Oh how I love the power of Social Media. Here is an example.
Laura Wright, Third Grade Teacher at Eanes Elementary and the 2016 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail, is a believer of growing her Personal Learning Network by connecting with people via Twitter. One of the people that she has connected with is Erik Brooks, an author and illustrator whose inspiration is the Arctic and its animals, particularly polar bears. Erik lived in Alaska for about 9 years and it left an impression.
The fact that Laura leaves at the end of February to go to Alaska to join the mushers on the Iditarod Trail as a representative of students and teachers across the country, means that she has spent a great deal of time exploring all aspects of the state of Alaska, including children's literature on the subject. She made a connection with Erik's publisher - Sasquatch Books - which led her to sending a tweet to Erik.
Once that contact was made, Laura concocted a plan to have Erik come and visit our campus and our PTO loved that idea so much that they decided to fund not only his presentations to K-2 and 3-5, but also an additional 2 days during which he would work with all grade levels in their art classes.
So, on Monday, Erik met with all students K-5 in the cafeteria and shared his stories and his artwork. The students (and teachers) were enthralled. I have been in this business for a long time and I don't think that I have ever seen such a gifted presenter. His pacing, his management of the crowd and his choice of activities were beyond compare. See below for some photos of the assemblies.
Laura Wright, Third Grade Teacher at Eanes Elementary and the 2016 Iditarod Teacher on the Trail, is a believer of growing her Personal Learning Network by connecting with people via Twitter. One of the people that she has connected with is Erik Brooks, an author and illustrator whose inspiration is the Arctic and its animals, particularly polar bears. Erik lived in Alaska for about 9 years and it left an impression.
The fact that Laura leaves at the end of February to go to Alaska to join the mushers on the Iditarod Trail as a representative of students and teachers across the country, means that she has spent a great deal of time exploring all aspects of the state of Alaska, including children's literature on the subject. She made a connection with Erik's publisher - Sasquatch Books - which led her to sending a tweet to Erik.
Once that contact was made, Laura concocted a plan to have Erik come and visit our campus and our PTO loved that idea so much that they decided to fund not only his presentations to K-2 and 3-5, but also an additional 2 days during which he would work with all grade levels in their art classes.
So, on Monday, Erik met with all students K-5 in the cafeteria and shared his stories and his artwork. The students (and teachers) were enthralled. I have been in this business for a long time and I don't think that I have ever seen such a gifted presenter. His pacing, his management of the crowd and his choice of activities were beyond compare. See below for some photos of the assemblies.
One of my favorite parts of his presentation was towards the end when he began to talk about his move into digital art. He is using both Brushes and Photoshop to produce some of his art work these days. Here are some samples.
For the rest of the day Monday and all day Tuesday and Wednesday, Erik moved to one of the art rooms where he answered questions and presented a hands on art lesson to every single class K-5. I can't say enough about the quality of this investment by our PTO. It is something we will all remember for a very long time. We are all better writers and thinkers because of it.
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