Second week - virtual class visit

Second week, same as the first only a little bit faster now (sorry couldn't resist that Henry VIII song running through my head - had an image of Mr. Hughes singing it only substituting our situation for the words). In reality, I think the visits are fun and the kids are still doing their writing challenges and I'm giving them some feedback (we have a private spot where we can communicate outside of class time and I asked them to post their story leads so I can read and give some advice on how to make it stronger or more along the lines of the lead. I've read four students' postings today so I've commented on eight postings.

The leads to start a story are, in the order they are studying them and doing the writing exercises to the Harris Burdick pictures: 1) Action - the lead starts immediately with something happening and pulls the reader in from the beginning; 2) Dialogue - the lead starts with someone speaking immediately, which means even if there are no characters in the story, you have to create at least two characters in order to have a conversation going (this is one of my favorite ways to start stories but I've also noticed that mine are dialogue/action started because my first dialogue tag usually is an action to lead in to the story); 3) traditional - setting and time are what brings you in to the story (It was a dark and stormy night - very basic example but you get a feel for the setting and time of when the story starts); 4) one sentence wonder - speaks for itself - draws the reader in because it is profound and leaves a lot of questions unanswered; and 5) reflective - the narrator describes feelings and thoughts (to me this is kind of a backstory lead; you are reflecting on something that occurred that leads you to the main part of the story - what happened).

So today we got to do three pictures. The first one we did we knew which lead we were doing - Reflective. This was the last of the five to write about. So here is the picture and my lead. Take the challenge and using reflective lead in (the caption for the picture doesn't have to be used; it is basically to give you an idea what the picture is about) and write for three (3) minutes. Set your timer and see what you come up with.

MR. LINDEN'S LIBRARY

___________________

He had warned her about the book.

Now it was too late.


My attempt at this: Reflective:
If I had only listened to Mr. Linden. He made his point over and over, trying to persuade me not to buy this particular book. Mr. Linden could have used more forceful words. I was only looking at the cover and was entranced by its beautiful cover and the magical vine swirling around the words. Jack and the Beanstalk had nothing on Mr. Linden's book.

He knew I would be taken to a place I could never return from and that the book would overtake me. I should have listened. Why am I so stubborn? All I want to do is get back to where I was before. Home. No place like it.


Okay for the next two pictures, before scrolling down and seeing what they are, you have to pick one of the five leads, make note of it and then look at the picture and write for 3 minutes the lead to the story in what you decided to do. Once you pick a lead, you cannot use the same one for the next picture. You have to go with a different one. Of course after a couple of the kids read aloud to the class, the rest of them were guessing which lead they had used. Mine should be pretty obvious, but have fun. Write for 3 minutes and see what you come up with.


My lead in:
"My Lord, will you look at Sister Kathleen," Father Dominique looked towards the ceiling of the cathedral. "I think she is trying to impress us with her newfound learnt magic tricks."

"I don't think so. She seems to be too high for us to know it is magic." Father Henri replied.

"Well, I know she's been practicing her magic and the other chairs ended up out of country. She has been trying to get them to disappear and reappear but she sent one to Italy and one to Germany."

"Maybe. I don't see how she does it though

And the picture:
THE SEVEN CHAIRS

_________________

The fifth one ended up in France.



Last one, same as the one above: You pick a lead and write for 3 minutes and see what you come up with.

My lead: I knew that the balmy weather would be enticing. I just wanted to see if the folktales were true. Listening is the key. I had heard the birds tweet at various times in my life but could never see them move or flap their wings. But I learned rather quickly in that cool blissful evening. The birds came to life one at a time, flying out the window. I should have never allowed them to escape. The wall is so bare now.

And the picture:
THE THIRD-FLOOR BEDROOM

_____________________

It all began when someone left

the window open.



Have fun and post your lead-ins in the comments section. I know I have some writers out here. Even you go over 3 minutes, take the challenge and share; I'll post in the class private forum so they can see what my friends come up with. I dare you to share. Be creative and have fun - see you in the postings - E :)

PS: Since I put the wrong picture up for the third one, I'm going to leave it here and if you want to write something for it, then that's okay. This was the first one they did with action - but you are free to write whichever lead you want.

Virtual classroom visit day 2

Today I was a student and got to write with the class. This was fun and challenging to me since I have never written anything from a picture prompt before. Backing up, Mr. Hughes teaches the five ways to start a story (action, dialogue, setting, one sentence wonders - the opening paragraph is only one sentence long and it is provocative, and reflection); today's lesson was on starting with dialogue. He uses the Harris Burdick Mystery pictures. They have captions or descriptions and then you formulate a way to take the picture. Anyway, this is the caption that accompanied the picture today with the picture below:

OSCAR AND ALPHONSE

_____________________

She knew it was time to send them back.

The caterpillars softly wiggled in her hand,

spelling out "goodbye"





The assignment was to start with dialogue and we only had three (3) minutes to write something. I came up with the following off the top of my head. The class really liked it but it was strange for me to do this since I had never really used a picture prompt before.



"Why do I have to send them back?" She looked down at her hand. "Why, Mother?"

"They have to go back to where they came from."

Susie's tears fell down her cheeks. "Goodbye, my friends. I will miss you. Grow into your beautiful selves." She placed the caterpillars on the flower next to her.

"Come now, dear. They will come back some day." Mother said.

So let me know how you would have started this story with some dialogue - post your comments, be creative and have fun. - E :)

Virtual Classroom tour

When I first contacted John Hughes via his blog and asked him to host me on his blog during my blog tour for State of Wilderness, never did I think at the time I would be doing a 2-month long classroom tour to be a pre-blog tour test. So yesterday, Monday, I had my first visit with Mr. Hughes' 6th grade class in Utah. It was very surreal. I hooked up my microphone and John and I had done a testing the night before just to make sure everything was good on my end. So I did my thing all day and then at about 3 pm, I got an email asking if I was about ready. His class was in computer lab and so he couldn't access Google talk but could send an email. I waited for them to get back to class and for him to "call" me via Google Talk. Now for the surreal part - I was talking to the class and they could hear me and Mr. Hughes was typing questions and other things in the chat box. I had no way of gaging the response on the other end because I couldn't hear them.

Last night Mr. Hughes found a microphone at home and we were up late chatting and discussing things for the tour and his writing workshop and all. So he took his microphone to school today and we tested it out after school - Everything works. So tomorrow when I am visiting the class, I will be able to hear them and vice versa. It will make the experience so much better.

We are going to do some writing challenges for the kids to tie in with his writing workshop curriculum that he teaches. I am looking forward to being a part of this classroom visit and working with the kids on developing their writing skills.

Honestly, my publisher wanted me to do school visits, and I was preparing myself to do them starting in the spring of 2010 but I think if this works out I may try to do more virtual class visits - lol (of course there is nothing like going into a classroom and really seeing the kids faces), but who knows - authors may now have another venue to explore to get into classrooms now. The downside is that if you are paid for school visits, that you could never be compensated for this. If I develop my platform and start doing real school visits, I would expect at least compensation of some sort for travel and maybe a bit of my time. We have had this discussion before on one of the forums I am a member of and it seems the longer you do school visits, the more you can make. I know schools aren't rich but they should pay their guest speakers accordingly.

On to finish work and to bed - will keep you updated on the virtual tour. See you all in the postings - E :)

Traveling the States book tour coming

The JGDS series, book 1 - State of Wilderness will have a virtual book tour in November. The stops on the tour include two homeschoolers, three children's authors, and a teacher in Utah. I found Mr. Hughes blog on blogcatalog, thinking that having teachers' blogs would be my best bet to do the tour. I visited his blog and left a comment as I couldn't find an email for him and asked him to host me during the tour. Grant it, he was hesitant and unsure about having an author contact him and wanting this small favor done. He emailed me and asked for more info and after about two email exchanges, he was excited that he contacted me via Google Talk and we spent several hours two nights in a row chatting. We have decided to make his hosting day as a wrap up of a class project we will be collaborating on - a virtual classroom visit working on writing and a small class contest. So we are bringing together the JGDS series on tour, using the contest format that led to my second place win on Armchair Interviews in 2005 and a challenge from my good friend Batya's newsletter to participate in a 2-month long build-up to my book tour. The kids will be excited as I've felt Mr. Hughes excitement through chat about working with a real author and someone who has a book that appeals to their level. I know that 6th grade in his school study World History for their social studies curriculum, but he is willing to do something out of the norm to teach the kids and even go back to a little bit of 5th grade US History for the project to work.

I will do a weekly update on how the project is doing leading up to the tour dates. So be on the lookout.

Virtual classroom visits begin Monday, September 29 and will end about the time the book tour starts on November 17. Looking forward to sharing what this 6th grade class gets out of the pre-tour visits. -- See you in the postings - E :)