Find more celebration posts at Ruth’s blog.
Thursday, Feb. 1st was World Read Aloud Day. Back in November, Kate Messner posted a long list of authors willing to do free Skype visits. I selected and contacted Sarah Albee, author of Bugged, Poop Happened, and Poison, amazing and engaging nonfiction books.
Each of my students in my morning class composed a question and were promised a chance to personally ask their question.
Argh! Tech problems!
A quick call to the tech director, and he took over the computer and was able to solve the problem just in the nick of time. My students were able to ask their questions, and Sarah expertly answered each one.
Even Erin’s question, “Do you know what a narwhal is?” did not stump this nonfiction research expert. Sarah pointed Erin to a page in Poison in which she refers to the practice of using narwhal horns to simulate unicorn horns.
My students marveled in the length of time it takes to research, write, and publish a book. Dawson, who is reading Bugged, asked what her favorite insect is. Would you be surprised to know it’s an ant?!
Dawson later announced that it was the first time he had ever met anyone famous. In a more perfect world where technology was flawless, I would Skype more often with “famous” people. Authors are my heroes, and they are becoming my students’ heroes as well.
World Read Aloud Day is such a fun day! My colleague and I did a “world tour” around the school and had the opportunity to read aloud to our students. And we did an author Skype with two authors too. It was a great time!
Sharing author love with students is the best celebration ever. Glad your tech director came to the rescue.
Glad it all worked out! Sarah Albee is a favorite author and her “Poop Happened” was always in demand the last time I taught. Good for you, Margaret!
I too celebrated WRAD. I love that Kate Messner facilitates authors and readers connecting. I was able to Skype with Sarah Albee one year. Strangely enough, we had tech issues that time too. I think we couldn’t see her, but we had audio or she couldn’t see us. Anyway, it was still a wonderful opportunity to communicate with her. She’s awesome.