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I’m thrilled to kick-off Jesse Wilson‘s tour for The Night The Moon Ate My Room! The tour runs from January 14th – 27th, 2013. There will be interviews, reviews, guest posts, and a giveaway at every tour stop along with a grand prize! The tour schedule is below, be sure to follow along for more chances to win. Jesse is here today to talk about “Creating Experiences”, read his post below and then be sure to enter the giveaway Rafflecopters!
The Night the Moon Ate My Room!
by Jesse Wilson
Released September 4, 2012 / Tate Publishing
ISBN: 1620241749 / ISBN13: 9781620241745
The moon was bright and full that night, bigger than I could ever even remember it.
Maybe because it was moving towards me…
After giving the worst violin recital of his life, and being laughed at by the entire school, the boy vows to never play music again. Later that night, when the moon swallows up his bedroom, it shares the secrets of being a true artist, helping the boy re-claim his self-confidence, overcome the pitfalls of perfectionism, and believe in his own dream.
Each of the five stories in The Night the Moon Ate My Room! is designed for young readers to experience the joy of self-discovery, valuable life lessons, and the adventure of turning their greatest dreams into reality.
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Creating Experiences
Author/Performer Jesse Wilson, “The Night the Moon Ate My Room!”
www.jessewilsonproductions.com
In the writing/performing workshops that follow the stage performance of “The Night the Moon Ate My Room!” most kids that I work with love to talk about themselves, but usually will shun any exploratory work when it comes to “looking within.” When you say to kids, “lets look within,” be prepared to get you shirt covered in kid-puke!
In my first year teaching drama and music, while developing “The Night the Moon Ate My Room!” I spent a large amount of time and frustration wanting kids to experience the wonderful opportunity of seeing what “made them tick,” to learn about this thing called an “identity” to understand how fear works in their lives in the social setting, the classroom, how fear has its ugly claws in our deepest hopes and dreams and creates perfectionism… and all that jazz. Without realizing it, I was becoming Captain Therapist and not a drama, slash, music teacher who made learning fun.
An idea so simple went totally over my head: create the experience, dude, and then let them reflect on it. What I was doing in my approach was somehow make up for the vast amount of time that had flown by in my life, to bridge the gap between my early adolescent schools days and skip time to my rapidly almost-graying-hair-thinning-ear-trimming days as a music and theatre teacher… Basically, I was expecting (horrible word for a teacher) these kids to make the same discoveries as I had, so many years after school.
As a performer, creating an experience on stage is everything. That’s how you draw the audience in, help them see things differently, and hopefully get them applauding on their feet and Facebooking their friends: “It was better than Cats!”
One of my biggest early-on challenges was not taking my work as a teacher so flippin’ personally. I was the actor who got a million accolades but them obsessed over that one bad review, even if it came from an unknown reporter in Jersey. The fact that I couldn’t seem to “get kids to see what I saw” made me have to reflect and change my strategy. A voice in the night said to me… one night… “How long did it take you to get the stuff you want them to learn? Let them be kids. Guide them. But don’t force-feed them with the ‘looking-within’ yourself stuff. Create a cool lesson with, like, guided practice and stuff, and then pull the Mr. Rogers stuff, if you want to… but let them discover it.” That voice went on in my head– it was getting annoying now. “Don’t be the guy to discover it for you. Remember those annoying camp counselors you had when you were a kid? The guy with the beard that made you want to hurl whenever he said, ‘Hey, kids, isn’t that great!!! Isn’t that coooooll!!!!”
So what I try to do now is not worry so much about kids figuring themselves out. I want them to not get into trouble, I don’t want them to be bullied and I don’t want them to bully, and I want them to recognize their uniqueness and share their brilliance… but I can only be a guide, a helper. Not Captain Therapist. Everyone has their own unique experience, and who am I to get in the way of that? Through creating an experience for the classroom, and a simple and smart lesson plan, in my sly way, I can get students to “look within” infinitely deeper without me being the bearded guy either.
Jesse Wilson
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About the Jesse Wilson:
Jesse Wilson is an author, motivational performer, illustrator, and teacher. A life-long involvement with theatre and film as both performer and writer began early, growing up in Hollywood, CA, where he performed in plays, TV shows and commercials. A graduate of the LA High School for the Performing Arts, Jesse traveled east to attain a BFA for theatre in the prestigious Juilliard School. Remaining in New York, and later Philadelphia, he developed material for his one-man shows, performed throughout the region. His most recent production, “Face the City,” written for high school and college audiences, combines visual and animation projections in a multimedia presentation of the artist’s journey to find themselves in the “real world.” “The Night the Moon Ate My Room!” written and performed with music for young audiences to experience self-discovery, is created with the support of The Kennedy Center’s Imagination Celebration and Pikes Peak Library District.
Coming soon this year, building upon the success of “The Night the Moon Ate My Room!” a series of empowering books for children, written and illustrated by Jesse Wilson, will be published under the title “Brilliant Mistakes!”
Thanks Jesse for stopping by today! Enter the Rafflecopters (2) below for chances to win a copy for yourself. The grand prize is signed copy of The Night the Moon Ate My Room along with a 11″ x 15″ custom illustration! Follow the tour for more chances to win!
Giveaways!
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Tour Schedule
Monday, January 14th — A Book and a Latte (Kick-off!)
Tuesday, January 15th — Kid Lit Reviews (Guest Post)
Wednesday, January 16th — I Am a Reader, Not a Writer (Interview)
Thursday, January 17th — Twisted Sense (Review)
Friday, January 18th — Kid Lit Reviews (Review)
Saturday, January 19th — The Young Adult Connection (Guest Post)
Sunday, January 20th — Mundie Kids (Excerpt)
Monday, January 21st — Unconventional Librarian (Guest Post)
Tuesday, January 22nd — Snacks for Max (Review & Interview)
Wednesday, January 23rd — Candace’s Book Blog (Review)
Thursday, January 24th — I Am a Reader, Not a Writer (Review)
Friday, January 25th — Geo Librarian (Review & Interview)
Saturday, January 26th — Optimistic Mommy (Review)
Sunday, January 27th — Bookshelf Banter (Excerpt)
Bloggers, want to become a host, and be notified of upcoming events?
Check out my new Promotions & PR website: http://publicity.bookandlatte.com!
Information and details are still being added, but it’s up and running!
Well this sounds like a fun little read. I love the author’s new attitude, Guide kids have fun and teach them to be good people not to bully or be bullied. We need more of this in our world today. As far as brilliant mistakes… I don’t know I guess underestimating myself or my kids.
Heidi recently posted..From What I Remember by Stacy Kramer and Valerie Thomas
Life lessons wrapped up in a great read. Got to love that.
Twitter: bookandlatte
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Jen recently posted..WoW Pick of the Week (85)
My Grandchildren will love this book..Thanks for a great giveaway!!