“Graham is one of the best presenters for students I’ve ever seen. He earns and keeps students’ attention with stories that are powerful, honest, insightful and often very, very funny.”

Cynthia Ganote
Associate Professor
Saint Mary’s College of California

 

In his 20 years of classroom experience, Graham has developed a variety of educational programs that are adaptable to groups of different ages, sizes and learning styles. Graham can provide pre- and post-performance materials for the classroom and works with teachers to tailor the presentation to fit within the guidelines of the school’s curriculum.

ARTIE AND EDDY IN THE STORY FACTORY: Managing the Relationship between Your Inner Artist and Editor

Writers’ block is a myth. That doesn’t mean people don’t suffer from it, but it’s an entirely self-inflicted malady. The issue is that writers of all ages, but particularly young writers, sabotage themselves because they judge their own work while they’re still creating it. Artie and Eddy are two characters Graham created to represent the different parts of the brain we use when writing or creating any work of art. In a workshop that includes storytelling, visual art, discussion and writing exercises, students go through a step-by-step process that will provide them with tools and techniques to overcome their own barriers to writing success.

BIG IN JAPAN

In the three years Graham lived in Japan, he collected stories you’ve never heard and will scarcely believe. These include ancient folk tales like “The Inch-High Samurai” and “Three Strong Women” (ancestors of today’s manga and anime) as well as original personal experience stories like “The Japanese Basketball Trophy” and “The Attack of the Japanese Pre-Schoolers.”Big in Japan includes information about Japanese language and culture and can be presented as a classroom lesson, a workshop or an assembly.

JACK AND THE CAVE OF ANYWHERE

The hero of Jack and the Beanstalk and The Jack Tales is back. In this original story, Jack finds a magical cave that transports him through time and space and allows him to enter other folk tales from around the world. This storytelling presentation can be customized to fit your students and your curriculum. Students read a selection of world folk tales in advance of the performance and then watch as Jack continues his adventures, teaming up with or taking on characters like Africa’s Anansi the Spider, Hercules from ancient Greece and Japan’s Momotaro (the Peach Boy).

KAIDAN

Dracula is done. Werewolves are weak. And Freddy Kruger? Ho-hum. Today’s kids have seen it all in terms of scary stories – or at least they think they have. But they don’t know kaidan –ghost stories as told in Japan. This Halloween, give your students a multicultural experience, and a scare unlike any they’ve ever had, with kaidan featuring Japanese demons, monsters, shape-shifters and ghostly samurai who seek revenge from beyond the grave. Kaidan – what they don’t know could scare them.

LEARN TO BOW

In today’s economy, the ability to create and maintain connections with people from different countries and cultures is crucial to achieving success. Still, some students (and teachers) struggle to find common ground with the people in their own classrooms. Learn to Bow is a lively and engaging presentation that focuses on strategies and ideas designed to help students and teachers relate to people from diverse cultural backgrounds. Graham Shelby will facilitate the workshop, which will include the stories, insights and strategies for success that he learned from spending three years as a teacher in Japan.

THIS IS STORYTELLING

The term storytelling can refer to various forms of communication, but as Graham practices it, storytelling is a spoken-word art form in which the performer addresses the audience directly and tells an original story, typically without notes, props or sets. The story may or may not have ever been written down, though it will still have a basic structure with a beginning, middle and end. Fact or fiction, the story depicts events that lead to a change in perspective for one or more of the people or characters involved and is rendered in a way that’s engaging for the audience. The most common types of stories include personal experience tales, family stories, myths and folk tales, and ghost stories.

Graham is a professional storyteller with 15 years of performance experience, including a recent appearance at the Moth Mainstage in New York City. He can conduct a workshop for you, your students or colleagues on the art and science of telling a successful story that will communicate your message and engage your audience.