Putting a Face to the Author: Webcasts

This past Friday, a 2nd and 3rd grade class watched a Scholastic webcast during library featuring the authors Dav Pilkey and Jeff Kinney.  It was part of their centers time, so they watched about 7 minutes at most.  The idea was to expose them to authors so they could start to see them as real people.  And what two better authors to see then two of the most popular authors in children's chapter books?!  The webcast was great because it featured children in the audience who threw out suggestions for the authors to create a story smashup.  



It was a very visual affair with the stage being covered with sketchpads for the Pilkey and Kinney to draw the characters, setting, and conflicts for the impromptu story.  This part offered students a chance to see the creative process in beginning a story.  The webcast intentionally stops on a type of cliff-hanger since the viewing audience doesn't know how the story ends, but that is where the process becomes interactive.  What a great tech-y way to present a writing prompt!  In the coming weeks, I plan on passing over power to students and asking them to finish the story.

Later this month, Jeff Kinney will be featured in another webcast for the big reveal of the cover, title, and color of the next Wimpy Kid book!  You can bet I'm signed up for that one, too.

The author Andy Griffiths will be discussing his new series via webcast, The Treehouse Series and I plan on having my 5th graders watch this one.  I already have the books on order.

My mom had a good point in asking me if I put these webcasts on my Only2Clicks site and I will be including ones that are easily accessible under the "Author & Book Websites" tab.  Typically, you have to register for webcasts, but I have ones that are available with the click of a button.