4th Graders Chat with Tween Author Adelle Laudan

On Friday, March 31st, we invited Canadian tween author Adelle Laudan to chat with fourth graders from a Long Island, NY elementary school. Adelle's first book Dee Days will be released in June 2007. She also has started up a website called Tween Time that is dedicated to encouraging young people to write (just like this blog!)

This was our first attempt at bringing together students and an author and I want to share with you the experience. Adelle gives us some feedback from her end, while on the classroom side YA moderator, Sasha, talks about the perspective from the classroom. Despite the glitches, this is a program we would love to continue and expand. Let's hope we can.

Adelle's comments:
1) Did you have any expectations before going into the chat about what the children might ask you? What were they?

I really didn't have any expectations as I've never done anything like this before. Since I have 4 kids of my own, I knew to be prepared for anything when it comes to kids lol

2) Which question impressed you the most?

I think it was the one where they asked me if I ever got writers block and if so, how do I get rid of it lol I guess it's a universal ailment that doesn't JUST affect adult writers.

3) Was there anything not asked or discussed that you wish had been?

All of the questions were great. Of course going over the transcript I wished I have of answered a couple things differently but that's what happens in live chats lol

4) How did this chat format work for you? Would you have liked to have seen anything done differently?

The chat function was very easy to use from my end. I did wish several times that I could see the kids. Maybe a webcam in the future might be an idea.

5) What did you take away from this chat forum?

I must say the think that struck me the most is the questions the kids asked weren't all that different from the quesitons adults ask. I was impressed with the level of maturity of kids so young. I will remember that in my writing when I'm second guessing if my readers will 'get' certain things in my stories.

6) This was the first time for us to do this. I'm really interested in your impressions in order to determine whether we should pursue doing this with other schools (or maybe libraries) and other authors. I'm not sure how feasible it will be, but I think the ability to bring authors together with children is a wonderful way to encourage them in both reading and writing.

I am very dedicated to encouraging the artistic minds in children. How different my life might have been if that were the case in my own childhood. If there is any way I can help in the future, please don't hesitate to ask.
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YA Moderator Sasha organized this event. She worked with the teacher and school to set up the event and was in the classroom when the chat took place on the classroom computer. She has a great deal to share from her perspective. Here is what she has to say:

The teacher and I only told the kids about the chat the day before becuase we didn't want to disappoint them if the author didn't come or we couldn't get the computer equipment to work. So, they didn't have time to prepare. They just winged all of the questions.

For the past months the students had been working on writing a story and publishing it in cute bounded books. They learned about story building, outlining (or story mountains), grammar, drafting, and editing and finally putting it into final format in a book complete with cover and dedication. They finished the books this week.

They did get excited about speaking with an author because they had a lot of questions about what a real author does to prepare and write a story. Sort of like a way to relate all the hard work they had done themselves and then talk to someone who actually did it in the real world. Seemed to validate all their hard work.

The chat didn't go as smoothly as we had hoped because the computer connections were slow and went down half way through. The kids became impatient but once they realized we'd lost connection they settled down. They wanted to talk to Adelle really badly and were into her sending back answers to their questions. Most of the kids were familiar with IM'ing or emails.

Adelle was a great sport. She was patient and answered all of the kids questions. They loved the fact that she had a pot-bellied pig named Jenny and lived in another country. If they could they would have asked a zillion more questions but we ran out of time. Unfortunately, one hour is not enough, especially since we lost about 20 minutes with technical difficulties and the equipment arriving late.

After it was over, I did a quick survey and asked what the kids thought. They all liked it. Thought it was cool and fun. The teacher was impressed and said I could come back anytime, which was really nice. Since it was the last day before spring break it was a nice way to incorporate academics and fun.

I would like to do more in the future but it seems to be a lot of red tape to deal with in schools. I have offered the same program to 4 different teachers and was turned down in one school by the principal but she said to try next year. The other 2 never responded back and the 4th one finally bit. So it is hit or miss. Still, I will keep trying because I think kids really could benefit from it. In a few weeks I'll contact the teacher and ask if she would write a recommendation letter for the program.
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So there you have it. If there are any teachers out there who would be interested in putting on this type of program in the classroom or authors who would enjoy particpating, please contact Sasha.