I love visiting schools and working with students. As a former middle school teacher, I know how important it is for a presentation to be multi-sensory and interactive. When I visit your school, I will tailor my workshops to your students, whether they are in elementary school, middle school, high school, or college.

Here are the workshops that I offer:

• Civil Rights Now and Then—In this highly interactive multimedia presentation, students trace my journey as I researched A Thousand Never Evers. In the process, they uncover why the civil rights movement is relevant today. We look at photographs of segregated schools, and images of the young people who risked their lives to integrate public restaurants, libraries, and baseball parks. We examine a white school’s newspaper from 1963, listen to civil rights speeches, and clap along to freedom songs. The presentation ends with a short reading followed by a lively Q & A session.

• From Seed to Story—Through PowerPoint and humor, I describe how I grew A Thousand Never Evers from seed to story. I discuss the provocative questions authors must ask, in order to stretch our storytelling muscles and grow our characters and plots. Students leave this workshop with a fun and practical set of tools for developing as writers.

• The Power of a Question—I discuss the variety of interviews I conducted as part of my research for A Thousand Never Evers. Then I teach students how to ask the best questions possible so that they can uncover the information they need from a source. Your students will practice asking excellent questions by playing a game that is sure to leave them laughing.

• Elements of Fiction—This fun and engaging three-week workshop helps students understand the fundamental elements of fiction by using picture books. As students examine plot, character, theme, conflict, and point of view, they apply what they’ve learned to develop their own fiction stories. (Available to schools in the Austin area.)

To learn more about school visits, please click here.