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Welcome to the Authors Who Skype with Classes & Book Clubs List!  I’m Kate Messner, the children’s author and educator who maintains this site.  I started it because I’ve found that virtual author visits are a great way to connect authors and readers, and I realize that many schools facing budget troubles don’t have the option of paid author visits. With that in mind, this is a list of authors who offer free 20-minute Q and A sessions with classes and book clubs that have finished reading one of their books. As an author, I offer free Skype chats for the following titles:

The image projected on the screen in the front of the classroom is Magritte's painting of a pipe, including the words, "Ceci n'est pas une pipe." (1) I ask the students to each briefly make a guess why they think Magritte wrote that, since the painting is obviously a pipe. Some volunteers share their guesses with the class. One student nails it. "It's not a pipe; it's a drawing of a pipe!"

This collaborative effort between the language arts instructor and teacher-librarian (TL) transforms a traditional essay assignment into a creative, technologically rich activity. The project, in which students write stories about their “personal heroes” in a graphic-novel format, should take three to five class periods to complete.

Film producer Allison Vanore, who has two entries in this year's Garden State Film Festival, reflects on why screenwriting is important for students. "It teaches them how films are constructed, that they are stories carefully constructed to make you feel a specific way just like books, television," Vanore says. "It's important to understand the medium we ingest and put out. From a creative standpoint, it gives students another way to create and express themselves."

Cheat sheets have a bad rap as a way for students to succeed on tests without actually knowing the information, but now it’s time for them to have a more positive place in education. Cheat sheets can offer a succinct way for students to study their lessons and provide an excellent boost to what you are already teaching them in class. Cheat sheets can provide helpful information for teachers too. Browse through this selection to find cheat sheets for a variety of subjects.

In this 60 Second Book Hook, sixth grade teacher Bill Ferriter reviews The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan. Category: Education Tags: gnomes 60secbookhook License: Standard YouTube License