Global challenges – “Lunch with our author 2013”

School can be a really busy place, with many interruptions to a timetable and routine experienced almost on a weekly basis. Christopher Herz, our author from New York has kindly offered to run further lunchtime classes with those students who are interested in further developing their writing skills.

Here are the challenges we face when working cross hemisphere, cross continent, time zones:-

• Timing of session with a school’s busy  curriculum: the need to meet at lunchtime, as students come from across year levels – year 6 through to year 10. (Wouldn’t it be wonderful if students could be released from their class for one lesson to do this? Sigh! but that is there is this perceived need that the curriculum must be covered in individual timetabled subjects)
• Suitable times: finding a suitable time for both sides – Hawkesdale and New York. Our early school morning coincides with late night before New York. Our lunchtime pre-daylight saving is 11pm New York time. Too late to expect anyone to link up with us on a regular basis, when there is work the next day.
• The School Year: The timing of the school year – the need, therefore, to wait for daylight saving, to start which is into term 4 – a crazy time of year for schools in Australia as we this is our last term and senior students finish early, school camps are on etc
• Finding a suitable day, knowing that our today is Christopher’s tomorrow
• Achievable time span: the need to keep the number of lunchtime meets to an achievable time span
• Student commitment: getting an ongoing commitment from students to complete tasks given within the week
• Extra curricula school activities that can interrupt student attendance
• Achievable outcomes: Working out the best approach to the writing activities – getting achievable outcomes within a limited time span. Christopher is doing this for free, so we do not want to encroach too much on his precious time.

Attempting to overcome the challenges:-

• Offer the weekly lunchtime class to years 6 to 10. Students come on a volunteer basis but must be committed to completing the tasks given by Christopher
• Avoid extra curricula school activities
• Agreeing to a 5 week program to avoid end of year activities
• Christopher came up with great idea of “Writing through the Senses”. Each week, he will use a different sense to inspire students to think beyond their imagination and create plausible characters, scenes and stories that will be engaging and captivating to their audiences.
• Christopher told students that they must write for 15 mins everyday and carry pen and paper with them at all times, jotting down notes when they can.

Notebooks and mobile device ready for note taking

And so, we have now completed two weeks of linkups – each one offering further challenges (which will be written about in further posts) but also some wonderful  inspiration provided for the students and their writing, sheer engagement on the part of students and Christopher’s obvious passion coming through.

Meeting our author face to face

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Whilst in New York for the Partnership for Global Learning conference, I was able to meet up with our author, Christopher Herz, who I initially met on twitter and then who came to students over lunchtimes to work with them on a shared passion for writing – Lunch with an Author. There is something very special about meeting an online colleague and mentor face to face – an event that is difficult to put into words. However, it does cement the friendship and spurs further ongoing connections.

My hotel was two blocks from Bryant Park, which became a favourite place to visit in New York. It had shaded trees, lots of seats for relaxing, New Yorkers enjoying the outdoors, table tennis tables, spaces for playing bowls, chess etc,  a huge expanse of grass for picnicking and a large screen for weekly screenings of movies at night time.

Christopher and I met for breakfast in this park. It was here that he sold his first book. The New York library bordered the park and as this is one of Christopher’s favourite places, he took me for a look at the inside of this wonderful place. I love having locals take me to their favourite places. These are often so much more special than the normal tourist routes.

Discussions took place re future collaborative work with the students. After a wonderful meeting of several hours it was time to part. It is hoped that our lunchtime meetings will start up again for interested students – perhaps with a different approach. This is work in progress!

A very special “lunch with an author”

For 10 weeks during September, October and November, a group of 9 students who wish to pursue their love of writing would assemble in the school library on a Wednesday lunchtime to linkup with Christopher Herz, an author from Brooklyn, New York. See more at Lunch with an author – a reflection. Christopher would set them tasks each week. The following week, he would discuss the progress of students on an individual basis and set the next task.

As we completed the sessions in 2011, Christopher’s new novel, Pharmacology, was released. He asked whether I thought the students would like a copy and I said I am sure they would love it. The only concern was that it  had been written for  the older teenager. In January, whilst we were on summer holidays the box of novels arrived. As first term was crazily busy and there were different students away from school on most weeks, we delayed the ceremony until Thursday this week. I wanted Christopher to give each student their copy virtually and combine it with a special celebration.

Students, teachers, parents and Christopher

Parents were invited and special permission letters went out to ensure parents were happy for their child to receive the novel (as some students were in their early teens. They all agreed to the signed book being given to the students). Students were asked to bring a plate to share, with drinks and hot nibbles provided.

As the day drew closer, Christopher and I ensured we had the right day for each of us and the correct time as we had finished daylight saving. On Wed night at 11:00pm for Christopher and Thursday afternoon at 1:00pm for us, we assembled in the library. Unfortunately, two students were absent due to school commitments and illness.

The highlights:-

1. Four parents attended to watch and feel the excitement of these linkups
2. Students were excited and nearly drove me mad with questions etc prior to the lunch.
3. Each student came up closer to the web camera to receive their book from Christopher. Christopher called up each student one at a time and made a great speech about each student and their progress with writing over the 6 months, encouraging them to continue on.
4. Christopher had signed each copy with a motivational comment on the front page of each book.
5. The video over skype was crystal clear as was the audio. It was as though Christopher was in the room with us. Thank you so much, Christopher for these amazing connections!

The challenges:

1. Despite logging into skype 30 minutes prior to the linkup, there were technical issues. Unfortunately, the microphone would not work. As 1pm approached, we asked our technician to come in and help us solve the problem. We had to swap from the front usb port to the back one, and then update the software which seemed to take hours!
2. I set mylaptop up on a chair at the front of the tables laden with food, so that we could communicate with Christopher and start the videoconference. At 1:10pm, skype on the interactive whiteboard was working. The sound was much clearer for Christopher as some students still speak very quietly.
3. How to share our food and drinks with Christopher – but he seemed happy with his apple juice.
4. The session was recorded with video and microphone. Photos were taken. A podcast will be created when time permits.

Where to from here? It is hoped to commence linkups at lunchtimes towards the end of this term or the beginning of next term. Instead of assignment style work, images and videos may be used to trigger writing tasks. I wonder how many of these students we will keep. I wonder whether more students will come on board!

A parent thanks Christopher

What do you think of this kind of activity? How could we include more students from across schools and the globe in such activities. Imagine if students of different cultures all created a character and others involved grabbed some of these characters to include in their stories. How can we publish student stories online? What tools are available?  So many questions, so much learning still to be done!

Read what the students have to say:-

1. Georgia
2. Kim

If you have any questions, please email me at innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com or please add a comment below.

Lunch with an Author – brief reflection!

Picture this – two contrasting spaces! The dizzying heights, dazzling lights, the energy, the sounds, the sights of bustling New York City and compare this with the quiet tranquility, the rurality and the remoteness  that is Hawkesdale, where the silence of the surroundings may be broken by laughing kookaburras and squawking galahs. And so it was that an author from New York came to Hawkesdale p12 College, via skype and spent lunchtimes with students encouraging and teaching them to write stories.

And so it was with some mixed feeling of sadness, happiness and excitement, that we had our last videoconference linkup with Christopher Herz, the author from New York for 2011. It was the end of November and the end of the school year loomed closer.

We were excited for Christopher as it was the eve of his new book release, Pharmacology and we were all curious about it, how it was put together, potential sales etc. The students had many questions. Read Chrisopher’s blog post on Time for Launch

In the words of Ruby who is young writer and passionate about writing:-

I never thought I would have the opportunity to meet an author, let alone actually work with one.

Read more from Ruby Lunch with an Author and its impact on her.

Over the 10 weeks that we worked together, students have come in at lunchtime and completed the tasks given by Christopher in their home or spare time. Here are the tasks that Christopher set:-

1. Develop a character
2. Make the character credible – put yourself in the ‘body and eyes’ of the character. Interview your character. Get your character to have a conversation with the character that another student has created
3. Create a setting for your character
4. Start the story

During the week, students would add their completed assignment work to evernote folders that Christopher had created. Christopher would give advice and feedback on their work. During the skype linkup, he would talk to each student individually (and the group would listen in) about their progress, teasing out better quality writing styles in each of the students.

The outcomes:-

1. an amazing revelation of writing styles and creativity in students
2. one student who rarely completes work at school completed Christopher’s assignments
3. students who are so very shy in class, gained confidence in the use of the webcam and microphone with Christopher Herz
4. a gradual understanding of the big differences in our lives and locations.

Although we could often hear the planes flying low over Christopher’s home in New York, neither side really understood the differences in place. In fact, Christopher would encourage the students to write for 15 minutes every day on anything. They should listen to conversations going on around them, take note and think about using them in their stories. The students would complain that they did not have time in the mornings before school as they had to catch their school bus early – some as early as 7:30am in the morning. He replied that they could write on the bus and fill in that time fruitfully. Students replied that the roads were too bumpy!! It was then that both parties decided to share images in an evernote folder to show their surroundings, pets etc.

This year Christopher took a video clip of what it was like to wait for a train on the New York subway. Students were encouraged to write about what they could hear and see and contrast it with catching a school bus.

Read student responses

1. Waiting for the Train
2. Waiting for the Train in New York

On Thursday this week, Christopher will present virtually (using skype), a copy of his latest book to each student who was involved in these lunchtime linkups. Parents have been invited and students will bring a plate to share.

Formal connections will resume during the winter term for us in Australia.

What questions do you have? What have I missed out on sharing? As I am the Innovator of the Month for April, you can email any questions to innovatorofthemonth@gmail.com and they shall be answered.

How a community helps “Lunch with an author” project

Few people realize the rurality of the school I teach in nor how culturally and geographically isolated we are. So, it is with some amazement that students are able to spend a weekly lunchtime with an author from New York. Next problem is how to make this work effectively when we live in different days of the week, different time zones etc?

To ensure that students can collaborate and interact at any stage , Christopher sought help from other New York authors and writers who suggested using evernote.

Immediately, Christopher set up an evernote account for us to share. In there he has placed three folders for students to add notes to:-

1. A characters folder for students to add their character
2. A folder for questions to Christopher
3. A folder with advice and instructions from Christopher

This worked well today, when students came in during lunchtime. A number of students logged into the evernote simultaneously, added notes at the same time  without any problems.

Other community involvement

• Christophers’ New York publicist is working on New York  press releases and media outlets to promote this pioneering project. This meant permission forms and special notes have gone out to parents so that they are fully aware of the project and approve  any media publicity.
• Our librarian, remembering that Christopher told  students that “a writer always has a pen with them”,  has purchased  a spiral bound writing book for each student, so they can keep their notes, idea jottings and clippings etc. That was given out at lunch today. 
• Our literacy coach spent lunchtime with us today, helping those students who were having difficulty with their character creation.

A blog has been set up (and is work in progress!) at globalwriters. This will be used to add podcasts, images, other resources, reflections, comments from students etc and perhaps to showcase some of their work.

What would tools would you  suggest we use?

Lunch with an author – but…. where is the author?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

A small group of excited students gathered in the library at lunchtime with their lunch and netbooks! They were about to have their first online meeting with Christopher Herz, an author from New York, to learn more about writing stories.

As we logged into skype, Christopher was offline and nowhere to be seen!  Assuming his internet was down (as ours often is) I quickly emailed him to see whether he was still able to come in, as we were  ready for him!Within 5 minutes, Christopher appeared in a skype bubble.

Christopher thought we were connecting on Tuesday……to which we immediately retorted that it was Tuesday and then……. realised it was Monday in New York! My email had sent through to his mobile phone and alerted him to our plight! The joys of mobile technology! The next 40 mins were spent under his charismatic direction. The two boys and seven girls:-

1. shared with him why they loved to write
2. listened to Christopher speak about character building for story purposes
3. heard that a writer carries a pen with them at all times (In response to this, students waved their netbooks at him)
4. thought about a character that they could create and add to a collaborative space. From this collaborative space, characters can be chosen for their stories.
5. were keen to return next week with their characters complete and continue these virtual linkups at lunchtime.

Preparation for this session:-

Christopher and I skyped each other on the weekend to ensure we had the right time (we are now in daylight saving time, where I live)

• disucussed the procedures and the ultimate goals
• but….. I forgot the potential problem with different days of the week
• publicised the event on the school bulletin
• met with the interested students at recess yesterday to explain “Lunch with an author”

Challenges

• timezones
• finding a suitable time for students and Christopher to meet. I had hoped they could come out of class time but due to the large number of interruptions already, it was decided that it had to be during the student recess or lunch breaks. (This meant that only the ‘keenest’ of students would participate)
• hardware (booked the library and assumed the hardware was all setup, had to quickly connect web cam and microphone. Microphone would not work, so had to tweak settings

Highlights

1. listening to the students talk enthausiastically with Christopher who showed such keen interest in what they had to say. It was as though there was no sea between us.
2. hearing Christopher coax the shy students into talking further and encouraging them all the way
3. students sharing their interests on a level not often given time for, by teachers in the classroom.
4. Skype behaved perfectly – the audio and video did not falter at all!

Student Engagement at its best!

The sound of the low flying planes created noisy distractions in the classroom and made it difficult to hear our guest speaker. The ‘funny’ part was that these planes were flying low over a house in New York, where Christopher Herz was presenting to our class as part of Children’s Book Week and Numeracy and Literacy Week. Christopher is an author in New York. Our class was in a small rural school in country Western Victoria, where there are few, if any external sounds and noises. This class consisted of 50 or so students from age 12 to 17.

In boredom one day whilst trying to think how I could engage my year 11 IT class this week, I put out a tweet seeking an author to present virtually to the class, encouraging them to read and write. This class is techno savvy, easily distracted, reluctant to spend a lot of time on theory and only ever writes the ‘barest of material”. Not expecting a response, I was delighted to get a response from Christopher. (@herzwoods). (See Learning of Harlem from Twitter). The connection was made and communication continued.

Prior to our linkup

• we communicated via twitter and email
• we tested our skype connections, webcams and audio and discussed the format for the session
• agreed on a time:- 11:30am our time Friday, 9:30pm New York time Thursday.
• agreed to revert to gTalk video should skype cause audio or video issues.
• invited students who had attended the Melbourne Writers Festival to also participate
• booked the library and its interactive whiteboard for the linkup.
• setup a google doc for students to add their ideas on a character for a potential story writing activity, as Christopher is keen to continue working with the interested students.

On the day

• checked the library
• discovered a teacher had booked it for reading with the year 7 class. (So they came too) This meant there were more than 50 students in the audience
• Right on time, Christopher logged in to skype.

The video and audio were clear and skype did not disappoint at all. It was as though Christopher was in the same room as us. He presented in a passionate, informed and engaging manner to students aged 12 to 17. For 50 minutes, he spoke and interacted with the students, watching his audience closely through the web cam and commenting on what he saw. Friendly waves were sent across the 22,000kms, with applause, comments from the student body projecting across the microphone.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Christopher talked about his school days, how he started writing and how he got his work published. But best of all, he spoke of his passion for writing, encouraging the students to get involved in writing whether it be for magazines, blog posts, advertisements or publishing novels. He writes down ideas as they come to him -this could be a serviette, his hand or pen and paper. I was fascinated with his use of old and new technology – typewriter, facebook, twitter, paper, computer etc. Christopher talked about characters, ideas for stories and the two books that he has written. He engaged the students totally and completely for 50 minutes solid. Students were able to come up to the microphone and ask questions. We learnt of the budding writers amongst us.

The students will tell you more if you go to my year 11 blog posts and read what they thought:-

1. Linkup with Christopher Herz
2. Linkup with Christopher Herz – Catei
3. Linking up with Christopher Herz
4. Linkup with Christopher Herz – Chloe
5. Our linkup with Christopher Herz
6. Linkup with Christopher Herz

Thank you Christopher for inspiring, motivating, challenging and engaging our students. May the conversations, sharing and writing continue! Imagine what we can ‘dare to achieve’!