How to use this Page

I'm so excited! I received an email early this week from someone who had found me through my page with the Children's Literature Network (a terrific organization). The woman is part of an organization that puts together Young Author Conferences, and she invited me to participate in five days' worth of Young Authors Conferences here in the Twin Cities in May.

Over five days, I'll work with between 320-800 4th-8th graders. It depends how I structure my sessions and whether they will work for larger groups of forty or whether I need smaller class sizes of 20 or so. My sessions need to be interactive, with the students actually writing, of course! And the theme for the whole event is Writing - A Passport to New Horizons. 

In the previous event, in February, session leaders took the theme in many directions, exploring other countries, disabilities, travel essays, immigration, manga, genre writing, family history, prejudice, myth, journey into the imagination, etc. So you can interpret the theme broadly!

I want to have kids leaving the session with a great poem presented in a fun way...some kind of frame or other concrete thing to hold onto that they can show or take back out and look at later with pride.

I'm playing with the idea of writing on the backs of scenic postcards, writing poems about our home cities that we then send overseas, using scrapbooking paper, doing poems inspired by images...so many choices.

I need to keep the costs low, since I might be buying supplies for 800 kids! 

So, my brain will be buzzing the next few days. If you have any ideas to throw out, I'd love to hear them! Even though the event isn't until May, I have to plan my session now for the promotional/registration materials.