This was another terrific week. First of all, I was privileged to be interviewed by the gang at Lollipops and Books. They asked some great questions. You can check it out here. Once again, thanks a lot for letting me chat with you!
Today, I visited Mrs. Brenning's 5th grade class. It was a lot of fun. The kids were great, and had a lot of questions. This was the first class that read the whole book before I visited them. That was really cool. I was able to talk to them about what they were writing.
They had been writing in journals. One of the things they did was write a description of their favorite scene in The Deliverers: Sharky and the Jewel, and draw a picture of it. It was great to see what they drew--they were all very good! Since they'd read the whole book, I was able to ask them about their favorite scenes. It was a great perspective that I hadn't had before.
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| Hey, we all match! |
I had a really great time, and I'd like to thank Mrs. Brenning and her entire class for making me feel so welcome. The muffins and juice at the end were great, too! This visit was a great way to end the school year. All in all, I visited seven schools and spoke with ten classes, and I enjoyed every visit! I'm looking forward to visiting more classes next year.
On the writing front, I've hit a little snag. I know what I want to write next, but I'm not quite sure of how I'm going to get there. So, I've been wrestling with that this week. Oh well, no one said it would be easy. I know when I figure it out, the solution will be great, and it will set the stage for the resolution of the whole book. I guess that's why I'm struggling so much with it.
Hopefully, I'll get it right this week. Whatever happens, I'll let you know all about it next week!
What a really nice idea - to visit schools! It must be really interesting to know what the kids thought about your story. It was a nice exercise that the teacher had set them to draw a picture of their favourite scene. Do you feel you've learned from them? Did you do things differently as you went from school to school? I'm a teacher and I'm interested in these things...
ReplyDelete- Laura
Hi Laura,
DeleteThe school visits are great. I do learn a lot from the kids. They have some really cool ideas. I've visited students from 2nd grade up to 7th, so there's a wide range. I do change my presentation slightly. I had a prop for the second graders to pass around. For the 7th graders, I showed them my blog and spoke less about The Deliverers and more about writing in general.
In all the classes, I got them to talk about what they're writing, then tried to compare my experiences to show them how similar they are. I also stress that 90% of writing is rewriting, which is tough because I want things right away.
Greg
What a perfect way to end the year! It is so amazing to get the feedback from kids that have read the whole book. I am sure they were thrilled to have you in to their classroom. You were able to do a lot of school visits this year. The great thing- hopefully you can visit the same classrooms again next year since the teachers will have new classes. I know I would love to have you back in to talk to the kids! So we can set something up for a few months into the year (maybe before winter vacation). :)
ReplyDeleteI am so happy for you!
Yes, it's been a pretty great year. I would love to come back and talk to your class next year. I've had a couple offers to return next year, plus my kids will have new teachers next year. We can touch base in the fall and set something up.
DeleteYeah! WE can touch base about it in the fall. :)
ReplyDelete~Stephanie