Tololwa mollel biography sample
Tololwa Mollel
Tololwa will be available for both in-person and virtual presentations for
Presentations
Grades he presents to: K &#; 12, Adult
Audience Limit: 25 for workshops, for presentations
Presentation Limit: sessions
In person visits:
Half day: $ for two 1-hour sessions or three minute sessions
Full day: $ for four 1-hour sessions or five minute sessions
Tololwa will need a screen and projector for in-person sessions.
Virtual visits: $ for one up to 30 minute session; $ for one minute session.
Tolo offers a discounted rate of $ per 60 minute session when multiple sessions are booked by the same school.
Tololwa requests that the virtual set-up and testing of the platforms happens at least one week prior to the presentation date and that session login is available 20 minutes before the presentation start time.
Tololwa&#;s presentations: their nature in general
Over the years, Tololwa has worked to combine discussion of, and limited selective readings from, his books and story plays with a free-ranging storytelling of tales adapted from his African heritage, as well as ones from multicultural sources the world over.
Some of the tales he shares echo common ones from European classical folktale traditions that constitute the enduring staple universally familiar in North America and beyond.
Biography sample writing lessons: Post not marked as liked 1. Perhaps a bird, to fly to all sorts of places. It has become not just an African story, but much more. So did his other title Big Boy.
Audiences for Tololwa&#;s storytelling have consisted of all ages &#; from Kindergarteners, older children, teens and adults &#; with a repertoire well-seasoned over the years and through his performances in a variety of settings and to diverse listeners. He likes to engage his audiences through their participation &#; mentally, physically and fun-wise &#; in his storytelling performances, which range in type from wisdom stories; trickster tale; tales with twists; tales with songs and chants; stories that are thought-provoking; those that contain riddles and mysteries he invites audiences to untangle; to other types of tales.
Tololwa views his books and story-plays as a means with which he tries to capture the spirit of the world&#;s traditional tales that make up his storytelling performances, particularly the tales from his African heritage. His presentations include embedded illustrations as to how his written work fits into the enduring ancient tradition of storytelling that defines us as humans.
Tololwa&#;s presentations for younger students
With elementary students, Tololwa&#;s presentations are part storytelling, part reading from his books, part sharing of brief demonstrative remarks about the sources for and the African setting in his writing.
Depending on the age and nature of an audience, he also touches on questions related to books and his writing and creative process. Tololwa tries as much as possible to get his audience to do something, participate in some way: whether in doing a song or chant, movement, sound effects, or an abbreviated storytelling circle; and through a question and answer segment.
Guiding Tololwa&#;s presentation is a perennial and engaging spirit of storytelling performance which enables him to connect with his audiences in a seemingly effortless way. With Kindergarten students, whom Tololwa would prefer if possible to have an audience on their own, performances are more animated and very much activity-based, with movement and vocal involvement of the children.
Tololwa&#;s presentations for older students
With older students in junior and senior high school, Tololwa discusses ideas about the writing process and the demands and nature of creative artistic work, and other related matters.
To avoid boring students to death, he aims for a demonstrative presentation.
Tololwa mollel biography sample format Students in this grade range, Tololwa has discovered, always welcome and are inspired by insights into the writing process that he can share with them. At a young age, Mollel was sent to live with his grandparents on their coffee farm in Arusha, Tanzania because his local school offered only grades one and two. For almost as long as there's been a Canada, there's been a University of Alberta. They have been around the block quite a lot longer than the younger students.He makes his points through anecdotes about his experiences in creative work, overheads or slides of photographs from theatrical productions and of illustration from his books. He also shares/performs excerpts from his stories and/or plays. He likes particularly to demonstrate from his own experience, the journey that a tale travels from &#; its form as a story to its form as a dramatic piece on stage.
Tololwa never loses sight of the fact that all of us &#; old and young &#; enjoy storytelling. As a result of this, he imbues his presentations to older students with a storytelling spirit which is always a sure-fire way of connecting with an audience, no matter the age. Over the years, Tololwa has discovered that older students enjoy, to their surprise but not to his, a re-introduction into the ageless joys of a storytelling performance or storytelling approach to a presentation, they thought as did many others, they had left behind in the &#;distant&#; world of their childhood.
Tololwa&#;s Presentations for Multi-Age Range of Students, Families, and Adults With situations, say, in small town schools, where a small student population may dictate a need for multiage audiences, to connect Tololwa uses the power of storytelling, which he employs to maximum effect.
With multiage sessions made up of a group of younger students (Gr.
1 &#; 6), he focuses on telling his stories, rather than reading.
If he reads, he limits himself to short excerpts from his books or story plays only to provide examples about this or that element in the writing or creative process in general, or as it relates to his own work. He also uses accounts of little personal stories, illustrative snippets from his life which he has accumulated over thousands of presentations to all ages over the years across Canada and in the US.
He is good at playing it by ear, tailoring his presentations to suit different audiences. Vibes from an audience determine his approach and content in each session, an ability he has developed in the years and years of his work with schools and audiences, and as a theatre artist and performer. Mindful of the younger students within this group, say Gr.
1 &#; 2, Tololwa offers engaging participatory stories that are potentially suitable beyond this particular age range. In his years in storytelling, Tololwa has developed a sense of stories and a repertoire that work well across different age levels.
With multiage sessions of older students (Gr.
Tololwa mollel biography sample pdf The nature of the storytelling he does — more thought-provoking, mature and posing various questions about life and mankind — is different from what he does for the younger students. North American audiences, however, are not so patient. His presentations include embedded illustrations as to how his written work fits into the enduring ancient tradition of storytelling that defines us as humans. As a result of this, he imbues his presentations to older students with a storytelling spirit which is always a sure-fire way of connecting with an audience, no matter the age.7 ), Tololwa has discovered that he has much to offer, notwithstanding the fact of his reputation, possibly passed on to this group before his arrival, as that of a &#;children&#;s author&#;. With such a mix of older students, Tololwa focuses on storytelling that includes selective personal stories that illustrate particular points of interest to this more mature group.
The nature of the storytelling he does &#; more thought-provoking, mature and posing various questions about life and mankind &#; is different from what he does for the younger students. He leaves quite a lot of dots for these older students to fill in, with quite a bit of nudge and wink about things that don&#;t need to be said.
In other words, for this older group, what Tololwa says is as important as what he holds back, for the students themselves to figure out! This older bunch don&#;t need to be told everything. They have been around the block quite a lot longer than the younger students.
Short biography sample When I'm crafting a story for performance, part of the challenge is discovering how many words you can get rid of and how much you can trust the listener to pick up without having to beat them over the head with words. At the end of it all, Tololwa will have given the students a chance to reflect on and interpret the story as to what it means to them on a human, social and artistic level as a group, sub-group and individually. Tololwa will be available for both in-person and virtual presentations for Tololwa Mollel is a children's author, dramatist and storyteller, who has written sixteen books and several plays as well as stories that he created or adapted for performance.Tololwa has also noticed that another thing that unites the students across this grade range is discussion of the writing process. These students have been in school long enough to know how challenging the writing process can be, and how rewarding i is when you get things right. Students in this grade range, Tololwa has discovered, always welcome and are inspired by insights into the writing process that he can share with them.
In his session, as in all his sessions, Tololwa encourages students to ask questions, or to comment, in Q and A segments, and to engage in a dialogue over ideas to do with writing and the creative process, or with life as dealt with through stories; and in this way does Tololwa keep the interactive ball rolling.
Families and Adults: Tololwa welcomes presenting to mixed family audiences, or to adult audiences.
His enormous experience as a storyteller, performer and maker of stories, has enabled him to tune into the different levels brought on by age differences, that may exist in a mixed audience. For strictly adult audiences, Tololwa finds the change of pace from young audiences, to be refreshing and inspiring. Then he is able to share stories that he dares not to tell to &#; or in a manner he is unable to perform for &#; younger audiences!
Workshops
Tololwa centers his workshops on the activity of storytelling and some dramatization, and works with smaller groups of 25 maximum.
He uses writing as an important vehicle and reflective tool at different stages of the workshop process.
A model for the workshop that Tololwa follows is this. He shares an engaging story which he then gets the students as a group to retell in a storytelling circle, more than once as time allows. At a certain point, Tololwa divides the students into sub-groups, each of which does its own storytelling circle. The idea is to have the students become more and more familiar and confident with the story in the process of the workshop, and to have the story grow more detailed and textured, and richer.
Perhaps, eventually, some dramatization creeps into the process, or is allowed or encouraged to creep in, making the activity part storytelling, and part dramatic. At the end of it all, Tololwa will have given the students a chance to reflect on and interpret the story as to what it means to them on a human, social and artistic level as a group, sub-group and individually.
Tololwa adapts his workshops to suit all age groups through his choice of age appropriate stories to share and work on.
Tololwa can also adapt his workshop model into a long term project, to get students &#; in pairs, individually or in groups &#; to work on personal stories from their lives or various ideas or activities; or to create stories or snippets of them out of inspiration from selected or shared traditional multicultural tales.
Tololwa likes to incorporate, as much as possible and where necessary, performance and dramatic work in his workshops, especially with students who may find writing and reading to constitute a struggle.
Space and Group Size, and keyword curricular relevance of Tololwa’s work
Tololwa can work with students from Kindergarten to Senior High, grouped compatibly.
Tololwa works in all types of spaces but prefers not to do his presentations in the gym, if it can be avoided. He works with up to students per group, smaller groups, 25 maximum for workshops. He likes to discuss his visit with his host beforehand and requests a note from the school detailing particulars of the visit.
For convenience, below are the keywords linking Tololwa’s titles, his storytelling and story performance, and presentation, to school curricular needs.
Tololwa mollel biography sample Don't try and do everything. Connect my actual hand to where I'm writing. Articles in The Black Prairies Archives: anthology. I trust that as I work on a story, the process of writing it will determine the audience for it.I list the keywords with the relevant books in brackets. Tololwa’s storytelling and/or story performance are relevant across all the curricular needs. [1]Friendship (Shadow Dance, Song Bird, Kitoto the Mighty) [2]African folktales (many of Tololwa’s books) [3] Beginning of Things/Porquois stories (A Promise to the Sun, The OrphanBoy) [4] Quest (Subira Subira, Song-Bird, Kitoto the Mighty) [5](Modern) Tanzania/Africa (Subira Subira, My Rows and Piles of Coins, Big Boy, Kele’s Secret) [6]The Trickster (The Flying Tortoise, Rhinos for Lunch and Elephants for Supper, To Dinner, For Dinner) [7]Trust (The Orphan Boy, Subira Subira) [8]Song/music stories (Song-Bird, Subira Subira, Shadow Dance, To Dinner, for Dinner, Shadow Dance)