The article was a wonderful anecdote by an elementary teacher about her first experience with an author live chat. I have never participated in an author chat, so I found the article very interesting. I especially liked how the entire school came together to help facilitate the boys experience. From the network administrator, to the school librarian, and even the director of maintenance who was able to install last minute shades for glare elimination. I also liked how well received all of the questions were by the author; and how she addressed each boys question by using his name. It showed that she not only truly cared about what they were asking her, but that she actually cared about the boys themselves.
The questions that stuck out in my mind while reading the article were, 1) How could I properly utilize this in my own classroom? I want to teach elementary school, which is right when children are getting the basics of reading, and becoming enthusiastic about literature. To get a child interested in reading and writing, and to then have them be able to talk to an author of a book they enjoyed would help to keep them inspired.
My next question was how I could go about actually implementing the utilization. I assume much of the author chats are set up and announced fairly ahead of time, so I would know about them pretty early on. I would then be able to chose an age and course appropriate book by an author, and read it with or to my class. Once they were excited about the book, and really captivated by its writing, I could then ask the children to come up with ideas for questions if they would ask the person who wrote the book whatever they wanted. I could then inform the students that they would be able to ask the author these questions themselves. I was always an enthusiastic student, and an avid reader; if I had had the opportunity to talk to some of my favorite authors it would have just further spurred my love for literature.
