Jerry Craft Author Visit

The school librarians at Iroquois are extremely lucky to be in a district that values literacy initiatives.  As part of our annual budget, money is set aside each year to fund high quality author visits for students in grades K-12.  I have worked in a number of districts, and have never been so fortunate as to have money already earmarked for author visits!  It is exciting to know that each year our students will have the opportunity to connect with book creators.

During last school year, I was made aware that Jerry Craft would be visiting Buffalo for the WNY Children's Book Expo.  Jerry Craft is the author and illustrator of the hugely popular graphic novel New Kid.  New Kid tells the story of Jordan Banks, a student of color starting at a new school that is predominantly white.  The story is funny and touching, yet also discusses important issues in an age appropriate way.

I knew Mr. Craft would be a great candidate for an author visit to Iroquois Middle School.  Thanks to Kim Krug (organizer of WNY Children's Book Expo and owner of Monkey See, Monkey Do Children's Bookstore), we were able to make arrangements for the visit!  Not only would Mr. Craft visit the Middle School, but he would visit the fifth grade Intermediate School and select high school students as well.

Visit Preparations
At the Middle School, preparations and publicity began for the visit as early as September.  As part of library orientation, all students visited the library for a video scavenger hunt.  One of the videos featured the "fun stuff" that the library had planned this year...it was a perfect opportunity to announce the author visit.  From this point on, there was a LONG waiting list for New Kid.  That waiting list continues through today!

This announcement during library orientation
alerted students of the upcoming author visit.

Each ELA teacher was presented with a copy of New Kid during library orientation.  This was helpful, as they were able to share the book with interested students in their class.  The availability of the book in the classroom helped to introduce more students to Jerry Craft prior to the visit.  ELA classes also showed their students videos of an interview with Jerry Craft in order to further their exposure to the author.

In the weeks leading up to the visit, Ms. Chernowski and I hosted a Jerry Craft trivia contest for all fifth grade through eighth grade students.  Interested students picked up an entry form and used Mr. Craft's website to find the answers to the trivia questions.  Five students were chosen at random to receive a free copy of New Kid.

The trivia contest entry form.

The students weren't told this, but we had embedded an extra perk into the trivia program.  Each student who chose to enter the trivia contest was invited to an exclusive meet and greet after the author assemblies.  There were approximately 30 students that entered the trivia contest.  Each of these students, as well as students that preordered a copy of New Kid, received an invitation to the meet and greet event.

Entry forms for the trivia contest were available in the library.

Meet and Greet Invitation

During the days prior to Mr. Craft's visit, students worked on getting welcome displays ready for both the front foyer and the library.  Sixth grade students in the library for study hall were eager to help with this!

Display case in the front foyer.

The whiteboard in the library housed many welcome messages.

Right before Mr. Craft's visit, we learned that he had just won a very prestigious honor.  The Kirkus Prize for Young Peoples' Literature is awarded to one book each year.  New Kid was awarded the Kirkus Prize for 2019!  The book was chosen out of approximately 1,600 titles, and Mr. Craft received $50,000 for his outstanding literary efforts.

Congratulations to Jerry Craft!

Author Visit Assemblies
When Jerry Craft came to Iroquois, he was scheduled for two assemblies in the Intermediate/Middle School: one for fifth and sixth graders, and another session for seventh and eighth grade students.  Keeping the attention of hundreds of middle schoolers is no easy feat, but Jerry Craft's presentations were engaging and inspirational.  He discussed the hard work that goes into writing and illustrating, and how to stay focused even after receiving multiple rejections.  In addition to speaking to students, he also showed them how to create illustrations using simple shapes.  This inspired many pieces of artwork when students returned to their classrooms!

Jerry Craft discusses New Kid.

Students were eager to participate during the assemblies.

Jerry Craft shares the books that motivated
(and de-motivated!) him as a young student.

The special meet and greet for the trivia participants took place after the second assembly.  The students were provided with snacks and the opportunity to have a casual chat with Jerry Craft.  He graciously answered the questions students asked him about his life and books.  Mr. Craft even took the time to draw SpongeBob!

Jerry Craft shows students the tablet that serves as his on-the-go art studio.

Jerry Craft shares some of his favorite chapter titles from New Kid. 
Lots of Easter eggs for careful readers to find!

Happy fifth grade students pose with Mr. Craft and Ms. Chernowski.

After the meet and greet session, Mr. Craft was off to the high school to speak to a select group of students.  His high school session were also well received!  Strangely enough, the high schoolers were also eager to have Mr. Craft draw SpongeBob.  I can't really explain this phenomenon.

Jerry Craft shares his comic strip, Mama's Boyz, with high school students.

A Memorable Day
I cannot say enough great things about our day with Jerry Craft.  The feedback Ms. Chernowski. Mrs. Freatman, and I received from students and staff was overwhelmingly positive.  It will definitely be difficult to top this year's author visit.  Thank you Mr. Craft for your willingness to visit Iroquois, and for the inspiration you provided to us all! 

A great day with Jerry Craft!

Alan Gratz Author Visit

When I heard that Alan Gratz, a New York Times Bestselling Author, would be visiting Buffalo for the WNY Book Expo, I knew he would be a great candidate for an author visit to Iroquois Middle School.  Thanks to Kim Krug (organizer of WNY Book Expo and owner of Monkey See, Monkey Do Children's Bookstore), we were able to secure Mr. Gratz for a visit!  Not only would Mr. Gratz visit the Middle School, but he would visit the fifth grade Intermediate School and select high school students as well.

Visit Preparations
At the Middle School, preparations and publicity began for the visit as early as September.  As part of library orientation, all students visited the library for a video scavenger hunt.  One of the videos featured the "fun stuff" that the library had planned this year...it was a perfect opportunity to announce the author visit.  From this point on, there was a LONG waiting list for all of Mr. Gratz's books.

A screenshot from the library orientation video announcing Alan Gratz's visit.

In the weeks leading up to the visit, Ms. Chernowski and I hosted an Alan Gratz trivia contest for all fifth grade through eighth grade students.  Interested students picked up an entry form and used Mr. Gratz's website to find the answers to the trivia questions.  Eight lucky students won a copy of Grenade, Mr. Gratz's latest book!

Entry form for the trivia contest

The students weren't told of this, but we had embedded an extra perk into the trivia program.  Each student who chose to enter the trivia contest was invited to an exclusive meet and greet after Alan Gratz's author assemblies.  There were approximately 50 students that entered the trivia contest.  Each of these students received an invitation to the meet and greet event.

A copy of the invitation to the Alan Gratz meet and greet.

On the afternoon prior to Mr. Gratz's visit, students worked on getting welcome signs ready for both the front foyer and the library.  Sixth grade students in the library for study hall were eager to help with this!

Working on decorating the library's whiteboard.

Making a welcome sign for the front foyer.

The completed library whiteboard!

Author Visit Assemblies
When Alan Gratz came to Iroquois, he was scheduled for two assemblies in the Intermediate/Middle School: one for fifth and sixth graders, and another session for seventh and eighth grade students.  During each assembly, Alan Gratz was introduced by a student.  The students who were chosen to introduce him were students who had read (and loved!) a number of Alan's books.  This made for a special experience for these two lucky students.

Alan Gratz's introduction during the 5th/6th grade assembly.

Two Alan Gratz fans were chosen to do the assembly introductions.

Keeping the attention of hundreds of middle schoolers is no easy feat, but Alan Gratz's presentations kept the audience engaged from start to finish!  The "choose your own adventure" format that Mr. Gratz used to structure his presentation gave the students ownership over the content of the assembly, and kept them interested in seeing what would be discussed next.

Alan Gratz's "Choose Your Own Speech" was a huge hit!

Students voted on which story they would like to hear more about.

After the speeches, students were invited to have their books signed by Alan Gratz.  A number of books were purchased prior to the event, so students were happy to get their books signed personally.

Alan Gratz met with students after each assembly.

Students were excited to get their books autographed.

The special meet and greet for the trivia participants took place after the second assembly.  The students were provided with snacks and the opportunity to have a casual chat with Alan Gratz.  He graciously answered the questions students asked him about his life and books.

Students met in the Middle School Library for a meet and greet.

After the meet and greet session, Mr. Gratz was off to the high school to speak to a select group of students.  His high school session was as well received as the middle school assemblies were!


A Really Wonderful Day!
Looking back on the author visit with Alan Gratz, I cannot think of enough great things to say.  His presentation was one of the most engaging and thought-provoking author sessions I have seen in my twelve years as a librarian.  The feedback Ms. Chernowski and I received from students and staff was overwhelmingly positive.  It will definitely be difficult to top this year's author visit.  Thank you Alan Gratz for your willingness to visit Iroquois.

It was great to meet Alan Gratz!

Mr. Gratz and Ms. Chernowski during our 11/7 visit.

September 2018 Updates

Septembers always fly by, and September 2018 was no exception!  It was a great start in the middle school library as we welcomed our students back to Iroquois.

Library Highlights for September 2018

Library Orientation Scavenger Hunt

All sixth through eighth grade ELA classes visited the library for an orientation scavenger hunt and book checkout.  Due to the many changes in the library's overall layout, this orientation included information that was new even for our seasoned eighth graders.  Students used the library iPads to access videos about the library's sections and offerings.  This was a great opportunity to move around the library and get re-acclimated to the space.  When the scavenger hunt was complete, students filled out an interest survey which gave me great ideas for book purchases and future library programming.  In fact, a large order full of student book requests was just placed!  It will be helpful to add these desired titles to the library's collection.

New Initiatives

During the library orientation sessions, students learned about two new library offerings: a special author visit and Free Book Fridays.  Students were excited to hear that Alan Gratz will be visiting Iroquois on November 7th!  In preparation for his visit, many students and classes are reading his titles.  His historical fiction selections are especially popular with Iroquois Middle School students.  Students were also interested in the new "Free Book Friday" promotion.  Each Friday, an Iroquois Middle School student is chosen at random to select a new book to take home.  The students that have won so far have been very appreciative!

Library Catalog Updates

Over the summer, all Iroquois school libraries moved to the Destiny Discover interface when viewing the library catalog.  This new interface supports some new, helpful features.  The main search page shows recently added titles and the status of popular book titles.

It's helpful to see the status of new and popular books.

The new interface also includes a "Collections" feature.  This feature is similar to an online pathfinder, where book lists and web resources can be found in one place.  The feature was especially helpful for Mrs. Maulucci's ELA students.  Her students are encouraged to read a book dealing with the topics they are learning in Mr. Baumgartner's Social Studies classes.  Suggested books were placed into collections and shared with students.  This will be a helpful starting point as they look for books of interest for their extra credit.

Suggested extra credit titles were placed into Collections.

Students could preview books to use for Mrs. Maulucci's extra credit opportunity.

Pay It Forward Introduction

There have been many visits from sixth grade reading classes so far this year.  In addition to reading books independently, each class will be reading a novel as a full class.  Mrs. Nicosia's class is beginning their year by reading Pay It Forward by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  This inspirational book is set in the 1990's, which is well before our middle school students were born.  In order to better understand the setting of the book, students came to the library to participate in a 1990's introduction.  Mrs. Nicosia and I shared information about 1990's events and technology (students seemed particularly horrified by the concept of dial-up internet).  Students then tested their knowledge of 1990's pop culture through a Kahoot competition.  It was a fun way to introduce the book!

Lego League Robotics Team

From feedback gathered last year, it was clear that students wanted more after school offerings from the library.  Mrs. Ferger and I were excited to bring a robotics opportunity to our students by forming a First Lego League team.  We held an informational session about the team, then interested students submitted their applications.  The first team meeting was held after school on September 24th.  We can't wait to see what the Lego League team will accomplish!

First Lego League students worked on a team building challenge.

The FIRST First Lego League team at Iroquois Middle!

Looking Ahead

In October, the library will be undergoing another big transition - the genrefication of our fiction section!

A Visit with Amy Ludwig VanDerwater

One of the last special events taking place in the library this year was a visit from Amy Ludwig VanDerwater, an accomplished author and poet.  I had met Amy years ago and was captivated by her enthusiasm for writing, teaching, and learning.  Her visit to Iroquois proved to be an exciting and enriching event for the students involved.

Although we would have loved to host sessions with Amy for the entire middle school community, we unfortunately had to share her between the other buildings in the Iroquois district.  We were limited to the afternoon of June 6th, which lent itself well to hosting two writing workshops.  Sixth grade students visited with Amy during period seven, while our seventh and eighth graders attended a session during period eight.  ELA, RtI, and AIS teachers helped me to identify the students that would especially enjoy and benefit from a session with Amy.  These students received a special invitation to attend the visit.

The invitation students received for the author visit.

Students were very excited to meet with Amy.  As I had mentioned before, the students invited to attend were those that displayed a keen interest in everything related to reading and writing.  In order to prepare for her visit, sixth grade students decorated the area where Amy would be presenting.

Students left welcoming messages and illustrations for Amy.

Amy's visit did not disappoint!  During each of the sessions, Amy shared her insights into writing and publishing.  She answered questions that students had about being a professional author.  Amy also had the students try out two different strategies for beginning to write when facing writer's block.  These ideas were a creative way to delve into writing, even when it seemed difficult to get started.

Amy Ludwig VanDerwater shares her passion for writing
with Iroquois Middle School students.

The best part of Amy's visit was the inspirational message she shared with the students.  She explained to the students that everyone has the ability to be a writer.  The only aspect that separates writers from the non-writers is the effort they put in.  Sometimes ideas don't easily flow, but writers persevere and continue to put pen to paper.  It was great to hear that you don't always have to start with your "best" work--instead, writers develop their ideas through persistent effort and revisions.  Like anything else, writing is a process that requires attention and reflection.

After the scheduled visits were over, Amy graciously stayed after school ended in order to answer more questions from Iroquois' budding authors.  I would highly recommend an author visit or writing workshop with Amy.  She left our Iroquois students energized and inspired to begin their own writing projects!