Why Have Author Nancy Kelly Allen Visit My School?  

Meeting an author of children’s books is a motivational activity that:  

§   Encourages students to read

§   Improves reading, listening, and visualization skills

§  Stimulates creativity and imagination

§   Enhances writing skills

§   Encourages research

§   Exposes children to a variety of literature

§   Encourages recreational reading

§   Helps children realize that authors do not have to be from “somewhere else”

§    Inspires children, making them want to write better and read more

§    Helps children realize that an author is an ordinary person, and perhaps they will feel inspired to emulate her writing

§    Helps children learn how to develop ideas for stories

§    Helps children learn that good writing comes from revision

§     Helps children learn the process of how a book is made and distributed.

Children can purchase a book written by Nancy Kelly Allen and get the book autographed, creating a souvenir to keep.   

Free to each student:  A sheet of three bookmarks and word search puzzles based on books written by Nancy Kelly Allen.    

Authors have the ultimate literacy initiative.  When a child meets an author, the child knows more about the book-the ideas behind the story, the inspiration for writing the story-than any book he/she has ever read.  

Nancy tailors her school appearances to meet the mix of topics that will be most useful to students and teachers.  She will also conduct student writing workshops.  Both programs are suitable for small or large groups.  Nancy is available to sign books.  The time and place of the book signing will be the choice of the school.  

Student Programs:

Kiss Your Brain is a humorous, engaging program for primary students.  Nancy discusses how books are made from the real-life ideas behind each book.  She reads from her books and talks with students about how she came up with the idea for the story.  This program is interactive with student participation.  With each idea presented by a student, the student is asked to kiss his/her brain. Students learn the process of developing an idea, writing a manuscript, the roles of editors and publishers, and how books are printed.  A few minutes is allowed for questions from the audience.  Sessions are 45-60 minutes in length.  The session time can be adjusted to meet the needs of the school. 

The Write Stuff is a full-of-fun, lots-of-laughs program for older students.  Nancy discusses the writing process and actively involves the children by teaching them how to create ideas for stories.  She emphasizes generating and developing ideas, writing manuscripts, revision, editing, and publishing. She also stresses the use of the five senses to develop detailed description in writing. Preliminary sketches, revised manuscripts, and book galleys are shown to the students with detailed explanations of how each plays an important role in the publishing of the book.  The program ends with a question and answer session from students and teachers. Sessions are 45-60 minutes in length.  The session time can be adjusted to meet the needs of the school.

Lunch

Nancy will dine with the students for an informal discussion about the life of a writer or will dine with teachers to discuss the day’s activities.

Freebies for Students and Teachers:

Reproducible bookmarks and word search puzzles will be given for student use.  Classroom activity sheets developed for each of Nancy 's books will be given to teachers.

Contact Nancy at nkallen@tgtel.com.

PTO Meetings/Reading Celebration Nights

Nancy Kelly Allen utilizes her experiences as a former teacher and school media specialist to discuss the importance of reading with parents and teachers.  Her topics include the following:  

Reluctant Readers-How to Put Fun in Reading

Read Aloud-Bonding With Books

Home/School Connection-Reading and Books

Nancy will model the process of reading aloud as she uses the books she has written as demonstrative models.  This informative program will provide ideas and activities parents can use to engage their children in reading at all grade levels.  Her extensive experience with children's literature and her enthusiasm for teaching children the love of books makes this program a winner. 

Workshop for teachers:  Professional Development Training in portfolio writing and use of children’s books in the curriculum.  

Write Right 

This program is designed for elementary teachers in the teaching of writing.  Nancy will present fresh ideas using creative writing exercises, including personal narratives, memoirs, short story, transactive, and literary pieces.  The author discusses how she generates and develops ideas for the books she writes, and teaches methods geared toward classroom use that incorporate the same techniques.  Story elements, such as beginning/middle/end, sensory detail, choosing a title, “show don’t tell,” persuasive and expository paragraphs, are emphasized. Nancy introduces a simplified short story graphic organizer that has been popular in her training sessions. Rewriting is the key to good writing.  The importance of revision and editing is emphasized. This workshop can be modified to meet requested needs.  Handouts available.  

Objective/Description:  To improve writing skills and scores of students and to present entertaining methods to help teachers successfully integrate writing into the elementary curriculum.  Author discusses how she writes stories, from the conception of the idea, to the development of the plot, to the finished manuscript.

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