Looking forward to offering suggestions for motivating middle school writers and showing teachers ways in which they can easily incorporate writing across the curriculum at my 75-minute session. Hopefully I'll have a decent gathering at my session!

I'll also have a booth in the exhibit hall, giving me a chance to meet and talk with more educators.

They were aware I had been a sports writer, covering the Boston Red Sox for 22 years before retiring in September, 2008, and they knew that I had written children's books, including several non-fiction baseball books, such as "Play Ball Like the Pros."

They also, thanks to a visit to my website, knew that I owned a gorilla suit.

And they asked me all about baseball, books and the gorilla suit in our 45-minute virtual visit.

So I told them how I became a writer, that I used to read a lot when I was a kid, especially Matt Christopher sports books. And I also read bedtime stories to my younger sister, planting a seed in my brain that some day I wanted to write my own children's books.

Their questions led me to tell them that I hadn't grown up wanting to be a sports writer. I wanted to be a professional baseball player, but, despite being a three-year starter at Columbia, becoming co-captain my senior year, when I was voted the team's MVP, I wasn't good enough for the pros. But, as I told them, because I knew how to write (sports editor of the Columbia Daily Spectator), I managed to find a career in which the Providence (RI) Journal newspaper paid me to watch games for 33 years.

I also was able to show them replicas of artifacts I have from the Baseball Hall of Fame because I'm on the Hall's Education Advisory Council. I showed them a 1940s catcher's mitt and a 1950's fielder's glove. They were most impressed, however, by Ozzie Smith's St. Louis Cardinals jersey and hat, especially since they happen to be The Cathedral School Cardinals!

So it was a nice visit. I hope they got something out of my stories and talk of writing in general.

Oh, and the gorilla suit. One young woman asked me about it because there is a picture of me in the hairy suit on my website. She wanted to know what was up with that.

Well, I always have had a fondness for monkeys and gorillas. Maybe I was one in a past life! Anyway, as I type this there are 11 stuffed monkeys and gorillas sitting in my office, looking over my shoulder.

The suit is something I was known for in the neighborhood when our kids were younger.  Around Halloween, everyone knew the gorilla taking his kids trick or treating. One woman used to offer me a banana every year!

Halloween is one of all-time favorite nights of the year. And you can be sure that this coming Halloween night I will be standing at my door, handing out candy to the 100 or so kids who will come by. I'll have my mask on, but over the years I haven't decided if I scare more kids with my mask on or when I take my mask off!!

Thank you Ms O'Quin, the fifth grade teacher; Peggy Pierce, the librarian, Janice Rogers, technical support, and the 5th Grade students for making my first "visit" to Arkansas a pleasant one.

I have conducted many of these "Nudging the Imagination" sessions for teachers at various conferences around the country, but this was my first one where I wasn't physically in the room with the education professionals. So I was curious to see how well it would work.

I was pleasantly surprised at how interactive we could be! The placement of the camera made it difficult for me to see everyone, but I could hear just fine and it was no problem from my end to offer them suggestions as to how they can motivate and "nudge" their students along the path to becoming independent and enthusiastic writers while still being able to integrate the curriculum and address any testing issues.

There are some modifications to be made, but the feedback was good, with teachers telling me that I had given them strategies they could take into the classroom the next day. I hope they'll keep me in the loop and let me know things go from my suggestions.

So Professional Development via Skype can be effective.

Has anyone else out there either conducted or been an attendee at such a workshop? How did it go?

An elementary school in Barrington, RI, was interested in talking to me about doing some of my "Nudging the Imagination" writing workshops. I called the woman who was interested, but she wasn't available, so I left a message.

About 10 minutes later I received a phone call. The woman on the other end of the line said she was from Barrington and was calling on behalf of someone else. She said they were interested in writing and wanted to know if I could do Professional Development, which I certainly can do and have done around the country.

I thought that this was someone from the Barrington, RI, school even though I didn't recognize the name. It wasn't the woman for whom I had left a message only 10 minutes earlier.

But, assuming I was speaking to someone in my home state of RI, I made a few Rhode Island references, such as having conducted workshops in the neighboring town of Bristol, RI, and having worked as a sports writer at the Providence (RI) Journal for 33 years.

She didn't say much about all of that. And later I found out why.

When she gave me her mailing address, it was Barrington, IL, not Barrington, RI!

I explained about the coincidence and the mix-up. She seemed amused, my explanation answering her unspoken questions of why I was talking about Bristol and the Providence Journal!

Hopefully, I'll be called upon to do writing workshops in Barrington, RI, and Professional Development sessions in Barrington, IL!

It's going to take place during a re-enactment of the Purim story at a costume party at a mansion owned by Mordecai, a doctor.

There also will be an auction! The world's first gragger (noise-maker), which features diamonds, rubies and gold, will be put up for auction, carrying out the Purim theme of charity for this holiday. Guess what will be stolen?

Okay, I'll give that part away. It will be the gragger. But who did it? Was it Haman? Or Esther? Or one of the King's guards? Who knows? We don't know yet, either. That will be decided by Ms Oclassen's class as the script-writing continues over the next four Sundays!

I'll keep you posted on the progress!!

My talk was done via Skype, thanks to Kenyette Kilpatrick of Peachtree Publishers, which has published two of my non-fiction children's baseball books -- "Play Ball Like the Pros" and "Play Ball Like the Hall of Famers."

Kenyette was conducting a workshop about the value of Skype in the classroom or library for author visits, and she connected to me, sitting in my cozy office in East Greenwich, RI.

I was able to tell the librarians about my experiences with Skype. I have done author visits and I also have conducted my interactive and motivational "Nudging the Imagination" classroom writing workshops, which tie directly into the curriculum, via Skype.

We went over a few of the logistical issues with a Skype visit, and I was able to answer some questions the librarians had.

The bottom line is that, with budgets being cut in schools all around the country, schools can use Skype visits as a more budget-friendly way of bringing an author or a writing workshop to the classroom, a valuable experience for students and teachers alike.

     Thanks to Ms Lisa Myers and her 2nd Grade Class at the Coulson-Tough School in The Woodlands, TX!

      This is the story we just generated, using the characters and setting we brainstormed for during our hour-long classroom session.

     Hope you enjoy it!

“Where’s My Sunscreen?”

The Beach Problem

     “Oh, no! I forgot my sunscreen!” whined Linda Snail, who was wearing a blue, red, yellow and whitish-tan bathing suit, as she sat on the beach.

     “It’s okay,” sweetly said Amy Armadillo. “I know it’s a sunny day. Why don’t you go take a swim in the ocean and cool off?”

     So Linda Snail started walking to the ocean. She wasn’t a very fast walker. She was only walking at 1 mile an hour.

     “Oh, I’ll never make it,” complained a panicked Linda Snail.

     Tim Bear, who had a purple beach towel with blue polka dots on his back, saw that Linda Snail was sad and slow.

     “May I help you?” asked Tim bear in his loud, deep voice.

     “Yes! I am burning! I am getting hot! I am getting as hot as the sun! I need to get to the ocean!” squealed Linda Snail.

     Tim Bear picked up Linda Snail and tossed her into the ocean. He had a very strong arm. He threw her at 1,596 miles an hour.

     Linda Snail landed in the ocean and fell to the bottom. She landed with a splash, a thump and a thud. She landed on top of Geoffree Badger.

     “Hey, what’s that? Can’t a guy just relax at the bottom of the ocean?” growled Geoffree Badger.

     “Sorry, but I need to get wet because I was getting cooked in the sun and I didn’t have any sunscreen,” cried Linda Snail.

     “Oh, well, that’s fine,” said Geoffree Badger. “Here, have some popcorn and a turkey sandwich.”

     “Oooh, that sounds delicious!” said Linda Snail.

     So Linda Snail and Geoffree Badger had a feast at the bottom of the ocean.

Coulson-Tough School      Ms Myers       Grade 2       Oct. 12, 2010

     On Tuesday, Melissa Johnson's 5th grade class at the Coulson-Tough School in The Woodlands, TX, and I continued writing our collaborative mystery story via Skype.

     It was amazing to me how interactive we were able to get, even though I wasn't in the classroom! The students were highly engaged, calling out ideas to add to our narrative, and I was able to hear them for the most part and use those ideas in the body of our story.

     Now it's up to the students to solve the mystery. In their individual narrative endings they must answer several questions, not only Who stole the Egyptian Gold Coin at the Jane Lincoln Museum, but How the crime was committed, in more detail; Why the crime was committed, in more detail, and How the thief was discovered, in detail.

     Was it Martha Jefferson, the waitress, who did it? Was it archaeologist George Jackson or security guard Thomas Adams, or was it museum owner Jane Lincoln? Or did Det. Joe have something to do with the disappearance of the Egyptian gold coin?

     I'll keep you posted!!

     Thanks to an invitation to try to do some writing over the internet with Ms. Melissa Johnson's 5th grade class at the Coulson-Tough School in The Woodlands, TX, "Nudging the Imagination" has gone high tech!

     I was a little leery about how it would work because when I'm in the classroom I create an interactive atmosphere of organized chaos, helping me engage the students and generate collaborative mystery stories or tall tales or video magazine scripts or the other writing "Nudging" projects we develop.

     How interactive and spontaneous could I be via Skype?

     Well, after a little feeling out process, I was pleasantly surprised with the results. With Ms. Johnson writing on a white board in her classroom the characters and setting we generated collaboratively, while I wrote it on a piece of paper at my desk, we were able to generally mirror my normal classroom process.

     As the hour session continued, the students and I became more comfortable with the give-and-take, though Ms. Johnson did call on students with hands raised to help facilitate the process at times.

     Ultimately we created the first sentence of our mystery story.

     I can't wait for today's session when we will continue writing our story to a point at which a motive has been assigned to each character. Then I will e-mail the story to Ms. Johnson, who will make a copy for each of her students so they can then write their own individual endings to the group story.

     Next week Ms. Johnson will e-mail me copies of their endings so we can have another sessions during which we will critique those endings -- what's good about them and how they can be made better, because as we all know, just because you write something once does not mean it's done!

     Have any of you had an author visit via Skype? Any writing workshops via Skype? I'd be interested to hear your experiences!  

At some point during the first nine-day block of visits to students in Grades 1-6 I happened to mention I had a gorilla suit. They wanted to see me wear it.

So virtually every day over the course of the other nine-day blocks one student or another would ask if I had brought the Gorilla suit. I promised them I would wear it before my residency was concluded.

Today was that day, the final day of workshops. And, yes, I brought the suit with me, the furry and rubbery mask, the hairy body, the hands and the feet.

The principal, Susan Bryan, arranged for all of the students to meet in the auditorium at the end of the day. She had me dress in my suit and hide in the wings of the stage as they went over the 6 Traits of Writing, and how proud she was of their writing efforts.

Then she pretended to call for me, looking out at the audience for me, calling out, "Steve, Steve."

That was my cue. I burst from the wings and bounded onto center stage, with Ms. Bryan pretending to be scared. The students went crazy, cheering and laughing.

Eventually I took off my gorilla head, and led them in a 6 Traits Chorus. They repeated in unison after me -- 6 Traits, Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Voice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions.

Hopefully they'll remember those traits and continue to apply them to their writing, as they did during my visits.

I mean, how could they forget what their friendly Gorilla said, right?