Schools
Author Visits
I offer both in-person and virtual author visits!
I love visiting schools and libraries (either in-person or virtually) and connecting with students about books and writing. My target audience is ideally second through fifth graders.
I offer two different formats for author visits:
- 45-minute presentation about the “road trip” of the writing process (in-person OR virtual)
- 20-minute question and answer/book discussion (virtual only)
About My Presentations
My 45-minute presentation:
This presentation is perfect for individual or multiple classrooms, or entire schools, and focuses on the “road trip” of the writing process—starting from a messy idea and arriving at the destination of a finished book.
- Using an interactive digital slide show, I share the three things I need to take with me on the writing “road trip” and what to do when you make a wrong turn or run out of gas. (It’s a bumpy ride.)
- I talk about how the first drafts are always messy (hint: they are supposed to be) and how the only way I know what’s going to happen next in my story is by writing it.
- I also emphasize the importance of revising again and again until the answer to the question “Are we there yet?” is “Yes, honey, now put your feet up. You did it.”
- And speaking of questions, at the end of my presentation I always have 10 to 15 minutes for those.
My 20-minute virtual only presentation:
This presentation is well suited for individual classrooms or book clubs, and consists of a brief introduction and short reading, followed by a Q &A session. Note: This virtual author visit is available at no cost (i.e., it’s FREE), provided that the students/schools have purchased at least 10 copies of my book(s) to be discussed.
Contact me via email: shawn@shawnkstout.com for more details and pricing.
Educational Activity Guides for the Classroom
Now you can have everything you need to discuss my books in your classroom. Curriculum state standards annotated educational activity guides include appropriate activities and discussion questions.
The Class Discussion Questions/Activity Guides are available as a printable pdfs. Simply click on the links below to download!
