Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 11:15 a.m. EST

Target Grade Levels: 3-5

Description:

How I Became an Author. New Jersey children’s book author Dan Gutman is back! Dan has written more than 50 children’s books, most of them with sports themes. Although he may be best known for his “Baseball Card Adventure” series and his “My Weird School” series,” Dan has received a lot of praise for his book The Kid Who Ran for President.

Dan will talk about how he became a writer, where he gets his story ideas and reiterate the importance of perserverance. There will be plenty of time for students’ questions and interactive discussion! A virtual book signing will conclude this event.

Each school participating in this event will receive one of Dan's "My Weird School" books, courtesy of HarperCollins.

Don't miss this popular event with Dan!

Videoconference Outline:

Resources:

Dan Gutman's Website: A great resource for teachers and students!

Preparing Students:

Prepare your Site Introduction! During the videoconference, each site will have an opportunity to introduce themselves. Introductions must be less than 30 seconds and should include:

• Your school's name
• Your location
• Introduction of the class (i.e. "This is Ms. Smith's 2nd Grade Class)
• An interesting fact about your school or community

Familiarize Students with Dan and his work: Students should be with at least one of Dan's books, and his background.

Prepare Questions: Have students come up with questions for Dan about his work, his background, how he became a writer, etc. As a class, choose the top 5 questions. Make sure students are prepared to ask these questions as part of the videoconference event. Each school will have a chance to ask at least 2 questions - - but by preparing 5, we can make sure that questions aren't repeated.

Follow-Up Activities (After the Videoconference!):

Class Reflection: After the videoconference, please craft a CLASS REFLECTION to the videoconference event and post it to the Creative Minds Blog under the blog entry titled: Dan Gutman. The reflection might include the following: What did you learn from the videoconference? What surprised you? What questions do you still have? What did you agree with and what did you disagree with? Visit the blog and comment on other classes' reflections!

Program Partner: