Author visits...is there anything more enjoyable for the students? Probably, but they would be in close contention.
What the students (and teachers) rarely see is behind the scenes planning that goes into an author visit. And when it's virtual? It's even more of a challenge.
The last in-person author visits we had were in 2019. We were fortunate to have Stephen Swinburne come and, later that term, Mike Curato came via the local library's festival. For both of these, the planning was done by someone else: the former librarian, and other schools in Bangkok, had arranged for Stephen to come the year before. (It takes awhile when hosting authors from overseas.) Our marketing team arranged for us to sponsor Mike Curato for the library's festival which allowed us to have his visit at our school.
Fast forward a few months, and COVID hit. we had plans for a March author visit which had to be cancelled days before. Fortunately, this author lived in Thailand so the cancellation did not create a hardship as if she had international plane tickets! Another author visit being planned for October 2020 could not take place. Although some schools at that time began planning virtual visits, it's actually more difficult to do that in some ways. Our in-person plans for April 2022 fell through when the author decided against any in-person visits for a little while longer.
In-person visit: plan a day (or two) that the author will be at the school. Coordinate with other schools in the area to host the author before or after you do. (For us, this includes hotel stays and dividing the airfare costs between all host schools.) Promote the author, read the books, and get students excited while setting up a schedule for the day(s) of the visit. There are a few small things like arranging for students to purchase copies of the books to be signed, a table for book signing, snacks and possibly a special dinner for the author...things that are easy to arrange. Because they are coming on one day, year groups are assigned a time for the author visit and that's that.
Virtual visit: since this is via zoom or google meet or some other platform, it should be easier, right? I don't think so. With students remaining in the classrooms to join via zoom, this involves minimizing disruptions to specialist teachers. Each year group needs a separate time for students to actually get the most of the visit. Time zones have to be considered as well. (Mr. Swinburne lives in New England, in the US. A virtual visit late morning or early afternoon would have been impossible since it would be the middle of the night for him!) Students also have to have the link if they are learning from home that week. This means having the year groups meet with the author on different days.
Seem easy so far? Now incorporate the time it takes for responses between emails if the author is in a different time zone! Does your zoom account accommodate enough participants? Will the author be able to answer questions in a easy way?
Friday morning the plans were finally in place for all four year groups who are fortunate to be meeting with Emilie Zoey Baker, a poet and performance poet from Australia. We are excited about this as students are participating in the 1st Annual Shrewsbury Asia Poetry Competition! The first year group meets with Ms. Baker on...MONDAY! Yes, it seems to be cutting it a bit close for this librarian, but at least everyone will have this opportunity.
