and her greatest teacher. They have begun creating their first picture book together.
About the Speaker: Kyle Gregory Price
Deirdre grew up in Puerto Rico, Canada and across the USA Her dad was a great storyteller and her mom encouraged art and free-range play. She received a double BA in English and Theater from Yale University and was the only American in her three-year cohort at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. A dual national of USA/Eire, Deirdre lived and worked as an actress and ESL teacher in the UK and Italy for many years before settling in Chicago two decades ago. She has served in leadership roles in development, community engagement, admissions, financial assistance at Snow City Arts, Eighth Blackbird, Creative Partners, Music Institute of Chicago, Global Citizenship Experience Lab School, and Baker Demonstration School. Her consulting business Big Dipper Projects, Inc. serves cultural and educational clients with collaborative development of strategy, audiences, funding and fully engaged boards. Deirdre integrated creative storytelling back into her life in 2014 when, with Kyle Gregory Price, she co-founded The Lucky Trikes, a literacy chamber band that performs with Chicago’s top free jazz and new music artists. She is the proud mother of a dual-cultural daughter who is a visual artist and her greatest teacher. They have begun creating their first picture book together.