IRC Follow-up, Giveaway Reminder, Kidlit4Japan, and Blogosphere Buzz

2011 IRC Conference Logo

On Monday, Mary Ann posted about the TeachingAuthors' presentation at last week's Illinois Reading Council (IRC) Convention in Springfield, Illinois. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend the conference this year. However, as a follow-up to the presentation, I have created a new page here on our TeachingAuthors blog: Resources for Teachers. This page includes links to the resources mentioned at IRC. If you attended the session and don't see a referenced link, please post a comment below and I'll update the page. And if you didn't attend the session, you can still use the page to access some of the great information you missed. 

Speaking of things you may have missed, don't forget to enter our latest book giveaway: you can win an autographed copy of Orchards (Delacorte), the acclaimed YA novel-in-verse by Holly Thompson, Regional Advisor for SCBWI-Tokyo. For details, read Esther's interview with Holly. But don't delay. Entry deadline is 11 pm (CST) today, March 23!

I'm also pleased to announce that three of the TeachingAuthors are participating in Kidlit4Japan, a children’s and YA literature auction to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan:

• JoAnn Early Macken is offering an autographed copy of her brand new picture book, Baby Says "Moo!", illustrated by David Walker.
• April Halprin Wayland is offering three signed, first edition hardcover copies of her award-winning novel-in-poems, Girl Coming in for a Landing.  
• Esther Hershenhorn, writing coach extraordinaire, is offering a critique of a novel synopsis. 

You can also bid on other authors' signed books, advance reader copies, artwork, critiquing services, book-related swag, author visits, and even the chance to name a character in an upcoming book. Items are listed on the Kidlit4Japan website as they come up for bid. There’s also a form in the sidebar where you can subscribe to the website to receive updates by email or to subscribe to the RSS feed for “posts & items” or “comments & bids.” See the website for more details on following via Twitter and Facebook.

And here's some other Buzz in the Blogosphere this week:

Blogosphere Buzz

• Congratulations to my good friend Bruce Black (who blogs about the craft of writing at Wordswimmer) on the release of his inspiring book, Writing Yoga (Rodmell Press). You can read an excerpt here.
• Cheryl Klein, editor at the Arthur A Levine Imprint of Scholastic, has released, Second Sight: An Editor’s Talks on Writing, Revising, and Publishing Books for Children and Young Adults. She describes the book as a collection of writing topics she's discussed "in talks delivered at writers’ conferences and posts on my blog and website." Having both heard Klein speak and read her blog, I'm sure this book is a terrific resource for children's writers. Visit her blog for links to reviews and interviews.
• Congratulations to all the finalists for the 2011 Children's Choice Book Awards. For voting information, see this page.
• Today Megg Jensen hosts an interesting interview with literary agent Mary Kole regarding the impact of e-readers and digital books on the agent/author relationship. Check out: "Q & A with Andrea Brown Agent Mary Kole: Indies & Agents Can Co-Exist."
• Katie Davis's Brain Burps about Books podcasts blog has moved. You can now find it here. She also has a new general blog where she is currently counting down "30 Days to a Book Launch" with a series of posts featuring tips on how to market a newly-released book. Read her "First Four Steps to Promoting your Book."   
• For more on marketing your published work, subscribe to the recently launched e-newsletter "3 Happy Things" by author, editor, and teacher Jane Friedman. You can read the inaugural issue here. To subscribe, see Jane's website.
• In surprising news, a judge has ruled against the Authors Guild's proposed settlement with Google Books. You can read about the decision on the Authors Guild website. There's also an announcement on the SCBWI blog that contains links to additional coverage.  

Happy writing!
Carmela

If It's St. Paddy's Day, It Must Be the Illinois Reading Council

     For the second year, the TA's have been invited to present at the Illinois Reading Council.  There were three of us this time; April, Esther and myself, excited about getting the return gig. ("They liked us. THey really liked us!")

     Then we got our schedules and realized we were vying with some pretty big names to get an audience.  Just off the top of my head; M.T. Anderson (Ironically, the Award Winning Writer from my previous blog!), last year's Newbery winner Rebecca Stead, Jane Yolen, T.A. Barron, Marc Brown, Sara Pennypacker, Robert Burleigh, Mordecai Gerstein and Vaunda Nelson. Yikes! What a line up!  I had a flashback to my very first book conference (at a location I will not disclose) where I discovered I was on at the same time as Garrison Keillor!

     Given all the literary superstars, the TA's were delighted to have a full house (in a small room!) for our talk on modeling creative writing with your students in a school day that is jam packed with everything but creative writing. Or as one of my daughter's teachers told me,"Creative writing is not on the state tests."

    For those of you who were not there, I will be brief in saying that our writing exercise was to write  a thank you letter to someone who had influenced your life in some way. (When I heard the phrase "thank you note" I immediately thought of the ones I wrote as a child ---Dear Meemaw, Thanks for the pajamas. They fit. XXXOOO Mary Ann.)  And that little gem was an actual example in my third grade grammar book!

   Our group did not disappoint. There were letters to parents, former teachers, President Carter, and even one to the Teaching Authors for our program!  We asked only for volunteer readers, and it was a rare reader who did not let their emotions overcome them at some point. Now that is good writing, if you can make yourself cry. However, I would not stress having students share with the class. Fourth grade teachers sharing is a lot different from fourth graders sharing (giggling) with the class.

   I had to leave before all the Superstars spoke, although I was delighted to be seated next to my former
mentor, M. T. Anderson, during the book signing session. Perhaps one of the other TA's will fill you in on the Big Dinner Speeches.

      Here we are, the TA's hard at work!  We were having a planning session...and supper at Augie's.
Esther, Mary Ann and Marie (our mentor/advisor) with April in back.

Same old gang, plus one of our intrepid volunteers in our workshop.

Notice that even though it was St. Patrick's Day, none of us are wearing green!

Posted by Mary Ann Rodman

Time-out!

First off, I love teaching.
Students. Teachers. Student Teachers.
Children. Adults.
Writers Young and Young-at-heart.
I live-and-breathe seeding and feeding my students.

But you know what?
Sometimes the teacher needs (re)seeding and feeding, too.

Chalk it up to Winter winding itself down, but, oh, how ready I was this meteorologically-uncertain month of March to sit and learn at the feet of another.

How lovely of the Illinois Reading Council Conference to provide the perfect faculty March 18th through the 20th in downstate Springfield.

Starting with my fellow Teaching Authors, of course, in our most energetic Writing Workshop the conference’s first day, closely followed by the participating teachers-turned-students in my Reluctant Writers hands-on writing project.

Next on my agenda?
Author, educator and friend Dr. Steven L. Layne’s SRO presentation, “Steve’s Top Writing Tips for Grades 3-8.”
How refreshing, how affirming, to hear another teacher bring his passion to the writing practices I live and model.
It was Steve’s spot-on delivery, though, that had the Presenting Author in me making mental notes.
Steve’s door greeter personally handed each entering teacher a bookmark that pictured all of his book covers as well as his website.
Next, Steve himself walked the room’s center aisle personally introducing himself to as many attendees as possible.
And, not to worry about the hand-outs that accompanied his organically-ordered and organized talk. Just visit his website, click on Resources, then “Hand-outs.”
We sat back, engaged, eager to learn.
Teachers left ready and tooled to teach writing.
I left especially inspired to implement Steve’s presentation practices.

“Eat, Prey, Lick: A Story about Love and Furballs” might not seem like an appropriate after-dinner talk for a roomful of teachers gathered to honor Prairie State Award Winner Laurie Lawlor.
But trust me: as presented by Judy Byron Schachner, author of the popular Skippyjon Jones books, it was.
Again, I mentally ooh-ed and ah-ed-ed listening to Judy tell her story via her books. She was brutally candid, revealing, authentic, humorously intertwining her children’s real-life stories, their fantasies and pets, her family’s story, the lives they shared.
One PowerPoint image remained on the screen as Judy made her way across her career and the ordered book covers that attractively bordered the bottom of the slide.
Could/would/should I do the same one day?
Whichever the answer, Judy’s presentation was an award-winning How-to.

It was my Friday visit to the Abraham Lincoln Library, to research the subject of my current picture book biography, that reinforced why I became a teacher.
I was a student first, albeit long, long ago, a student who loved the act of learning.
And there I was, a former fifth grade teacher, serendipitously surrounded by Springfield’s Isles School Fifth Graders also using primary documents to research the lives of Illinoisans who lived in Lincoln’s time!
Their zeal, spirit and acquisitive minds buoyed me.
My subject turned out to be ten-year-old Kelsey’s, too.
I shook my head, smiling, taken by the wonder: I was sharing texts, newspaper accounts and court documents with a fellow student and (hopefully) future reader.

I trained home to Chicago that night, recounting my learning.
By the time I reached Union Station, I realized I’d been sufficiently re-seeded and appropriately fed to successfully take on Spring and its offerings - school visits, Teacher Workshops, Young Author Celebrations, the manuscripts of my talented writers.
Thanks to my much-needed, well-timed Time-out, I’m once again a TeachingAuthor!

Esther Hershenhorn

P.S.
Don't forget to post a comment by 11 pm Thursday to win a free copy of JoAnn Early Macken's gorgeous Waiting Out the Storm!  Click here for details.

Recap of Our Live, In Person, Teaching Authors' Workshop

Last Thursday, five of the Teaching Authors were gathered together as April posted live from her hotel room at the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in Springfield, Illinois. As April reported in that post, earlier in the day:

"Two magical, amazing and very smart professors from DePaul University--Roxanne Owens and Marie Donovan--introduced us and moderated our workshop, called Flabby to Fab-y: Writing Workouts to Shape Up Your Curriculum."

In case you weren't there, here's a recap of our presentation, which focused on the theme of exercise (inspired by our Writing Workouts): For the first half of our double session, we discussed common questions related to the five stages of writing:

Warm-up:   How do you prepare students (and their classroom) so they live and breathe and see themselves as WRITERS? (Esther)
Stretching    How do you help students generate/find ideas? (April)
Strength-training   How do you help students shape their ideas into compelling stories? (JoAnn)
Cardio          How do you help students find/create voice for the story? (Mary Ann)
Cool down   How do you motivate students to revise? (Carmela)

 Here's Esther, describing how to create an environment for growing young writers.

Then, for the second half, we offered "Personal Training" small group sessions with individual TAs. The attendees practiced hands-on activities to address these questions:

Esther:   How do you help motivate/engage reluctant writers?
April:      How do you help students discover topics that are meaningful to them?
JoAnn:    How do you help students create believable, well-rounded characters?
Mary Ann:  How do you teach students to incorporate specific details into their writing?
Carmela:    How do you help young writers “go for the burn,” inspiring them to connect with their writing on a deeper level?

 Here's JoAnn, discussing characterization with her small group.

We sure made those attendees sweat! But, judging from the feedback we received, they really did feel "Fab-y!" afterward. Here are a few of the comments:

"Excellent presentation!"
"They should offer this again."
"Thanks so much! You've given me a step-by-step process I can take back to use with my students."
"I can't believe that was two hours--the time went really fast."
"You're all so enthusiastic; your passion for writing really comes through."
"You were obviously having fun."

We really did have fun, as you can see from the photo below.

From left to right: Mary Ann, Esther, JoAnn, Carmela, and April.

We're hoping this will be the first of many Teaching Authors' workshops. To facilitate that, we've added a new link at the top of our Web page, just below our logo. If you click on "Workshops and Visits," you'll see information regarding how to arrange a presentation by one or more of the Teaching Authors at your school or conference. Do check it out!

There's also another new link at the top of our Web page labeled "IRC 'Top Ten Questions.'" That takes you to a page featuring the questions we addressed in our presentation, along with links to corresponding Writing Workouts. (Sorry, I haven't had a chance to post the full ten questions yet, but hope to get to it soon.)

If you receive our posts via email, I hope you'll visit our Web site to see these new pages. And if you're a new visitor to our blog who would like to receive emails of our posts, please see the box in the sidebar labeled "Receive Our Posts Via Email." You'll also see other subscription options below that, including via Google and Facebook.

Finally, if you attended our IRC presentation, please post a comment here telling us what you thought of it. We'd love to have your feedback!

By the way, if you're wondering who won our last giveaway, see my post from Monday. And don't despair if you weren't our winner--you'll have a chance to win an autographed copy of the most recently published Teaching Author book on Friday.

Happy writing!
Carmela

Howdy From the IRC Conference!

Out and About!

Guess what?  Teaching Authors are PORTABLE! 

Today, five Teaching Authors gave a wildly successful workshop (I can say that, right?) at the Illinois Reading Council's 42nd annual Conference, and now we're schmoozing with teachers, attending banquets, and generally having a wild time.  Woo-woo!

Two magical, amazing and very smart professors from DePaul University--Roxanne Owens and Marie Donovan--introduced us and moderated our workshop, called Flabby to Fab-y: Writing Workouts to Shape Up Your Curriculum. 

As "personal trainers," we warmed-up, stretched, strength-trained, cardio-ed and cooled down the attendees...and then awarded them tres cool certificates of completion to hang on their walls with pride.

And yes...we really did teach them one actual physical exercise!  In the break-out sessions we taught hands-on writing exercises.

 

Spring in Springfield, IL is fabulous--wish you were here!

Job Description

For all the Johanna Hurwitz fans out there (me, me, me!) and those with tween readers who may have missed it, check out Carmela's interview for our fab new book giveaway.  Lots of great questions have been posted already. 

I am the sole, lame Teaching Author who will be sitting on her butt (butt in chair -- hey!) next week while my cohorts do the heavy lifting of presenting at the Illinois Reading Council Conference this week. 

Between my full-time job of writing soap operas and my part-time job of teaching college and my part-part-time gig writing articles and that 24/7 job of raising children, I have found my travels to be severely curtailed for the last few years.  Note that the one job that I did not mention is, yes, writing books -- of which I have done precious little of late.

My college students are, as I write this, working busily (I hope) on their definition essays.  I have to confess, this is my very favorite type of essay to assign.  As I tell my students, words are powerful; words can be the most potent weapons on earth -- whether you are six or sixty.  Does anyone believe that old chestnut about "sticks and stones"?

The public discourse, it seems to me, has devolved into a series of loaded words being flung back and forth with increasing frequency.  Am I alone in wanting these verbal missles to be channeled into a productive discussion?  Please define "victory."  Define "terrorism."  Define "socialism." Define "anti-American" and explain how it differs from "anti-government."  There are important distinctions to be made; there are substantive arguments to be made on both sides of every issue.  And yet, it seems, that all we do is shout the same words over and over until they lose all real meaning.

It took me many years of working as a writer and a secretary, a writer and a transcriptionist, a writer and a go-fer, for me to finally be able to call myself a "writer."  This transition happened in my mind not when I published my first article or my first book (as I had always imagined it would) but when I was finally able to earn my living consistently as a writer.  Unfortunately, as a professional soap opera writer, my job security is nil.  And a funny thing happened when I lost my job a few years back.  I have not been writing or selling books for awhile (see above) and have never earned more than a pittance doing so, anyway.  Can I continue calling myself a writer if I'm not being paid to write?  And if I am not a professional writer -- what am I?

This evening I was putting my daughter to bed and reading to her from Meet Kit, the first in the American Girl series that takes place during the Great Depression.  Very early in Chapter 1, it is established that one of the characters' husbands has been unemployed for two years, and the family has lost their home.  My daughter, Kate, said, "That's terrible that he lost his job.  But this is just a made-up story, right?"  I assured her that it was and continued reading.  A moment later, she interrupted, "But do people really lose their jobs?"  I said that yes, they do.  Then, "Are you going to lose your job, Mommy?"  (Now, full disclosure.  When I am on a deadline on a childcare-free day and my daughter is making her two thousandth demand of the day in full whine, I have been known to threaten that noncompliance will result in my unemployment, which will have dire effects on her toy collection.)  So I explained to Kate tonight that yes, someday Mommy will probably lose her job.  And she cried.  And she cried and cried and cried.  And I thought -- couldn't I have just said that Mommy will always have a job?  I will always, always be her mommy.  And, honestly, after all this time, is there any going back?  Whether I am a soap opera writer, I will always be a writer. 

I FINALLY, after lo these many years, completed a mystery manuscript that's rapidly going nowhere.  I recently got some professional feedback and am excited to have a clue what to do with it.  So there's another two years of my life to invest in a manuscript that may never be read outside a very small circle of friends and critics.  It is hard, I now realize, to turn down paying work, to believe in oneself enough to risk zero return on a huge investment of time and energy and heart. 

I just finished reading a rough draft of a student's essay on the definition of courage.  It takes courage to be a writer.  COURAGE to us all.

And does anyone know a really good online critique group?  Because I could surely use one! 
--Jeanne Marie

Strength Training Your Stories! (And a poem about being lost for Poetry Friday!)

Happy Poetry Friday!

Today's poem is lost at the bottom of this post.

As Carmela has mentioned, on March 18th, from 1:45-3:45 pm, we Teaching Authors will be at the Illinois Reading Council presenting a workshop with DePaul University professors Roxanne Owens and Marie Donovan called Flabby to Fab-y: Writing Workouts to Shape Up Your Curriculum.

Exciting!  I am v-v-v-v-v-vibrating in anticipation of this adventure beyond my Southern California borders!  (I'm also packing winter underwear and mittens.)

In keeping with our workshop's title, here’s a “strength training” exercise which will surely help you and your students generate ideas and get that first draft down.

 (Okay...you're going to have to use your
writerly imaginations here.
Suddenly I can't upload images...
even ones I've used before.

So the cartoon I drew of a girl
bench pressing a giant pencil
is something you're just going to have to
conjure up on your own.
I know you can do it.)

This exercise comes from my friend, poet and prolific children's author Janet Wong.  Janet teaches this exercise to help kids and adults alike find content for poems.  But it could just as easily be used to jump start stories.

WRITING WORKOUT--Generating Ideas

She calls it her "Mind Walk" exercise.

Janet says,   “I write the numbers 10 to 5 on the board, in descending order, and I talk briefly about one memory from each of those years of my life.

As I talk about the memory, I jot down 3-5 words next to the year. I talk about my skateboard accident and stitches (7 years old), spitting milk on the table at a birthday party when someone told a funny joke (9 years old), riding an elephant (10 years old), getting in trouble for taking a nickel to show my underwear to the boy next door (5 years old)-various things.

Then I give the students 1 minute to jot down some memories.  This is easy for them because most of them have started thinking of memories while listening to my stories-you can see them practically bursting to tell someone about the time they broke an arm, or whatever.

At the end of the minute, I call on people to share their memories aloud (and this is another time when people get ideas).

I ask if anyone still has no memories; if hands go up, I then ask a bunch of silly questions: Have you ever cut your own hair, and it turned out awful? Have you ever vomited in public? Have you been embarrassed by your parents? Have you ever cheated, or lied for a friend-and gotten caught?

I then talk briefly about rhyme, repetition, and rhythm, and tell them to write their poem.

I tell them, "If you're stuck for a beginning, you might want to try something like this, writing "I am x years old" and describing what happened in the present tense, as if it's happening right now. A couple of them will take this route.

This exercise produces interesting results because it invites people to shock others and also reminds them of funny/strange things that they might otherwise never have the opportunity to remember. Such as: the woman in her mid-20s who put Nair hair-removing cream in her "friend's" shampoo bottle when she was a teen; the teen girl whose dog bit off her bird's head when she was 6 years old; the boy who accidentally set fire to a house with firecrackers at age 5, etc.”

Thank you, Janet!

So...what are YOUR childhood memories?  Write down ages 5-10 and unearth a few embarrassing or a silly or a tender or scary ones.  Then, risk all by writing a story or poem about one of them.  When you're done, as Esther Hershenhorn encourages, read your work aloud.

Do it!  And then...will you do me a huge favor?  Will you check in when you've done it?  Will you drop us a line in the comment section?  We live for your comments! 

Here’s a poem that came from one of my childhood memories:

LOST AT THE SAN DIEGO ZOO
by April Halprin Wayland

 I reach up to hold your hand.
 It isn’t yours.
 All of a sudden
                          there you aren’t.

 A forest of legs, legs,
 footsteps, footsteps:
 families clattering through the zoo
 to the elephants!  To the lions! 

 They’re all scared of the snake house,
 pushing past me
 boarding the fat tram—
                                     but nobody is you!

 My face is hot.  My buttons are tight.
 You are lost in this jumble of giant Strangers.
 Where are you? 
                       Where are you? 
                                              WHERE ARE YOU?

A navy-blue uniform
takes my sweaty hand,
gives me cold water,
turns on a microphone:

“Will the parents of a lost youngster
please come to the Zoo office.”
I’m sitting on the desk
sucking a cherry lollipop.

I’m not crying
       but those wet things
                                    keep running down
                                                                from my eyes...
Then,
 you come hugging!

This poem has been accepted for publication in Cricket Magazine.  Copyright © April HalprinWayland

Remember to breathe.  And remember to write with joy ~

Photo and drawing by April Halprin Wayland

Taking our Writing Workouts on the Road & Sharing the "Writer's Rap"

Today I'm braving the snow to travel to DePaul University in Chicago. There, I'll meet with my fellow blogger Esther Hershenhorn and education professors Roxanne Owens and Marie Donovan to discuss our upcoming presentation at the Illinois Reading Council Conference, which will be held in Springfield, Illinois next month. On Thursday, March 18, the two DePaul professors and five of the Teaching Authors (including me) will present "Flabby to Fab-y: Writing Workouts to Shape Up Your Curriculum." If you're attending the conference, I hope you'll join us. We will begin our presentation by discussing the "Top Ten Challenges" for those who teaching writing to children and teens, based on the experience of Professors Owens and Donovan, and on the input our readers provided as part of the contest we offered in January. Here is a summary of the challenges our readers shared:

• Lack of sufficient time to teach writing
• Difficulty teaching to differences between second-graders and sixth-graders participating in the same writing workshop
• Keeping students on task
• Teaching students how to give constructive feedback
• Challenges helping students, especially non-native speakers, expand their vocabulary
• When to emphasize grammar versus focusing on content
• Helping students understand that a first draft is just the beginning of the process
• Knowing when to begin the critique process
• Finding ways to make learning grammar fun
• How to eliminate fear of writing, fear of "getting it wrong"
• How to balance teaching of different genres
• Looking for helpful mini-lessons to teach 1st/2nd graders fiction writing
• Having students use their own ideas instead of taking ideas from examples
• Helping students with good ideas develop the skills to translate them onto the page

If you didn't get a chance to share last month, it's not too late--we'd still love to know about your greatest challenges when teaching writing to grades 1-12. Please post your comments below.

Don't forget--there's still time to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Davy Crockett Gets Hitched by Bobbi Miller. See JoAnn's Guest Teaching Author Interview with Bobbi for details.

If you're looking to win books for a slightly older audience, check out the love-themed giveaway at the Classof2K10 blog. Their entry deadline is midnight on Valentine's Day.

Finally, here's an early Valentine's Day gift for aspiring writers (and those who teach them), courtesy of author Erin Dealey. Her "Writer's Rap" will have you moving to the beat. (Thank you, Alice Pope, for posting the clip on your CWIM blog.) When you're done watching, go out and "hook 'em big"!
(If you're an email subscriber and the clip doesn't come through, you can watch it on YouTube here.)



Happy Writing!
Carmela