H.A. Swain visits 6th graders at the Highland Park Community School in Brooklyn

As a Humanities teacher I have long dreamt of bringing the author of the book we are reading to my classroom to speak. Today that dream came true thanks to Meet the Writers! H.A. Swain visited our class to discuss the novel we read recently called Hungry. My students were fascinated by the choices she made as an author and her writing process. While I knew they were excited about the author visit before, I had no idea how much this experience would change the way they approached reading. I observed that took more detailed notes, formulated deeper discussion questions, and really tried to get into the mind of the author who was crafting this book. By knowing that they would get the opportunity to meet the author, my students read this book at a much deeper level than the others. It was very rewarding to see their analysis of the story and excitement as it the plot unfolded. In addition, Meet the Writers did an amazing job helping us to connect with an author who clearly understood how to engage a middle schooler. The game H.A. Swain prepared for our students was one where the kids had to determine whether or not the invention in the story was real or made up by the author. It was a hit. It helped illuminate the amount of research that goes into writing a book while opening up a world of possibilities for innovations. This whole experience linked the joy of reading to our school’s STEAM theme perfectly! I am eternally grateful to Meet the Writers for making this experience possible! Thank you Michele Weisman and H.A. Swain!