Dear Ms. Derby:
“I learned you can’t give up.”
“I learned 3 out of a million books get published each year.”
“I learned one of your son's names is Steven, and that’s my name too.”
“I learned writers don’t just write it once, they do it maybe twenty times if they can. But my hand would get tired.”
So maybe these third graders didn’t get all the information exactly right, but obviously they were listening. And this is my promise to you – when I come into your classroom, I
will meet your students with affection and respect. My aim will be to engage, entertain, and
– I hope – enlighten them about the writing process.
I do bring along some “visual aids,” but I give a very “low tech” presentation. I show how a manuscript becomes a book by sharing my own writing history, I read aloud either
a book I’ve already published or a story not yet in print, and I always allow time for a final question and answer period.
My hope is that when I leave, both students and teacher will begin writing (and reading) with new eagerness and confidence.
If later your students choose to write or email me, I want them to be able to say, as this second grader did,
“Dear Mrs. Derby, I had fun. I learned you have to work hard to be a writer. I hope you will come again so I can read you my story I’m going to writ.
Your friend,
Jason
p.s. Plese tell Mr. Wuerst to come back too.”
• One of my “visual aids” is my husband, who has sometimes played up his resemblance to Mr. Wuerst, the Wacky Substitute, by wearing a red bow tie and sporting a red-and-white-checked dish towel “scarf.”
Want more school visit details?
Click HERE for printable PDF brochure!