Alecia Whitaker Author Visit

One of the things I love about my career of teaching is how I can merge it with my career as a writer. Of course, it's a natural blend... I'm an English teacher. This year, I have the honor of teaching Speech and Drama, a concentrated aspect of the Language Arts Curriculum. This nine week elective explores the world of Shakespeare, provides opportunities to perform speeches, dramatic duets, monologues, read full-length plays and what I'm most excited about... our last unit... poetry performance.

So, when The Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning reached out to me to bless my classes with an opportunity for an author's visit, I jumped at the chance. Of course I did! How often to middle school students get to meet a real, live published writer? (aside from their old Drama teacher: ha). But, I'm not famous. Alecia Whitaker is, though. And, even though she currently resides in NYC, she is a born and raised Kentucky girl.

To prepare, my students and I brainstormed questions to ask Alecia. Oh, they did such a good job. I was so proud of their behavior as they filed in to the library to watch Alecia's presentation. She was amazing! Engaging, funny, down-to-earth with interactive demonstrations that got my kids on their feet, actively engaged.

But, the best part? The Carnegie funded enough books for each and every one of my students to receive their very own signed copy. You should have seen their faces when they opened the first page  and saw their own names inscribed with Alecia's signature. In fact, the next day... kids raced in to school asking, "Do you have my book? I can't wait to read this book." One student said, "I've never actually read an entire book, but I'm reading this book!" That was the shining moment of the entire experience.

So, as I drag them through the laborious process of writing our thank you notes... "Why we gotta write notes? My mama said it's enough to just say thank you" to which I responded, "Whatever your mama does is perfectly fine, but in my class we take the time to write out notes. Imagine how excited Ms. Whitaker will be when she receives a big envelope I'm mailing all the way to New York City and all of these beautifully decorated, carefully created thank you cards spill out".

And... I shot an image of the famous red doors of the Carnegie Center on the screens for the students to see the building and promoted all of the wonderful opportunities they have available for them. Right here... in good old Lexington, Kentucky.

With that, they put their heads down with construction paper, markers, scissors and glue sticks and got to work. Then, they walked out of the classroom, clutching their very own copies of Wildflower to their chests.

All around, an awesome experience.

http://www.fcps.net/news/features/2015-16/wildflower