Karen is happy to present to your up-coming conference in a unique style.  She will bring with her a set of props and, after explaining her unique teaching methods, have the attendees “be her students” as she takes them through the steps of creating new pieces of fiction, making literature come to life, or learning parts of speech or other grammar conventions.  There will be movement.  There will be music.  The presentation will be active, and participants will have something they can use in their classrooms as soon as they return to school.

Karen will come to your school or other location to work with groups of teachers.  She will guide them through the steps of writing using objects, learning grammar using rubber chickens, and reading literature with a variety of props, making class engaging, memorable, and safe.  She will tailor the sessions to the needs of the participating teachers.  The workshops will be active.  Teachers will be the students, participating in class as Karen taught it.   They will create their own writing to use as a mentor text. They will actually play the games and try the activities.  In this way, they will experience the teaching methods first-hand and return to their classrooms energized and ready to have some fun with their students.

Karen will work with teachers, one-on-one, to inspire their teaching practice and infuse them with energy to make their classrooms fun, exciting, and memorable.  She will also work with them on classroom culture.  These mentoring sessions will be structured to meet the needs of individual teachers.  She brings to these sessions an expertise in making a classroom safe, happy, and engaging.

Karen began Writing Club years ago, as a response to our ELA world and its move away from writing fiction.  Writing Club is a place where “we write stories with no grades.”  The response was strong.  Writing Club grew from a Colt Time (advisory-style) activity to an after-school club to a summer program.  Summer Writing Club allows Karen to meet with groups of students for 4 days, 2 hours each day.  In this summer program, students create at least three drafts of fictional stories each day.  Other variations of Writing Club meet once a month or for a single session.  An after-school Writing Club for high school students is coming soon.  Karen uses the physical prompts found in Shoes and Boxes and Peanuts and Keys to inspire fiction writing worth reading.  Karen has successfully run Writing Clubs for middle school, high school, and graduate students, as well as adults.