Virtual School Visits with Brian Lies

What’s in a Virtual Visit with me?

I try to make a virtual visit feel as “real” as possible, and I cover most of the same topics I do in my regular visits—with an eye to the fact that students at home can’t typically sit through an hour-long Zoom meeting. But connecting with an author, whatever the format, can make a huge difference in a student’s life. I’m an author/illlustrator today because an author visited MY school!

In my virtual visits, I will:

• read a story
• discuss ideas, and where they come from
• discussion of details, and why they’re so important in our writing
• show sketchbook drawings and a pile of writing revisions for a single story
• do a demonstration digital drawing, through a shared-screen iPad. This can be a guided drawing lesson, during which students follow along with paper and pencil and end up with a drawing of their own. Or it can be a drawing I do based on students’ suggestions (and I leave one element of the drawing blank). I send these drawings to the teacher to pass on to students, so they can fill in that blank with their own drawing ideas, and / or use the drawing as a coloring sheet.
• a message about boredom, and filling our unexpected “free” time with hobbies or activities that may grow into a life-long passion
• Q & A: students can type questions during the Zoom meeting, and also send questions to their teachers after, which I’ll answer. This can make the visit “stickier” in that it lasts longer than just the on-screen time.
• I’m also open to addressing topics that individual teachers would like their students to hear from an author, to fill in gaps that remote learning may have created.

Email me to chat about how we can make this work for YOUR students!