A Joyful Noise: Authors in Our Schools

by Janet Wong, Alexis O'Neill, and April Halprin Wayland

This is the full length version of the article "A Joyful Noise: Authors In Our Schools", reprinted with permission from the March 2004 issue of "Our Children", the National PTA magazine and the authors.

For many children, reading and writing are things to do—grudgingly—for book reports and tests. The mandates of the federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act may help bring these children up to proficiency, but learning for testing does nothing to reward enthusiasm. Books are forgotten as soon as they are read. What will happen if we become a nation of proficient but unwilling readers and writers? How can we make reading and writing a joy for our kids?

 

If some children have not become joyful readers, the problem is likely that they have not yet found the right books—books that excite them and are relevant to their experiences. We know those books are out there; no other area of the curriculum offers more variety and choice than reading. How can we help children find books they will embrace, authors who will become their "favorites"?

 

 

Creating lifetime memories

 

In their book Literature-based instruction with English language learners K-12, Nancy Hadaway, Sylvia Vardell, and Terrell Young propose that "showcasing individual authors and their works is one way of helping children discover their favorites, of leading students to books through interesting personal connections with authors, and of helping students recognize the individual style of each author's writing." This showcasing can be done in "author studies," where each child reads and reports on an author’s body of work. At some schools, author studies may be the best thing a teacher can do to make literature come alive. But at an increasing number of schools, showcasing is being done in person—with author visits.

 

Children’s literature experts Michael Tunnell and James Jacobs believe that "[f]or both children and adults, the benefits of visiting with an author or illustrator by phone or in person often lasts a lifetime. Once people see and hear someone who has created a title they know, their view of books enters a different sphere and is never quite the same again." In this spirit, parents, teachers, librarians, and administrators all over the country are taking steps to turn children into passionate readers and writers with "lifetime memories" of the day they met an author. Cheri Carter, a reading specialist and mother at Brookwood Elementary in Snellville, GA, organized an author visit to her school because she wanted her child to have "literacy-rich experiences" that would contribute to lifelong learning, and make a lasting impression." Emilie Hard, principal of Glacier Park Elementary in Sammamish, WA, agrees that author visits can create lifetime memories. "We prioritize author visits to our school each year. Our author’s visit this fall was a highlight that students will long remember. Both students and staff learned a great deal from her and have had their writing influenced by the many strategies and ideas she shared. Her books have been checked out of our library constantly since her visit."

 

Organizing an author visit

 

At many schools, however, no one is stepping forward to create these special programs for our children. Although it has been estimated that there are several thousand K-12 schools that organize an author visit each year, your school may not be one of these. You and your colleagues may be feeling overburdened with curriculum requirements, too busy to take on the duties of planning an author visit. The solution: Use your parent volunteers.

First, ask your colleagues whether they’d be interested in an author visit. Have them suggest parents who are passionate about books and might be willing to take on the challenge of organizing a visit. Gather 3-5 names, and ask them to serve on the Author Visit Committee. If funding is not readily available, host a grant-writing party, where teachers and parents work together to write 2-3 proposals. Organize a read-a-thon, asking children to read 5-10 books "just for fun" during November; collect and announce the amount raised during National Children’s Book Week, November 15-21, 2004. If your school has an annual auction, try to secure some of next year’s money for an author visit. If it doesn’t have an auction, suggest that the parents start one; items can be as simple as a day of dog-sitting or a bookcase filled with favorite books collected from children in the class.

 

Get the whole community involved. The community component is one that schools often overlook when setting up an author visit program, yet community organizations can often provide key financial support—and provide a broader audience to share the program benefit. In Simi Valley, CA, the district’s PTAs work in partnership with the Simi Valley Friends of the Library to co-host an annual Author-in-Residence program. Funding, which averages about $1,200 per author per day, is shared. In 2003, the schools paid $500 each for a full-day author visit; the Friends of the Library raised the rest through grants and donations from organizations such as Target, the L.A. Times, and the Rotary Club. Five authors visited twenty-one elementary schools, reaching over 12,000 students. The highlight of the week was a community-wide Family Night @ the Library event at which principals presented Readers' Theater performances and kids participated in book-related crafts.

 

Curriculum connections

 

Encourage your PTA to plan, at the outset, to follow-through on an author visit and help you make lasting curriculum connections. At Hershey Elementary in Lafayette, Indiana, the PTA takes author visits one step beyond the norm. Gayle Finch, a parent whose helps choose visiting authors based on their ability to teach writing workshops, is proud of her school’s authorship program. "Our students all write a book during the year using a lot of the same processes that [our visiting] author uses. The books are bound, and then are read to a group of students and parents. Our students learn that everyone has something important to say."

 

At Pennekamp Elementary School in Manhattan Beach, California, a meaningful curriculum connection is achieved by extending the program beyond the typical day-long author visit to last a full week. The author-in-residence begins the residency with a one-hour meeting with faculty prior to Authors’ Week; this workshop allows teachers to discuss their curriculum and concerns with the author, so that children receive maximum benefit.

 

On Monday, the first day of Authors’ Week (the apostrophe is after the "s" to indicate that all the students are authors, too), the author is introduced to the students in assemblies. Throughout the rest of the week, the author meets with each classroom in the library for a writer’s workshop. On Thursday, there is a Family Night, with autographing and a sharing and celebration of writing.

 

Start Something Extraordinary

 

Don’t hesitate: your parents’ group is there to support exactly this sort of activity. "With school funding so low, our PTA is called upon to support many ordinary things," says Pennekamp PTA President Diane Levitt. "Bringing an author to our school gives us the chance to be part of something extraordinary. Whether we build readers or writers, bringing an author to schools is PTA's highest and best calling—amplifying education in full color and four dimensions."

 

Sources:

 

Hadaway, Nancy L., Vardell, Sylvia M., & Young, Terrell A. Literature-based instruction with English language learners K-12. Allyn & Bacon, 2002.

 

Tunnell, Michael O., & Jacobs, James S. Children's literature briefly. Prentice Hall, 2000.

Additional reading:

 

Merina, Anita."WOW, You Really Wrote That?" NEA Today. National Education Association, February 2004.

 

Buzzeo, Toni and Kurtz, Jane. Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators, and Storytellers: Real Space and Virtual Links. Libraries Unlimited, 1999.

 

How to Choose an Author   Before you contact an author, be clear about your maximum budget. Author's fees typically range from $600 to $2500, depending on their stature and experience. Find out what kind of program your school wants: some authors do only 2 - 3 assemblies, while others will visit your school all day, doing assemblies plus classroom visits or writing workshops.   Questions to Ask the Author: What is your fee? What do you do in your program? What size groups are you willing to work with? When are you available?   How to Find an Author 1. Word-of-Mouth Recommendations: Talk to fellow teachers, librarians, administrators, and booksellers. Ask your parent volunteers to talk to parent leaders at other schools. Gather names of authors they have seen in action doing outstanding presentations.   2. Authors' Web sites: Do an Internet search and go to authors’ Web sites. Be willing to research authors whose work you may not know. Gayle Finch, a parent at Hershey Elementary in Lafayette, IN, describes the enlightened thinking at her school: "We try to bring different ‘types’ of authors in every year so that hopefully our students will all find their favorite style at some point."   3. Speakers Lists: For lists of authors, check out the Web sites of local regions of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators at www.scbwi.org. Some publishers also list their authors who visit schools; you can find a comprehensive list of publishers’ contact info at the Children’s Book Council Web site, www.cbcbooks.org/html/visit_contacts.html.   Some Web sites list authors who make school visits a priority, such as the Children’s Authors Network, www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com or Visiting Authors, www.visitingauthors.com.

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Janet Wong (Knock on Wood: Poems about Superstitions), Alexis O’Neill (The Recess Queen), and April Halprin Wayland (Girl Coming In For A Landing) are authors who work with children in schools in the U.S., Asia, and Europe. They are founding members of the Children's Authors Network (www.childrensauthorsnetwork.com).