School Visits
Philosophy
Bryn's school programs entertain, engage the imagination and help to reinforce what teachers are doing in the classroom in the areas of writing, science, history and language arts. He uses age-appropriate examples of bigger-than-life disasters, diseases, extinctions and cultural transformations to focus student attention. These same phenomena work as lenses to help students make essential connections about who we are, why we are here, and where we are going. From these starting points we learn how to write with conviction and make art that tells stories.
Bryn shows how writing and illustrating is a collaborative process between a writer, artist, editor, and art director with many steps between initial spark and final outcome. Students will come away with a new appreciation for the creative process and the power of revision to perfect an idea. Researching a subject, revising and editing prose, and creating an image — from thumbnail to final art — offers real satisfaction and a finished product worthy of the effort.
Bryn understands that school discretionary funds are precious. He has taught within the IB, AP, IGCSE, and MYP frameworks and Common Core and Arrow curricula. He understands the importance of scaffolding knowledge, inquiry and facilitating learning into his school visits. He works hard to give schools a truly memorable visit with amazing facts, riveting art that stretches imaginations and stimulates interest and creativity long after he has have departed. Your students won't forget a visit by Bryn Barnard.
Programs
LENGTH OF PROGRAMS
- 30-60 minutes, including Q & A.
- 90 minutes for a combined presentation and illustration demonstration session
- Multi-day workshops
AUDIENCE SIZE
For assembly presentations, any size that fits in the room. For younger students, groups of 50 or less works best. For workshops, 30 or less works best.
PROGRAMS
Bryn's books and presentations fit well with elementary and middle school curricula and are adaptable for assemblies and small groups. Bryn has four presentations that use his non-fiction books as lenses through which to understand both science-history connections. All include student participation.
Bryn's enthusiasm is infectious. He makes the information fascinating, accessible and memorable. Bryn pitches the information to the level of his audience. Students come away with a new appreciation or the connections between science, history and their lives. Bryn's tips on writing more effectively and his emphasis on the effective use of elements and principles of design in picture-making reinforce classroom curricula.
Bryn can also customize most presentations and workshops to your specific needs.
Creativity Confidential
In this presentation/ mini-workshop, Bryn involves students in the step-by-step of the book creation process. Students will learn how Bryn moves from initial idea to research, writing, revising, editing and copyediting; how he develops illustrations — storyboarding, research, design, thumbnails, sketches, staging, lighting, and painting. Bryn also describes the publication process: how a book evolves from manuscript to printed product. Bryn brings examples of manuscript, layout, dummy, marked-up galleys and the finished product
This presentation is fun, informative and inspirational. In the second practice making their own illustration thumbnails and sketches based on Bryn's written prompts
Creativity Confidential is appropriate for all ages. It makes a great introduction to one of Bryn's longer workshops where students can test-drive his approach to writing and image making.
Outbreak
Plagues are creepy and scary. Bryn makes them fascinating and understandable. Did the Black Death create the conditions in Europe that made capitalism and the trans-Atlantic slave trade possible? Did smallpox ensure the colonization of the Americas, Australia and New Zealand? Did yellow fever help end slavery in the Americas? Did cholera help create the modern city? Did flu lead to the discovery of modern antibiotics? These are some of the questions posed in Outbreak. Students will learn how the ripple effects of long ago plagues still shape our behavior today, and how contemporary plagues continue to change us.
Bryn has several different illustrated pandemic talks with that can be presented virtually or live:
- Plague, Cholera and public health
- Smallpox, Yellow Fever and colonization
- Tuberculosis, Influenza and social change
- 1918 Flu, Covid 19 and public policy
- Toxoplasma and human culture
Bryn has two different classroom activities. For younger ages, kindergarten through 6th grade, Bryn and the students work together to draw a custom infectious disease. Bryn collaborates with students to create a one-of-a-kind disease artwork that they can bring back to their classrooms.
For older students, 7-10th grade, Bryn facilitates the Game of Plague (see below for details), where students research the pandemic of their choice to create an actual or virtual board game.
Students will come away from Outbreak with a better understanding of the importance of revision and editing in the evolution of an effective non-fiction story, the amazing power of the microscopic world and a new appreciation of why we wash our hands!
Adaptable for all ages.
The Game of Plague
This unit of learning is a good way for students to gain agency, learn about history through the lens of disease and develop hand-eye coordination and digital art skills. The Game of Plague is a Unit of Inquiry based on the IB MYP four Criteria model: knowing and understanding; developing skills; thinking creatively; responding. This usually requires two classroom visits either virtually or live. In the first visit, Bryn introduces the unit and shows exemplars of student plague games based on Snakes and Ladders, The Game of Life, Chess, or completely original concepts. Students can create their games individually or in teams. The classroom teacher then facilitates the unit, consulting with Bryn when necessary. Bryn returns on the last day of the unit to comment on the outcomes and select a winning game. The winner receives a copy of Outbreak with a signed bookplate.
Dangerous Planet
In this virtual or live presentation, students learn that natural disasters are scary reminders of Nature's power. Bryn demystifies the science behind disasters and shows how they have shaped human history. Did a nineteenth century snowstorm birth the New York subway? Did a thirteenth century Japanese typhoon sink a Chinese dynasty? Did a volcanic eruption create both the worst food crisis in modern history and Frankenstein's monster? Did a drought snuff out one of the superpowers of the Roman world? These are a few of the stories considered in Dangerous Planet, Bryn's book about natural disasters that changed history. Students will learn how many things we take for granted today — the subway, Greek columns, France, skyscrapers, our very existence — are, in part, the end result of natural disasters.
Bryn discusses the genesis of his first book where he was both author and illustrator: how the book was envisioned and developed by the publisher, how the chapters were determined, how the images were researched and created from initial sketch to finished painting. For long-format presentations Bryn can demonstrate how he creates a disaster image or maps. Bryn has several simple science experiments that illuminate some of the natural processes in the Dangerous Planet stories. Teachers can try them in the classroom.
Students will come away with a keener understanding of humanity's relation to Nature, the importance of research and revision to develop a story, and how being in the wrong place at the right time can have consequences that last centuries, as well as deeper insight into the book creation process.
Adaptable for all ages.
The Genius of Islam
In this presentation, students learn that, although today the Islamic world and the West are often seen as competitors or opponents, ancient Islam shares more with us than most people realize.
- The Middle Ages were a period of tremendous cultural and scientific advancement in the Islamic Empire—ideas and inventions that shaped our world.
• The numbers you use every day (Arabic numerals) were developed by Muslims.
• The marching band you hear at football games has its roots in the Middle East.
• The orange juice you drink at breakfast today is thanks to Islamic farming innovations
• The modern city's skyline was made possible by Islamic architecture.
Students will be amazed at the deep historical connections between our world today and medieval Islamic civilization: food, philosophy, astronomy, engineering, agronomy, mathematics, music, art, architecture — the list goes on and on. The connections are astonishing. Students will come away from this illustrated PowerPoint discussion with an enhanced understanding of an astonishing period in human history that continues to shape our world today.
Adaptable for integration into units on the comparative religion, the history of Islam, or the Middle East. Ideal for upper primary and middle school grades and integration with the PYP and MYP programs.
The New Ocean
In this presentation we look at six sea creatures and how they may fare in a hotter, more acidic, more polluted, and emptier ocean, plus possible futures for the near and more distant ocean and what that means for us. Bryn highlights efforts to address climate change, acidification and plastics pollution, consider the counterarguments (climate change denial) and discuss how students can take action to try to take control of a very uncertain future. This is a hard look at an uncomfortable topic in language that children can understand.
For younger audiences, we also create a collaborative sea creature made from pollutants.
Ideal for elementary and middle school classrooms and the PYP and MYP programs.
Additional Programs
Bryn also gives presentations targeted for Theory of Knowledge and DP Visual Arts. Bryn is available for teacher and parent writing and illustration workshops, Young Author Day celebrations, I Love To Read artist-in-residencies, small group discussions, and evening sessions. Bryn is happy to set up a program to meet your needs. Here are some sample workshops that can be offered individually or in combination, virtually or live.
Family Evening Presentations - For parents and other adults, Bryn offers more in-depth PowerPoint Presentations and Q&A sessions on his science-history subjects. For families, Bryn offers the opportunity for a collaborative writing-illustration experience.
Leave Fear Behind - We live in a culture of attachment. This collaborative art exercise shows students and teachers how to take risks, abandon ownership and embrace the unknown to create original artworks that demand cooperation and exploit non-linear thinking.
Take a Chance - Students learn to mix and experiment with a variety of media to create a subject of their choice. through intensive intensive experimentation. Students will learn about design, staging, color schemes, and how to use accidental watercolor effects to stretch creative thinking.
Build a Book - This is multi-day unit in which participants write and illustrate a story with experimental media and come away with a short finished storybook
From Art Making to Art Thinking: New Paradigms for Education - Bryn offers an engaging idea-filled presentation on the value of visual non-linear thinking in mathematics, science, technology and engineering, the STEM into STEAM movement and the cross-disciplinary field of artscience.
Plein Air Intensive - Bryn teaches students the fundamentals of en plein air painting gouache, water color or oil painting. Appropriate for older students with some background in art.
Pricing
Bryn offers both virtual presentations via Zoom or live presentations in the classroom, a maximum of five one-hour presentations per day or a combination of shorter presentations and longer workshops. Contact Bryn for current pricing for virtual and live visits. Bryn is happy to work with multiple schools to share costs.