Monday Musing: Blue Balliet: Author Visit Observations by Kathy Halsey

Author visits? Why, Kathy, you're a pre-pub writer, right? Yes, but  Blue Balliet visited Canal Winchester Elementary School, a 3-5 grade building from which I retired. Blue specializes in MG mysteries and infuses her art history background in her plots. I came along for the ride to learn/observe from this award-winning writer. Even if you are a pre-pub writer, I suggest you tag along on an author visit if the opportunity arises. 

Lessons Learned

1. It's an author "visit." Blue took the time between large group presentations to walk the halls, notice student work posted in anticipation of her visit, and duck into classrooms. She even signed a rocking chair after listening to odes and scripts written by 5th grade gifted students.

2. Be flexible. Blue's visit was scheduled the day before spring break so the entire school schedule flipped that day. Lots of prep and logistics go into a visit, so kids may be keyed up. Blue had extra books to sign during her "down time" and did so graciously.  Motivated students mobbed her to purchase extra books even though pre-ssale books were available. 

3. Hook your audience with your presentation. Writers hook readers with books, but make your presentation is kid-friendly, too. Blue shared her real writing life with us - writing in her laundry room, stacks of drafts piled high, pictures of herself as a kid. 

4. Visuals trump words. Presentations can happen in the gym, the auditorium, anywhere a school can pack in hundreds of students. Canal's kids sat on the floor in a darkened lunchroom. Blue's powerpoint could be seen by all because of the visuals.

5. Let the kids interact with you. Leave time for student questions. Since acoustics weren't the best, Blue repeated the questions for all to hear before answering. 

6. Interact with staff members, too. Teachers/staff help you create an avid readership. Share tidbits about the books and your writing process because teachers will include this "insider" knowledge with their classes. Blue ate lunch with the teachers and posed for pictures with our staff. 

7. Make autographing personal. Blue personalized six different books with messages that matched the theme of each book. Amazing! Why not come up with an autograph for your manuscripts now? It's a great way to distill your WIPs to their true essence. (Plus, it's fun to dream.) Here's my copy of HOLD FAST.

8. Have a memorable website for fans to extend their learning process. Blue's website blew me away. Just like her books, a strong theme appears. It features architecture, art, and discovery. Take a look at this!

9. Curriculum connections are key. Blue makes word mobiles and students did, too. Big questions motivate Blue's writing and Winchester Trail kids asked big questions on word walls.

 

Figurative Langauge, The "Author's Tool Belt" & 5th Grade Writers by Kathy Halsey

I have been co-teaching/volunteering as a "Writer-in Residence" with Lydia Tokarz, 5th grade gifted E/LA teacher and her class for 3 months now. Lydia and I hope to turn this experience into a professional book for educators and writers alike. We work together in a language arts block Mondays and Fridays. Today is a sneak peek into the fun 5th graders have writing picture book biographies. Yes, they study mentor texts like us in our project #Write4Real, crafting their own PB bios. 

We have dumped our info into rough drafts and are letting our writing "rise" by revising. Two weeks ago we focused on Figurative Language, a CC standard. ( We ARE fitting Common Core into this project. Our advice: teach from your passion and work the standards around it.) Lydia is so creative, and she made up this chant for her kiddos about Figurative Language. They've recited it for me, acted it out, can identify it in others' work. NOW they are making it real in their OWN writing.

Figurative Langauge Chant

by Lydia Tokarz

An author wears a tool belt of figurative language. 

Figurative language helps a reader visualize.

I say simile, you say..."like or as" 

(right hand, left hand)

I say metaphor, you say..."is" 

(hands on hips)

I say personification, you say..."person"

(motion head to toes-Vanna White style)

I say hyperbole, you say "exaggeration" 

(spirit fingers)

I say idiom, you say "funny expression"

(thumb on nose waving fingers)

I say onomatopoeia, you say "pow, pow!!" 

(Comic character double punch) 

Together in our Readers' Circle we read Drum Dream Girl: How One Girl's Courage Changed Music by Margarita Engle (Pura Belpre Award, Illustrator) twice and discussed its evocative use of language. 

We always read aloud, and strive to use diverse, recent mentor texts. Next, students paired up, we divvied out books, and dove into language, recording our results on a class poster which delineated poetic devices. Each pair shared their findings, and finally we gathered into critique groups to discover/add these elements to  our manuscripts.

Here are a few of our texts and findings:

Firebird  is filled with great text: exaggeration - "The space  between you and me is longer than forever;" simile - "like the dying sun over the horizon;" metaphor - "You are the sky and clouds and air."

In Shooting for the Moon: The Amazing Life and Times of Annie Oakley they discovered onomatopoeia - "BANG!" and consonance - "the fierce wind whipped."

 

And suddenly, after another group noted that Balloons Over Broadway's title was itself figurative language, kids began pointing to titles that flanked the room shooting out, "Mrs. Halsey, Mrs. Tokarz, look, Star Stuff, Earmuffs for Everyone! Figurative language is everywhere." What a great "aha" moment for us all. 

Two fun craft books for student writers we'd also like to recommend that our kids enjoy were If You Were Alliteration by Trisha Speed Shakan and her companion book, If You Were Onomatopoeia. 

#Write4Real continues until spring break. We'll keep you informed of our progress. Other amazing moments on our journey thus far include:

•  a Skype visit with author friend Miranda Paul, One Plastic Bag
•  student writers receiving email from Walter O'Brien, founder of Scorpion Computer Services and executive producer of the TV series Scorpion. Two fifth grade boys emailed questions to fill in their research holes. 
• sharing our impressions of Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast with author Josh Funk. We may Skype with him this coming Friday. 

My "aha" moment so far: Make writing real, share your passion and your work with students. You teach them and they teach you. It's a win-win for all even if you are still not published.You have so much to share about the TRUE process of writing.