School Visit Reviews: A few kind words!

When it rains it pours... in a good way though :) After some busy school visit days in February, I just received a very complimentary collection of reviews.  

NOTE: Recommended reading for elementary school PTAs, PTOs, teachers, librarians, and children's lit. conference organizers only! I mean seriously, you don't want to read this stuff unless you are looking for a visiting author/illustrator. Perish the thought!

It was WONDERFUL!!! Worth every penny because he knew how to pace his sessions, understood how to pique kids’ interest and made it interactive.  I personally loved getting to see the mock-up book that he recently submitted, as well as everything else. We plan to write letters to Erik…so it is helping us in writing with an authentic audience.  I thought that Erik passed on a great message of perseverance, confidence, and patience that students can apply to learning and life.  I appreciate all of the efforts of the PTO!!

I thought the presentation was outstanding and perfectly appropriate for our students. I was thinking back on the other authors we had some years ago, and I think Erik was the best; he seemed to connect so naturally with the children.  My students were very excited and today they were very inspired motivated to get started on writing a story like Erik Brooks does; with animals doing things like people and having a problem.  I am anxious to see their work.  I specifically recalled how he explained how he observes animals he is interested in and then thinks about things people do and that’s how he gets an idea going.
 

I think Erik was a bargain. I would like to see him return in two years and spend two days with us so he can do the actual writing and drawing with the children.  I think that would be invaluable.  I know other teachers agree with me.

The author visit was amazing.  Mr. Brooks kept the kindergardeners attention and interest for the full 45 minutes and they would have listened longer, too.  The kids were so interested in his art, and how he started in elementary school.  He tailored his comments to speak directly to this age group.  At this time of year many of my students have lost some enthusiasm for doing their best work, especially when it comes to writing, and his visit, his words, his examples have had an immediate impact on them. My classes are asking (almost begging) for writers workshop time and more time to draw and write quality stories. Thank you for bringing this talented author-illustrator to our school. 

He was excellent; the presentation was very appropriate for second grade and I understand that he adjusted for each grade level. His presentation was a great mix of slides, sharing his books, showing early work, and his final artistic creation.I will be referring to his work during our folk tale publishing process. We will be illustrating our stories and instead of doing quick pictures, I want my students to be thoughtfully drawing and revising their images before creating the published piece, just as they did the writing.