School visits perfect for readers in grades 3-8!
The thing I love the most about school visits is inspiring students to create and write their own stories. Students often don't like to write because they associate writing with school work. My job is to provide a fun, creative writing experience. Some of the most reluctant writers end up having some of the best stories! My 45 to 1 hour visit is not to teach writing, but to give students an opportunity to explore fiction writing using exercises that give them free rein to create and use their imagination. You can contact me at [email protected] to schedule a visit.
In-Person School Visit Schedule
Pre-visit
• I will provide teacher with a short story or first two chapters of one of my books. The teacher can either read aloud, or provide students with a copy to read. This shows the kids who I am as a writer and serves as a preliminary introduction. At appropriate grade levels, you can do an activity centered on the story, such as fan art. In the past I've done a contest for the best pictures and handed out prizes.
• Introduce my books and take an unofficial count of kids interested in buying books and which ones to give me an idea of how many books to bring. All my books are "clean," meaning there is no sex, profanity, or teenage drinking/partying. Since I do these visits for free, it is a courtesy to me if you can send some kind of communication home to parents/students about the visit and the special pricing I offer on my books specifically for school visits.
Day of Visit
1) 10 minutes - Introduction and Q&A. For certain age groups I toss a beach ball as a tool to entice kids to ask questions.
2) 5 minutes - Video to inspire kids to write. Excerpt included from Rick Riordan on writing. Will need projection equipment to plug laptop into.
3) 20-25 minutes - Creative writing exercise. This can be tailored to each individual class and includes one of the following:
• Writing prompt
• Index card prompts - person, place, thing, dialogue tag – kids pick 1-4 cards (*Student Favorite )
• Item prompt - kids are presented with an item and they incorporate the item into a story
• Round-robin group writing
• Free writing time on works in progress with opportunity to meet with me and have me review a sample. In one class there were so many kids working on novels, I held a contest after the visit and featured the winners on my website (with parent permission).
4) 10 minutes - Have students share their stories
5) 10-15 minutes - Book purchasing/signing
The thing I love the most about school visits is inspiring students to create and write their own stories. Students often don't like to write because they associate writing with school work. My job is to provide a fun, creative writing experience. Some of the most reluctant writers end up having some of the best stories! My 45 to 1 hour visit is not to teach writing, but to give students an opportunity to explore fiction writing using exercises that give them free rein to create and use their imagination. You can contact me at [email protected] to schedule a visit.
In-Person School Visit Schedule
Pre-visit
• I will provide teacher with a short story or first two chapters of one of my books. The teacher can either read aloud, or provide students with a copy to read. This shows the kids who I am as a writer and serves as a preliminary introduction. At appropriate grade levels, you can do an activity centered on the story, such as fan art. In the past I've done a contest for the best pictures and handed out prizes.
• Introduce my books and take an unofficial count of kids interested in buying books and which ones to give me an idea of how many books to bring. All my books are "clean," meaning there is no sex, profanity, or teenage drinking/partying. Since I do these visits for free, it is a courtesy to me if you can send some kind of communication home to parents/students about the visit and the special pricing I offer on my books specifically for school visits.
Day of Visit
1) 10 minutes - Introduction and Q&A. For certain age groups I toss a beach ball as a tool to entice kids to ask questions.
2) 5 minutes - Video to inspire kids to write. Excerpt included from Rick Riordan on writing. Will need projection equipment to plug laptop into.
3) 20-25 minutes - Creative writing exercise. This can be tailored to each individual class and includes one of the following:
• Writing prompt
• Index card prompts - person, place, thing, dialogue tag – kids pick 1-4 cards (*Student Favorite )
• Item prompt - kids are presented with an item and they incorporate the item into a story
• Round-robin group writing
• Free writing time on works in progress with opportunity to meet with me and have me review a sample. In one class there were so many kids working on novels, I held a contest after the visit and featured the winners on my website (with parent permission).
4) 10 minutes - Have students share their stories
5) 10-15 minutes - Book purchasing/signing