Vashti Hardy (Children's Author): Inspiring books

In this episode, Claire interviews Vashti Hardy at the One Education Literacy Conference. Vashti is a children’s author from Sussex who is well-known for her novels ‘Brightstorm’ and ‘WildSpark’. Before becoming a writer, Vashti worked as a primary school teacher for several years specialising in English.  

Vashti has always been passionate about reading and writing. During her BA at Chichester University, her dissertation research project investigated how free-writing sessions impact children’s enjoyment of writing and their self-belief as writers. One of Vashti’s secondary school teachers gave her a free-writing journal and she credits him for inspiring her to become an author, along with another teacher who read the book ‘Rebecca’s World’ to her as this opened her mind to the idea of imagination as a super power. 

During Vashti’s time as a teacher, she regularly used free-writing journals with her class and ran creative writing clubs. She went on to study for an MA in Creative Writing whilst teaching. Eventually she decided to leave teaching and become a copywriter and digital marketing executive as this gave her more time to focus on her writing career. 

Vashti’s debut novel ‘Brightstorm’ was published in March 2018 and the sequel to this will be released in February 2020. Her second novel ‘WildSpark’ was published in May 2019. Vashti discusses the importance of reading for pleasure and shares practical tips and advice to spark a love of writing in children.  

KEY TAKEAWAYS 

Importance of Author Visits
Vashti believes that author visits to schools are essential to help children see that authors are ‘ordinary’ people and that being a writer is achievable if you are tenacious and work hard enough. She believes it’s important to break down these misconceptions to ensure that children know they can achieve anything if they want it enough and are willing to work hard for it. 

The Magic of Stories in Schools
Vashti believes that books provide brilliant learning opportunities and that it makes a dramatic difference to children’s lives when they discover the book that turns them into readers. Vashti stresses the importance of lighting that spark and love for literacy from an early age. 

Reading for Pleasure
Teachers who are knowledgeable about children’s literature, and the availability out there on the market, often find it easier to engage children with reading as they can keep their selection in the classroom current and varied. Vashti has observed teachers having their own shelf of books in the classroom where they display recommended books for the children to borrow. Recommended reads in the reading area also go down well and encourage a ripple effect in the classroom. The teacher acts as the pebble and the students are the ripples continuing the positive influence by encouraging each other to read by recommending books they have enjoyed. Another suggestion from Vashti to promote reading for pleasure, is to do a topic on picture books as they offer a wealth of teaching opportunities and are visually striking and engaging. 

Teaching Ideas Linked to ‘Brightstorm’
Vashti has seen a huge range of brilliant lessons come from her book ‘Brightstorm’. Children have written persuasive letters applying to take part in the mission in the story, along with newspaper reports and diary entries about the various events that take place. Vashti loves the idea that the children are so immersed in the story that they follow a journey with the characters through their own writing. She has seen some lovely DT and ICT work from children who have created their own sky-ships. She also came across an Art lesson where the teacher brought in some steampunk goggles and the children drew a scene from the book by inhabiting one of the characters and imagining what it would be like to see the world from their eyes. 

Images to Inspire Writing
Pictures are a fantastic source of inspiration when writing scenes. Vashti suggests creating a class Pinterest board and collecting pictures to use for a class story or to inspire free-writing activities which in turn creates a positive atmosphere in the classroom. Vashti also has her own Pinterest board with fantastic pictures which are worth a look. 

Sound to Stimulate Writing
Film soundtracks tell the story of an emotional journey which can support writing greatly. Vashti shares her love for the BBC’s extensive archive of sounds which are free to download and fantastic resources for writing. Creating an orchestra of noises helps you visualise the place you are writing about and build worlds that you are unable to visit. 

BEST MOMENTS 

“Story time was always the most important time of the day for me.” 

“Ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things. Knowing that is really important for children.” 

“It’s really important for children to know that everyone makes mistakes. No-one gets it perfect. It’s a team that works on a book. It’s not all about one person. It’s OK to have other people look at your writing.” 

“Teaching is a hard job. It’s an amazingly satisfying job but hard.”  

“For teachers, I wish that the box ticking could just disappear and there would be more space for some blue-sky thought.” 

“Wanting to do something and believing you can do something are two different things... It can be quite a journey learning how to overcome that and have self-belief and have tenacity and positivity and bash down the barriers and find a way. It’s knowing that with enough hard work you can do it.” 

“With writing, I always thought at the end of my life I would regret not trying. Failing is a different thing. If you’ve given it everything and you fail, at least you’ve tried your best. So I thought I’m going to really try.”  

VALUABLE RESOURCES 

Vashti Hardy’s website: https://www.vashtihardy.com/ 
Vashti Hardy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/vashti_hardy 
Vashti Hardy on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.co.uk/hardy1463/ 
Golden Egg Academy: https://www.goldeneggacademy.co.uk/ 
BBC Sound Effects: http://bbcsfx.acropolis.org.uk/ 
The Teachers’ Podcast: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheTeachersPodcast/ 
Classroom Secrets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ClassroomSecretsLimited/ 
Classroom Secrets website: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/ 
LIFE/work balance campaign: https://classroomsecrets.co.uk/lifeworkbalance-and-wellbeing-in-education-campaign-2019/ 

ABOUT THE HOST 
Claire Riley 

Claire, alongside her husband Ed, is one of the directors of Classroom Secrets, a company she founded in 2013 and which provides outstanding differentiated resources for teachers, schools, parents and tutors worldwide. 

Having worked for a number of years as a teacher in both Primary and Secondary education, and experiencing first-hand the difficulties teachers were facing finding appropriate high-quality resources for their lessons, Claire created Classroom Secrets with the aim of helping reduce the workload for all school staff. 

Claire is a passionate believer in a LIFE/work balance for those who work in education citing the high percentage of teachers who leave or plan to leave their jobs each year. Since February 2019, Classroom Secrets has been running their LIFE/work balance campaign to highlight this concerning trend. 

The Teachers’ Podcast is a series of interviews where Claire meets with a wide range of guests involved in the field of education. These podcasts provide exciting discussions and different perspectives and thoughts on a variety of themes which are both engaging and informative for anyone involved in education. 

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