It used to be that I spent a fair amount of time visiting schools, in classrooms. I still do some visits but most of my visiting is now done via Skype. In this school year I’ve already done forty such visits, and the term is not yet over.
Considering where I live, high (as in Rocky Mountains) in rural Colorado, making many visits in person are, if not impossible, difficult.
Moreover, the travel cost these days of bringing me to schools is high, high at a time when schools simply don’t have that kind of funding. I do charge for Skype visits, but I think, very little. [$100.00]
The great advantage of Skype visits is that they are so focused; one group of students (up to 30), one teacher, and usually one theme, book, or group of books. A classroom can read one of my books (or many) and voila! Students (and teacher) talk to me about it, ask questions, have a discussion. Usually, every student gets to ask a question, and more often than not, more than one. Sometimes I’ll read from a new book, or an old one.
Let’s admit, the technology is not always the best. This is not HD television. Old wiring, poor camcorders, unfamiliar technology, and so forth, can make things fuzzy. But the cameras have gotten better so that often the technology is good, made better (or excellent) by knowledgeable media staff. What’s the biggest problem? Matching time zones (match Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong and Clark, Colorado).
My goal is always to have a relaxed, informal discussion in, which students (and I!) enjoy the back and forth conversation, a sense of connection. I try to engage young people in the world of reading and writing. The problems students have writing are (to their surprise) my problems, the problems of writing in general. Best of all, these casual visits make the world of authorship familiar, accessible, not alien. It is standard for me to meet young people who want to write, who love to read. My job is to encourage that. The teachers I work with tell me it happens
For me, it’s a chance to meet my readers, learn how they respond to my books. Make friends with folks around the world. It can never be a bad thing when writers, readers, and teachers connect. And it’s easy to do.
(Photo used with permission of Shoshone-News Press)
3 thoughts on “Visiting classrooms”
Avi, your skype visit with one of my classes was the highlight of our year. Yet your two school visits made an even more lasting impression. We all struggle to be writers of words that others enjoy reading…even you, after all these years of being a published and praised author. Thank you for being accessible and honest to your readers. Our Avi library books are in constant rotation since your visits.
Your visit to Ute Pass Elementary School was a highlight of my teaching career!
I Would not be able to express the excitement I would have had had you visited my school when I was a child, by any means. What a wonderful thing to do. This blog sums up in a few paragraphs why you will always be my favorite author.