Scheduling Virtual Visits with Authors

Joy McCullough, author of Blood Water Paint

Putting authors in front of my students at Taylor has always been a goal of mine, and I have been lucky over the years to have had many authors visit our school since 2008. Getting authors to visit in house is not always possible for many reasons, so I have supplemented face to face visits with virtual visits. Skype use to be my method of choice until my school district blocked it. Since then, we have been using FaceTime quite effectively. So far everyone who I have scheduled for a virtual visit has some Apple device that allows us to use FaceTime. 

Bookmarked and Girl Up
(High School with Joy McCullough)

I was early on the bandwagon for skyping with authors, and I could always find an author who had time to talk. Now, it has gotten more difficult as more librarians and teachers are asking for these virtual visits. I have such a small budget that I would rather spend library money on purchasing the author's books for my students to read than for paying the author. Not that I don't think their time is worth something, but my budget is so very small. 

BRiMS with Nikki Loftin
(Middle School)
The last couple of years I have used a program through Source Books to find authors willing to give us 30 minutes of their time. This worked great for us as the only monetary requirement for me was to purchase some of the author's books. I had difficulty connecting with Source Books this year, and I was on my own to find the authors. 

Asking Nikki a question

I did a search of the Internet for links to authors who Skype (for free) and also used Skype in the Classroom to find authors. After many emails went out, I made a connection with Nikki Loftin for my middle school book group and Joy McCullough for my high school book group. We made these visits in early December. Both were excellent. You can read more about these authors and what they had to say on the links above to the library website. 

All I can say is that it is important for students to meet the people who write the books that they read and love, and it is our job as librarians to help make this happen. With social media and the Internet we can make these connections. Even without a live visit, students can meet authors through You Tube videos and their personal websites. 


Comments

  1. SarahKApril 20, 2020 at 2:57 PM

    Hi Elizabeth! I think this is such a great idea! I would have loved it when I was in school to have one of my favourite author’s meet with us in our library. I remember, as an adult, I felt so honoured to be able to meet Jack Whyte (author of the Dream of Eagles series) and Diana Gabaldon (author of the Outlander series). I can only imagine the relationships and connections you have with the students! Did you find that stronger relationships and more library activity occurred because of these author visits? Which author was the most popular that you had visit? Did the kids come up with their own questions? Were the older kids as engaged as the younger?
    I have really enjoyed reading several of your blog posts and look forward to viewing more as well as future posts. Thank you for giving me a new goal for when I start my library activities!

    I have really enjoyed reading several of your blog posts and look forward to viewing more as well as future posts. Thank you for giving me a new goal for when I start my library activities!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy Holidays from BRiMS and Bookmarked

I run two book groups at Patrick Taylor. My high school book group, Bookmarked , was created in the fall of 2007 which was my second year as librarian at the school. The students really wanted a library club, but the square footage of the library was so small that I could not imagine how any students could do any actual library work. Instead I created a book discussion group. Not only did we meet to talk books, but I tapped these students to help me with fundraisers and special programming like Teen Read Week. Helping me with these special activities seemed to appease the members. I waited until February of 2009 to institute a book discussion group for my middle school students called BRiMS, or Books Rule in Middle School . Both of the groups meet during lunch, and this year, the school added a third lunch. Now BRiMS is made up of only 6th and 7th graders. Bookmarked has 8th-12th grade students. This has actually worked well because in 2014 and 2015, Bookmarked lost a lot of members w...
Read more

Banned Book Week: Students Make Comments Pro & Con Censorship

Image
This blog post is being designed as a lesson for the English I students at PFTSTA. The teachers and I have collaborated on an activity to celebrate Banned Book Week (BBW). Many times in the past during BBW, I have invited the 8th graders into the library to discuss the banning and challenging of books in schools and libraries. I usually show some videos and share books owned by our library that have been banned or challenged somewhere in the US. This activity always spurs great discussion among the students and teachers. This year we wanted the students to create a written response to the presentation. We thought there was a real world connection if we had the students post their opinion online as a comment to someone writing about censorship in schools. The teachers and I want the students to learn how to compose a well thought out comment that is supported by evidence and concrete details. How more real world could it be than having the students comment directly on their librar...
Read more

Students Weigh in on Banned Books and the Freedom to Read

Image
Every year, for Banned Book Week, I prepare a lesson for our 8th graders. It was always teacher directed with discussion until last year . The English I teachers and I created a lesson for the students that included research and writing. I pulled the materials that I wanted them to read, and the students would write a very short essay declaring their belief in the need for teens to be able to exercise their freedom to read what they want to or the need for certain books to be taken off the shelves of the library or pulled from the English curriculum.  Above is the slide presentation that I have made for the students. Included in the slides are several videos that I thought would get the students thinking. There are slides with links to specific articles that we want the students to read and use for the concrete evidence to support their stance. A rubric is included at the end so the students know exactly what is expected. The teachers and I want the writing to have a...
Read more