Simon Wake
Education. Poetry. Community.
Coaching, Workshops and Tutoring
All courses are available in person in the Montreal region, or remotely.
I believe that poetry has the power to change communities. With my teaching experiences, I have perfected different approaches and developed a diverse set of creative workshops and tutoring. I now offer unique and adapted learning packages for diverse youth; from a child in need of some motivation with their English, to an advanced student looking to publish. I work across forms, genres, and ages.  As an adult with learning disabilities, I am very qualified to develop programs specialized for special needs children and teenagers.
Individual Courses
INDIVIDUALIZED COACHING LESSONS​
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$30-$60/hour sliding scale
Available in person (Montreal) or virtually
Poetry and Learning Disabilities
Develop motivation and improve your results in English during this 6 classes course adapted for students with learning disabilities. Throughout my experience with youth with ADHD, autism or other learning disabilities, poetry has the power to open new doors and improve learning of English. This program will be adapted to individual needs of each student.
Beginner Coaching
This program is built to follow students with interest or desire to develop a better writing practice. This course includes many introduction workshops and activities to poetry, creative writing. The program is adapted and modified to fit the needs of each student.
Advanced Coaching
This program is built to follow students with desires of further work on their creative writing practice. I offer coaching to develop a portfolio for eventual publication, workshops and general tutoring.
Group Workshops
SPECIALIZED POETRY SESSIONS FOR SCHOOLS
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$80-$100/session
Available in person only
Imagery Walk
This activity invites students on a walk. While changing their focus out of the classroom, I ask them to attend, observe, and listen to develop a walking methodology to create differently.
Haiku Visualization
This interactive activity is based on visualization and attention to senses. Collaborating with Montreal artists and photographers, I invite students to observe, attend and create poems with their senses. This activity is suitable for any age.
Metaphors and Symbols
This workshop on symbolism and poetry is adapted for any level of students. Great complementary class for a poetry unit, this class introduces the notion of symbolism and metaphor in poetry.
Student's Work
My Ant Farm
BY MICHEAL RANDL
My ant farms are like a recurring death sentence.
It’s a wave of death. It’ll be not death for a little bit
And then… As they hold their Queen safe on top of them,
(So she does not die.) The wave of death goes over the island of ants.
Aphids to ants are sweet cows.
It’s symbiotic mostly (except
For the clipping of wings).
The ants milk their pee
And feed it all to the queen.
To the aphids the ants
Are savoirs from ladybugs.
I can see them milking In my front yard.
Do you want to know how big the largest colony is?
It’ll make you feel small. Ants have been around a long time.
Ant hills are like a city. It has roles:
A Queen, an alate, a worker, and eggies.
Ants have passed us in progress and development.
That colony is bigger than New York city.
Ants are the most civilized animals
Except when they have war with each other.
There will be multiple deaths, but more eggs
Will come. Just like a river of eggies
They come from the Queen, but everything has to come
To an end. Especially my ant farms.