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author 101

 Tips and Tricks for the Writerly Road

How you can move to the head of the class: Tips for KidLit School Visits – Part 2

11/15/2014

8 Comments

 
Feeling the excitement yet?  A bit more confident?  You can do it! 

In this second of a four-part series about author visits in schools, writers and teachers share their top tips for acing YOUR classroom experience.


Tips for Kid Lit Author School Visits:
Kid Lit Pros Share Their Secrets 


PART 1:   The A to Zs of Classroom Visits
PART 2:  Kid Lit Pros Share Their Secrets

PART 3:   Five Tips for Taking Better Photos of Kids in the Classroom

PART 4:   
School Visit Giveaways on a Shoestring 

HOW YOU CAN MOVE TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS: TIPS FOR KIDLIT SCHOOL VISITS – PART 2

HOW YOU CAN MOVE TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS: TIPS FOR KIDLIT SCHOOL VISITS – PART 2Lise Chase's Wally & Warren tote and stuffies

Lise Chase
Author, Illustrator
The Adventures of Wally and Warren
Series
Website | Pinterest

I take a tote bag to the classroom that is screen-printed on the front with Wally and Warren’s emblem. It looks professional and has lots of pockets, so everything I need is handy!

I also produced Wally and Warren plush toys to match characters from
The Adventures of Wally and Warren Series to make the book come alive for children.
Nancy Kunhardt Lodge
Artist, Author of The Crystal Navigator Series
Website
  • Googles "author visits" on YouTube to watch and learn from established writers, like Kate Dicamillo and Emily Gravett, as they interact with children
  • Gets amazing feedback by passing around a tablet for kids to add comments or ask questions
  •  Posts kids' feedback and letters on social media sites
HOW YOU CAN MOVE TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS: TIPS FOR KIDLIT SCHOOL VISITS – PART 2
Kentrell Williams engages kids by teaching American Sign Language from his book series
Kentrell Martin
Author, Shelly’s Adventure Series

Website
  • Sends pre-order forms with book information and prices to the school in advance (at least a week early)
  • Finds out who the media specialist or librarian is before calling, because s/he is typically the one who makes the visits happen
Karen Emma Hall
Illustrator, Author, founder of the online Kid Literature Community
Twitter | Facebook
  • Uses Welcoming Posters
    Bring welcoming posters and engage children in groups, where they make their own poster for the book or book character. This gets them to bond with the character more and endears them to the book, so it becomes more familiar with your story
  • Includes Dress Up and Role Play
    Dress up in a character role or bring dressing up for children to recreate a character from the book.
    Role play in this way, where they act out the role like a part in a play, familiarizes them with your book. Role play is also an active, social activity and a key component in play learning.  Children reflect on and develop their knowledge of a subject.  Perfect for prompting discussions and making learning so much fun.

Carmela Dutra
Illustrator, Photographer, and Author of Lorenzo the Bear Series

Website | Twitter
  • Meets with teachers to customize the visit and learn what works best for each class
  • Uses activities to encourage creativity, like coloring pages with a partly completed story, to encourage students to use their imagination and creativity to complete the story
  • Checks with schools about  policies for photographing children: 

Click up your camera skills with Carmela's tips for taking classroom photos -- see part 3 this blog series.


Tracey M. Cox Author
Author, Picture Book Reviewer

Website | Blog Series, School Visit

  • Is authentic 
    Children can see straight through someone being fake.  Be honest and sincere with them and you will both walk away a winner
  • Has something to offer
    Be it with presentations or freebies, have something for everyone, like coloring pages, bookmarks, flyers with author pictures and information. Plus, be flexible with your presentation.  It doesn’t always go as planned. So have a back up even for your back up.
  • Smiles!
HOW YOU CAN MOVE TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS: TIPS FOR KIDLIT SCHOOL VISITS – PART 2
Tracey M.Cox sets up for a school visit.
Rhonda Paglia
Former Teacher, KidLit Non-fiction and Picture Book Author

Email | Website 

  • Holds a book signing
    Book signing is really important!  Kids LOVE to have their books signed by a REAL author! Meeting a REAL LIVE author is a big deal in the life of a kid and encourages kids to read even more - especially if the author is one they love!!

    Make sure you have plenty of books and schedule one-on-one time with your readers to sign and personalize your books. Your reader audience, the kids, will never forget you, and your visit will be one of those school highlights they will always remember.

2.    Educators' Advice to Authors
Jill Cofsky
First-grade Teacher, Professional Voice Actor
Website | Twitter | Facebook


  • Provide copies of your book
    Get your book into the hands of as many classroom teachers, literacy teachers, and/or librarians as you can before your visit.  Get the school staff excited, so they can talk it up with students.  Have printable teacher resources on your website or have them sent to the school to be shared. 

    If the school allows, send out an order form in advance, so you can take orders and have autographed copies to hand out on the day of your visit. Also have additional forms ready to send home after your visit ... for others who realized how much they would love a copy of your book, too! 
  • Keep them engaged.   Keep them excited.  Leave them longing for another visit from one of their new favorite children's book authors!
    Consider the age of your audience and plan interactive activities to keep students involved and excited. You might choose students to come up to the front with you and act out parts of your story. You might hand out paper and pencils to the students and have your illustrator give them a step-by-step tutorial on how to draw your main character.

    Maybe you could teach students that catchy, repetitive phrase from your story that they can chant every time it appears in your book as you are reading it. They'll keep chanting it for weeks.
HOW YOU CAN MOVE TO THE HEAD OF THE CLASS: TIPS FOR KIDLIT SCHOOL VISITS – PART 2
Former teacher and Kid Lit author Rhonda Paglia reads to children
Rhonda Paglia 
Former Teacher, Author of KidLit Non-fiction and Picture Books 

Email | Website
  • Help teachers prepare for your visit ahead of time 
    Children need to know about your works ahead of time. Teachers can read your story to their students, or older students should read the stories themselves before you visit.

    Ask teachers to have students write questions to ask you during at the interview/assembly:
    * How did you come up with the idea for this book?
    * Where do you get your characters?
    * What’s the backstory for this book?  
    * How do you feel when you finish a book?


Feeling better about your foray into schools and libraries? 

Part Three in this four-part series on school visits is up next with more tips to boost your skills and zip you to the head of the class. 

Tips for Kid Lit Author School Visits:
PART 3:
Five Tips for Taking Better Photos of Kids in the Classroom


Professional photographer and children’s author, illustrator Carmela Dutra offers five tips to click up your skills and snap professional-looking photos of kids at school.

How do these school visit tips work for you?
What additional suggestions  can you offer?
Join the conversation in the comment section.

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8 Comments
Cool Mom (Tech Support for Stanley & Katrina) link
11/17/2014 07:19:50 am

Fantastic, Cat! Thanks for including S&K in your list and for compiling paw-riffic tips. Have a super day!

Reply
Cat Michaels link
11/18/2014 01:21:51 am

Thanks. Delighted to share best-practices of S&K and Neighbor Girl. Thanks for stopping by to comment and read.

Reply
Willy
11/17/2014 01:25:33 pm

This is great. Bookmarked for future uses!

Reply
Cat Michaels link
11/18/2014 01:23:32 am

Willy, I'm so pleased you find these tips useful. It's always easier (and more fun!) to share the learnings.

Reply
Carmela link
11/18/2014 06:20:08 am

This is a wonderful blog series you have been featuring. This is something that will help all authors (including myself) when they go to visit classrooms. Thank you sharing these tips with us. Can't wait to see what else you share.

Reply
Cat Michaels link
11/18/2014 02:10:43 pm

Carmela, there are many components to pull together, especially for the first time doing visits. I am always learning, too! Much easier to share what we know to make the experience fun and worry-free.

Reply
Dr. Jacquelyn Hester Colleton Akins link
1/22/2021 09:14:01 pm

This is one of the lovely tips I ever read. Practically all great writers start with horrendous first endeavors. You need to begin someplace. Thanks for sharing your article.

Reply
Cat Michaels
2/6/2021 10:45:42 am

Slow but sure. The writing road is a bumpy one!

Reply

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    CAT MICHAELS

    The writing journey is a long one.  And with all that social media and technology in the mix, it's easy to feel  overloaded. To make it easier, I share angst-saving tips found along my way. I'm still learning, so please join me. Let's travel this writing journey and learn together.


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  • Welcome!
  • Cat's Books
    • Just Between Sam and Me
    • Sweet T and the Turtle Team
    • Finding Fuzzy: A You-Decide Tale of a Lost Friend
    • Sweet T and the North Wind
    • The Magical Aquarium
  • Cat's Corner: Blogging About Books, Writing, and More
  • Author 101: Tips & Tricks for a Writer's Journey
  • Meet Cat
  • Author Visits
  • FREE STUFF in the Kids' Zone
  • Book Review Guidelines
  • KidLit Book Reviews
  • Contact Cat