Virtual Author Visits a Reality

By Joe Ann Barton-Hinrichs  jhinrich@waldenu.edu

District Administration (81), March 2004

www.districtadministration.com

            Ninth graders at Somerset County (MD) Public Schools’ Washington High had lots of questions for author Cynthia Leitich Smith.  They had just read Rain is Not My Indian Name (HarperCollins Children’s Books, 2001), Smith’s story of a girl who experiences the death of her best friend.  After learning that young Smith had herself dealt with a friend’s death, the students embarked on a tour of the Kansas town where the story is set.

            Costly field trip destination?  Not today, as technology provides nearly endless options for students to visit with authors-virtually.

            Email, chat rooms and Web cameras are considered the most common methods of connection.  Satellite television, which allows several locations to link simultaneously, is also getting attention.

            “Students are able to form personal connections with these authors …and see for themselves a person who makes his or her living in the arts,” says Toni Buzzeo, co author of Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators and Storytellers (Libraries Unlimited, 1999). It may be the ultimate cyber-connect.

            Interest in the TeachingBooks.net Web site may be one indication of the emerging trend.  Founder Nick Glass says that thousands of people are using the site, which includes audio and video interviews with authors.  The resources help “personalize a book and share the spirit of reading,” he says.  Electronic chats between students and authors are also encouraged by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, which had offered author tips on making them happen.

            The reasons for a virtual visit extend beyond its novelty.  In-person visits add up fast, when you factor in hotel and travel expenses.  Per hour, virtual visits cost about the same, up to $150. Extras, such as practice session time and materials requested by the school are affordable. 

            Jane Kurtz, Buzzeo’s co-author, says she’s surprised more schools aren’t connecting with authors in this way.  Glass believes many just haven’t thought of it yet.  “This is a paradigm shift in how to introduce children’s books,” he says. 

            As with in-person visits, virtual visits can make a big impact.  From Maine, author Jennifer Richard Jacobson has connected via Webcam to a Ware County (GA) School System third-grade class.  Based on Jacobson’s chapter book Winnie Dancing on her Own (Houghton Mifflin Children’s Books, 2001), the activities presented were later used as a pre-writing exercise for students’ own stories.  And thanks to teacher Holly Lee, each student took home a personal copy of the book.