Hosting an Author Visit in the Library
My Basis/Extra Information to
Consider
While working at my school for the
past four years, we have had an author visit because she is a native to our
city and loves our kiddos! I am basing my ideas off of what I have experienced,
learned, and put some of my own ideas into the process of this author’s visit.
The author has had a book published for the past four years, has been on the
Texas Bluebonnet reading list for two years, and is a huge advocate for
teaching students about the writing process. (No names will be used to maintain
privacy.)
I will focus on an author who is
visiting grade sixth grade students in their ELA class. Sixth grade students,
at my school, range from ages eleven to thirteen, depending on birthdays (some
even as young as ten about to be eleven), so there is a slight array of
maturity and age appropriateness to take into account.
We have three ELA teachers on the
sixth grade team, each with six classes, and 25 or so students per class. That
means your author will be speaking six times a day (teachers have one off
period, sometimes more so student number can range), with a break for teacher
off period(s) and lunch.
Planning/Preparations
·
One year out
o
Seek approval from your principal before
starting this process.
o
Research your school and students. Authors need
to be age appropriate, fit the needs and wants of the students, and be able to
express their thoughts in a fun, interactive way, engaging the student while still
teaching them a sense of what an author does, the process of writing a book,
etc.
o
Begin research on authors in your area. If your
area is not coming up with anything, begin looking online to see about
traveling authors, who might be in town on tour or at a local book signing,
check with your local book stores or libraries, and talk with friends and
family for any mutual author friends.
o
As soon as possible, secure an author (or more
if possible!) to visit. You can focus on one grade level or multiple grade
levels and have multiple author visits a year.
·
Six months out
o
Author should be secured. You should have full
confirmation of the author attending in some form of written consent.
- Get basic information on what your author might
teach/talk about.
-
Get information on food allergies/issues from
author to prepare for catered lunch.
·
Three months out
o
Figure out who you are ordering the books from:
mass retailer, publisher, author themselves, or a local book store.
o
Begin handing out forms for ordering books to students/teachers/parents.
Post a cut off date and time for ordering books.
·
Two months out
o
Order books from said retailer and verify the
number of books and/or which books will be purchased if you are ordering an
array of books. This is to secure the books ahead of time because some orders
may be huge!
o
Speak with your school’s caterer or someone you
can order food from in the district. My librarian catered in for years from the
Child Nutrition Department and never paid a dime! All costs were paid for from
her activity fund, funded by book fair earnings.
·
One month out
o
Books should be processed and on their way
shortly/already arrived. You need to make sure you have the correct amount of
each book, if different ones were ordered.
o
Promotion needs to continue!
o
Very food vendor, number of people to prep for,
and the type of food.
·
Week of
o
Verify with author of their arrival time,
parking location, sign in processes, or anything that would be necessary for
them to get into the school and to the library without hassle.
- Choose a library aide, student worker, or front
office helper to pick up your author from the front office and guide them to
the library.
o
Verify with the food vendor on the time,
location, and amount of food for the day of.
- Choose a library aide, student worker, or front
office helper to pick up your food vendor from the front office and guide them
to the library.
Procedures/Preparations
·
For book order/signing: give order forms
to teachers to hand out to students in class, have extra copies in the library,
and put the forms on the library home page as well as the school home page.
Have books available for purchase in as many methods as possible: cash, check,
or credit card (through the website from the publisher), so that students and
parents will be more inclined to buy.
·
One day before
o
Have chairs put into the library to hold more
than necessary as a precaution.
-With three ELA teachers and 25 or so kids per
class, there should be a minimum of 75 chairs available.
o
Have a table set up for where you will eat
lunch.
-My school’s librarian invited all of the ELA
teachers, SPED teachers who teach ELA or Read180, the author, and all librarian
staff. From my past experience, around six to seen people show.
o
Verify with teachers the schedule, emailing it
out to them and speaking with them.
·
Day of author visit
o
Pick up author from front office.
o
Find a place for belongings, start introductions
of library staff, show author around, and help them get set up.
o
Students begin to enter, with teachers, and are
seated together by class, taking into account students who may need to sit up
front or away from others.
o
Once all students have entered, author begins.
o
(Per my specific author) Author speaks on her
history: as a child/what they liked or didn’t like about reading/what they
remember/why they chose to write for 10 minutes, speaks on writing a
book/process/submitting for 10 minutes all while showing an original copy of
the manuscript, small writing exercise for 5 minutes, and then Q&A time
with the students.
§
Sometime in there, when a student shares one of
their stories from the writing exercise, the author gives out a copy of their
book to them as a thank you!
o
Books are already separated into classes.
Teachers gather all books or by each class period to hand out to students when
they are back in the room.
o
Continue classes until it is break time.
o
Lunch time! Author gets a break, room gets
reorganized, and bathrooms are utilized.
o
Finish up classes, gathering any remaining
books.
o
Final thank you and goodbye to author. Walk them
to the front to check out.
Promotion
·
Book order/signing: offer to buy books
from said author at a whole-sale discount from the author themselves or the
publisher. Order books in advance so that they arrive by the time the author
comes to speak. Have the author sign the books that were pre-ordered and have
them available for the kids that day.
·
Introduce the author: while you do not
want to give too much away, introduce the students to the author in some form
of digital technology.
o
Try using the author’s website as a guide, if
you are having trouble getting started. Their website will also house the
latest photos, news, and upcoming releases to get kids even more excited.
o
PowerPoint, Prezi, Smore, and other similar
digital media platforms would be great to use because it will be easy to send
out to parents/teachers for students who were absent or want a recap of what
went on/what was learned.
·
Put on all calendars on websites for the school!
Promote to parents, just as much as students. Invite parents to join, if they
would like, so that they don’t feel like they are left out. This is a great
student/parent bonding moment.
Payoff
·
Students are introduced to a real-life author
and are given a first-hand look into what it takes to be done.
o
Learn about the writing process, brainstorming
ideas, etc.
o
(From experience) Students play writing games
using digital technology.
·
Students have the opportunity to purchase a signed
book.
No comments:
Post a Comment