Feedback on Presentation Of Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon
“The PowerPoint with lots of visuals worked well! Really neat how you explained the process! (i.e. meeting First Nations people, going to the canyon)… how thorough you were with research!”
Alison Noort,
Grade 3 teacher
Rose Valley Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Our students were engaged from start to finish … well-paced for Grade 3 and 4 … good summary of writing and publishing process … historical Indigenous connections to the curriculum were excellent … great to have perspectives of author and illustrator together … very special and privileged to have giveaways from the author and illustrator”
Stacey Manoin,
Teacher-Librarian
Mar Jok Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Very engaging … historical connections to Social Studies curriculum … loved the reading and seeing illustrations about the Indigenous peoples in the Okanagan … great way to learn about Canadian history … enjoyed how you had a PowerPoint to show visuals … I am so happy you took students through the writing process and talked about revision … enjoyed hearing both perspectives – author and illustrator”
Maddie Hellyer,
Teacher
Mar Jok Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Great job! You thought of every way to reach all the learners! Worked well having large visuals to engage students, photos to support the background story, and sharing point-of-view examples (European vs. First Nations) and importance of [Indigenous] advising editor. You both really brought the process of writing and illustrating a book to life! Thank you”
Michelle Newman
Teacher
Mar Jok Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Love the visuals! Very important for engaging students. Beautiful horse pictures. Enjoyed hearing the first page [of the book] and seeing the illustrations. Very impressed with the process of consultation with Indigenous people and careful detail to history—well done!”
Samia Umeris
Teacher-Librarian
Anne McClymont Elementary, Kelowna, BC
“The amazing photographs and book illustrations you used to help tell your experiences and story allowed the kids to clearly see what you were explaining. Very interesting that you illustrated the book from actual poses of people you staged. So interesting for the kids to hear about the interesting places around the Okanagan. It was great how you described how you went about creating the book and getting pictures.”
B. Greenberg,
Teacher
Anne McClymont Elementary, Kelowna, BC
“Excellent! Students and staff were attentive and interested throughout.The interactiveness worked well, and sending the map around so all students could see.”
Sue Noble
Teacher-Librarian
Helen Gorman Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Glenmore Elementary was fortunate to have local author and illustrator of the book Growing up in Wild Horse Canyon visit our school. The author, Karen Autio, gave the children an insight into the research, collaboration and experiences needed to write her book. She gave real life accounts through an interesting slide show of the years of work involved to create such a wonderfully informative book. The illustrator, Loraine Kemp, talked about how working with Karen, she created the delightful illustrations that are featured in the book. Also with the aid of a slideshow Loraine walked the children through the process of how she creates her illustrations. The 45 minute presentation grabbed the students attention and gave them an amazing insight into the creation of a story. Karen finished the day with a 45 minute writing workshop where the students went through a couple of interesting and fun writing exercises. Loraine did the same with another group working with illustrations. It was a pleasure to host Loraine and Karen for the day. The students and teachers are still talking about all they learned.”
Doug Obst
Teacher-Librarian
Glenmore Elementary, Kelowna, BC
“Great connection to process of book and story creation—important to see photos of exploration. Audience participation worked well as it is so important, especially for young students. Nice visuals from book, to exploration, to illustration. Very authentic inclusion of Indigenous perspective. Thank you.”
Heather Noakes
Indigenous Education
Naramata Elementary, Naramata, BC
Feedback on Writing Workshops by Karen Autio during school visits for Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon
“You did a fantastic job launching your school tour at RVE today! What a treat it was for me to have a real, live author lead my students in a writing workshop.”
Nadine Siever
Grade 3 teacher
Rose Valley Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Writing task very manageable and interesting for students … liked that you explained vocabulary”
Stacey Manoin
Teacher-Librarian
Mar Jok Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Great idea to connect the illustration to the text—close your eyes activity very effective. About right time allowed for the students to do the writing. Thank you!!”
Sue Noble
Teacher-Librarian
Helen Gorman Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“A captivating visual piece of writing to have students imagine. Several visuals to have students engaged. Very interesting historical information provided. Instructions were clear, with excellent story starters and an appropriate length of time to complete the tasks.”
Ashley Aoki
Teacher
Naramata Elementary, Naramata, BC
“The writing workshop Karen did with my students included a historical snapshot of the horse brigade journey from Fort Kamloops to Okanagan ( Washington) … Students were engaged in an authentic writing activity … in the first person from the perspective of one of the characters of the brigade … Students were then invited to imagine the future of the Okanagan History timeline. Many students were creative and happy to share their writing with their peers. Karen’s workshop was a great way of learning about the past and looking into the future!”
Lucille Verley
Grade 6 teacher
École Casorso School, Kelowna, BC
“I really liked how you showed/talked about getting your information for your writing and the importance of having authentic information. I also liked the visualization activity and the instructions to use strong verbs and punctuation, reinforcing what we are leaning in Language Arts. The students were very engaged during the presentation and the workshop. THANK YOU!”
Krystal Sharpe
Grade 5/6 Teacher
George Pringle Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
Feedback on Illustrating Workshops by Loraine Kemp during school visits for Growing Up in Wild Horse Canyon
“What worked well? Just focus on one thing to do well! (i.e. eye) Showed samples of when she was a young artist. Appropriateness of drawing instruction? Very good! Students were told how to use art tools.”
Alison Noort
Grade 3 teacher
Rose Valley Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“Your expertise and enthusiasm, and the directed drawing activity worked well.”
Sue Noble
Teacher-Librarian
Helen Gorman Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“What worked well? Showing process of drawing – we are not born artists! Loved the step-by-step directed drawings! Perfectly appropriate for age group. The kids loved it!”
Kim David
Grade 4-5 teacher
Helen Gorman Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“What worked well? Pictures shared of younger drawings and description of changes to make a face look real. Perfectly appropriate for age group. The mixture of drawing and shading was great. The two horse shading pages were great for highlighting the differences shading makes. Really enjoyed it. Great pace and instruction. Had the kids engaged the whole time.”
Lori Gillman
Helen Gorman Elementary, West Kelowna, BC
“The students loved the direct draw of the eye—it was a beautiful, realistic step-by-step. Loraine and workshop were highly engaging for our children.”
Ashley Aoki,
Teacher
Naramata Elementary, Naramata, BC
“What worked well? Different pencil techniques and specific instruction. I was surprised at how well the students responded and how they were able to follow along. Loraine’s enthusiasm is contagious! The students were highly motivated to learn and persevere. Loraine was able to give one-to-one for students who needed it and she circulated amongst the students.
Mrs. Kemp explained well how she improved over time, by paying attention to details and practicing, progression over time. Very appropriate for the grade 5 and 6 students. She showed step-by-step how to draw an eye, add shading.”
Marie Claude Keber
Teacher
Casorso Elementary, Kelowna, BC
“Students were fully engaged. Covered topics that students were capable of handling. Very appropriate for age group. How can she make it better? Have more workshops with more students! :)”
Rosie Stuart
Teacher-Librarian
Casorso Elementary, Kelowna, BC.
The illustrations are absolutely stunningly beautiful! I am truly blown away at how alive the scenes feel and how well you have represented not just the people but the surrounding environment, I almost wish the book came with sounds to go with the images.
You truly have a gift!…
Absolutely great work, I have a hard time not staring at the illustrations and losing myself in them 😀
JORDAN COBLE B.A.
Curatorial and Heritage Researcher
Sncəwips Heritage Museum
Our students were very fortunate to have Loraine visit our school. She presented to students in grades 3 – 6 for 45 minutes in the gym, followed by two workshops with students in grades 3 and 5. Throughout her enthusiastic presentation, students were engaged by her illustrations and commentary, and they were taught techniques that illustrators use. During the workshops, students were led through drawing exercises and were given a challenge to continue working on after she left. Students were fully on task and excited about what they were producing. I would not hesitate to ask Loraine to come back to our school in the future. It was a very inspiring presentation.
Wendy Beaudoin
Teacher-Librarian/Literacy Support
Bankhead Elementary
I just wanted to thank you again for the wonderful presentation that you did for our grade five and six students today. I’ve never seen our kids so engaged and attentive! They definitely learned a lot about how to use colour and space in drawings. All three teachers came to tell me how much their students enjoyed the individual class workshops as well. Our intermediate art teacher mentioned how great it was that the students got to learn about shading and pencil drawings. They often do lots of painting and crafts, but this was a new opportunity for their artistic skill development. The students also really enjoyed the directed drawing and loved the idea that their creative work could end up on your website! I am so impressed at the quality of work that they produced for you in such a short time. I know that you had an impact on our kids because at the end of the day, one of the students came to me and wanted to know where we keep the “Loraine Kemp books” in our library!
I also appreciate you taking the time to talk to my grade ones for a few minutes this morning. They were very excited to meet a “real illustrator” and were still talking about you this afternoon when they came for their library block!
I definitely hope that we can bring you back in the future to work with more of our students. Thanks for a great day!
Shawna Horning – Teacher/Librarian – North Glenmore Elementary
Loraine Kemp has presented at École Glenmore School on two occasions. Both were wonderful sessions. On the first occasion she accompanied author Lyn Hancock who was at Glenmore to talk about her book Tabasco the Saucy Raccoon. Loraine did the illustrations for that book and so while Lyn talked to some classes about the writing process, Loraine offered hands-on drawing workshops to other classes. The next time Loraine visited she was there as both a soon-to-be-published author (Orion’s Sword) and again in her capacity as an illustrator. During this session Loraine had a half-hour PowerPoint presentation on the drawing process (including pictures she had drawn in her elementary school years), followed by drawing exercises for the students that concentrated on emphasizing detail. As mentioned, students responded enthusiastically to both sessions. Please note that Loraine can customize her presentations to include caricatures of people the class is studying for specific units.
J Gillett, BA, BEd, MLS, MEd
Hello Loraine,
Thank you very much for your presentation to our Grade 3 class at Glenmore Elementary. The students were very interested and engaged in learning about your journey as an illustrator. They also really enjoyed having the opportunity to see you demo some drawings and of course have a chance to try some drawing themselves. It was an inspiring hour of art! I’d love to have you back to my class next year.
Thank you,
Laira Jacobson
From: Dr. Sandra Sellick (retired principal).
It is my pleasure to write this letter on behalf of Loraine Kemp. As a school principal in 2005, I had the pleasure of collaborating with Loraine as she prepared illustrations for Lyn Hancock’s book Tabasco The Saucy Raccoon published by Sono Nis Press (ISBN- 10: 1-55039-156-9 and ISBN-13: 978-1-55039-156-5).
This very positive and memorable experience came about after Loraine contacted me to propose a project involving students… Click here to read more…
The students and staff thoroughly enjoyed the experience of working with Loraine as she used us as models for her drawings – seeing the illustrations later in a published book was definitely a highlight for all involved. Loraine was professional in this role, her illustrations were amazingly accurate and the school community was thrilled to be named in a published book – a wonderful keepsake for everyone!
Donna Stathers (Vice principal at the time of illustrations)