How the Authors as Mentors Project Works

• Kari-Lynn will send your class a story manuscript that has not yet been accepted for publication.
• Please read the story manuscript to your class and ask the students to respond using activities that you might typically do in your classroom practice. For example, in Mrs. McGowan’s class the students did exercises which involved vocabulary, character investigations, and poetry.
• Please keep a record of these activities (e.g. photos of the process, work samples, projects)
• Provide a brief write-up, describing what your class did. This will help me and others understand what areas of the curriculum that you focused on.
• At this point in the program, it is important to ask parents/guardians for permission to put pictures of the students’ work or pictures of the students themselves working on the project, on the internet.  (This is a great way to demonstrate your students’ hard work and it is evidence of the process itself.) If you like, I will link your project to my website.
• Next, as a class, please e-mail any comments or questions that the students may have about the manuscript, about any of my other books, or about the process/craft of writing.
• I will try my best to answer every question.
• Finally, I will revise the manuscript, carefully considering the students’ suggestions, and then I will send the revised manuscript to a publisher. Hopefully, it will get accepted. If it does get accepted, I will include your class in the dedication and I will send you a copy of the new book.

Email me if you are interested in participating:  kari (at) kariwinters.com

A few Authors as Mentors projects can be viewed online.

1. Mary Snow’s class (South Bristol, Maine) working with a manuscript entitled The Protector.
2. Marci McGowan’s class (Spring Lake, NJ) working with a manuscript entitled Jeffrey and Sloth in the Rainforest.
3. Beverly McNeilly’s class (Alturas, California) working with a soon-to-be-published book and ipod/iphone app entitled Oh Ducky Day. Published by Gumboot Books, 2011.

Here are a few photos from various schools’ Authors as Mentors projects (used with permission):

South Bristol School, Maine

Mrs. McGowan’s class

Ms. McNeilly’s class (click for larger images)