National Geographic + Mentor Text + Author = Amazed Kids

What if I told you that all you needed to do is click one button and a real author would appear right before your students?

That is exactly what happened over at Concord the other day. A group of excited second graders gathered around the carpet to hear Jill Esbaum talk and ask her questions.

She has written a number of books, some of which are even used a mentor texts in the Lucy Calkins series.

The advice and stories she told where exactly what you would want every child to hear. Jill talked about how she has to constantly edit, research and write to keep her craft sharp. Sometimes the publisher rejects her ideas but she never gets discouraged. I think some of the kids where pretty shocked that even a famous author gets turned down.

Best idea ever was matching up one of the authors with something the class is studying or writing about.

Interested in bringing in an author thought Skype? Check out this post for more information.

Pro Tips
Here are a few ideas on how to run something like this in your classroom.

Make a test call a day or so before you go live. You want to make sure your audio works! Doug and I can help you with that.
Make sure you read a few of the books they wrote before Skyping.
Have the students think of questions they could ask if called upon.

Write those on note cards. It is really hard to remember what you want to ask when face to face with the author.

Sound like a fun idea? Reach out to us and we can help make it happen.

Comments

Like your ELMO but with an iPad (elementary classroom teachers)

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Who is emailing me? The Blue Man Group??? (Add an image to your Google account.)

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