We had a wonderful experience in our classroom last week. We skyped with an author and poet for Poetry Month. I connected with Amy E. Sklansky through her Etsy Shop Little Knits Studio. She generously donated to our CO Blogger Meet Up and mentioned she was an author. I immediately checked out her website, bought a couple of her books and was thrilled that she would do a workshop for my students.
We got ready for her visit by reading some of her poems from Out of This World and From the Doghouse . These are beautifully illustrated books full of engaging poetry. The students were very excited that someone who wrote a book would want to talk to them.
Amy started off the Skype workshop having students look at some different pages from her books. The students were to pick out which one was a poem. Then she read a few of her poems, some of her favorite poems from other poets and talked about her process. She interacted with the students and asked them questions. They loved it and you could feel the excitement in the room. Amy showed the students some of her rough drafts and told them that she sometimes revises 12 times. (I loved hearing this and keep reminding my kiddos who think that the writing process ends at the draft.) As she interacted with the students she shared a powerpoint with great information and examples of her work, other poets and even some students.
Their writing task for the workshop was to write a list poem. Amy helped them brain storm ideas after sharing her own list poem Packing For The Moon, about what the astronauts packed on the first trip to the moon. The students had wonderful ideas and even my struggling writers did a wonderful job.
Amy started off the Skype workshop having students look at some different pages from her books. The students were to pick out which one was a poem. Then she read a few of her poems, some of her favorite poems from other poets and talked about her process. She interacted with the students and asked them questions. They loved it and you could feel the excitement in the room. Amy showed the students some of her rough drafts and told them that she sometimes revises 12 times. (I loved hearing this and keep reminding my kiddos who think that the writing process ends at the draft.) As she interacted with the students she shared a powerpoint with great information and examples of her work, other poets and even some students.
Their writing task for the workshop was to write a list poem. Amy helped them brain storm ideas after sharing her own list poem Packing For The Moon, about what the astronauts packed on the first trip to the moon. The students had wonderful ideas and even my struggling writers did a wonderful job.
The students loved every minute of this experience and it was perfect for poetry month. Check out some of their list poems and their creative places to pack for. Amy told them to play with the word placement and words themselves you will see that they really took this piece and ran with it.
The workshop ended with the students asking questions which they really enjoyed. I think this is something my students will remember for years to come. They even asked me today who the next author was they were going to Skype with. If you want this experience for your classroom you should check out her site! If you live in the St.Louis area you might even be lucky enough to get an in person experience.
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ReplyDeleteHi there! Love that you were able to bring an author into your classroom via Skype. This is something that I am still working on. Also totally jealous that you are in CO! What a beautiful environment you have out there!
ReplyDeleteKirstin
Hip Hooray in K