Buffy Silverman: Making Connections

"Bat" by Gunnvor Karita

As a writer, Buffy Silverman wears many hats—
my favorite is the one she wears as TLD's resident science sleuth.

Please help me welcome Buffy Silverman back to Today's Little Ditty!

Buffy's previous posts

• Giving Nature Its Say,

• It Takes a Thief (part 1), and

• It Takes a Thief (part 2)

shed light on how to give voice to the natural world through poetry. Today's post takes that voice one step further, from the page to the classroom. It's all about making connections.

Thank you for connecting with us here, Buffy.

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MAKING CONNECTIONS

I’ve had a busy March, crisscrossing Michigan and driving to school visits.  Many schools invite authors as part of their March-is-Reading month celebrations. For someone who spends much of her time alone in her basement office, the rock-star treatment I’ve gotten when visiting schools is a treat. It’s especially enjoyable (and obvious!) when schools prepare their students for a visit.  Those are the schools where banners greet me, doors are decorated with themes from my books, and kids wave and cheer and ask me if I’m really Buffy Silverman! Best of all, teachers tell me that students have been clamoring to read my books.

When Michelle reminded me that I was scheduled to write a blog post, I thought it would be a good time to reflect on school visits. The schools that invite me are usually looking for a nonfiction author. I’m thrilled when teachers tell me how they’ve used my books in their classrooms.  During my large-group presentations I share some of the different hats that a writer wears (yes, I wear funny hats.) And I share a few different ways that I write about one topic: an informational book, a narrative nonfiction story and/or a poem.

Perhaps what matters most when speaking with kids is making connections. 

• Do I connect with students so that each one takes away something positive from my presentation? 

• Do I support teachers and encourage students by connecting with what they are learning in their classrooms? 

• Do I inspire kids to connect and wonder about the world around them? And do I connect them to the world of reading and writing?

I ask a lot of questions during my talks, and help kids see what they already know about finding out and communicating about the world. As a group we brainstorm questions that they might ask on a given nonfiction topic. But it’s impossible when speaking to 100 or more students in a large assembly to call on each student (or when speaking to kindergartners who are often interested in sharing random stories and thoughts!)

So I try to involve students in large-group activities. With younger students, after reading an informational book, I help them act out a story about the same topic. I “volunteer” a couple of teachers to lead the actors, and give the remaining teachers supporting roles.  The kids usually love seeing their teachers in these roles. And hopefully, when students participate in a story that I’ve written, we are making a meaningful connection!

I’ve also found that my presentations help me make new connections about my writing.  In a presentation with upper elementary students that focuses on bats, I share an informational and a narrative book on bats, and a poem for two voices about bats and moths.

Lepidopter: Noctuidae: Heliothinae
courtesy of New Zealand Biosecurity

The moth in the poem is a noctuid moth, which has evolved to hear and evade the bat that shares its habitat. I divide the kids in two groups, and we practice our bat and moth voices. While explaining to students that the moth in the poem echoes the bat, it occurred to me that the echoes of the poem reflect the bat’s echolocation (wow, is there anything better than surprising yourself with your own unintended brilliance?)

Bat echolocation, courtesy of askabiologist.asu.edu

 












And here’s another connection: the poem also fits Marilyn Singer’s challenge this month to write about echoes! I will close with my poem, which I hope you will imagine being read by a large crowd of squeaky fourth-grade bats and whispery third-grade moths.

BAT             and            MOTH  (a poem for two voices)


I flit I fly
                                          I flit I fly
beating wings
                                          beating wings
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


I beep I listen
                                          You beep I hear
echoes bounce
                                          warning sounds
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


I dive I chase
                                          I dive I flee
hungry still
                                          safe for now
in the moonlight.
                                          in the moonlight.


© Buffy Silverman, all rights reserved.

Buffy Silverman is the author of 80 nonfiction books for children, winning awards from Science Books and Films, the Children’s Book Committee at Bank Street College, and the Society of School Librarians International.  She's also written poems and stories for popular children's magazines, poetry anthologies, and educational resources.

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Many thanks to Doraine Bennett for featuring my poem "The Story of Nothing" this week at Dori Reads. It appeared as part of her 2016 National Poetry Month Poem-A-Day Project, "Feet in the Creek," in which she uses others' work to inspire her own poems about the creek in her backyard. Dori's poem in response is titled "There's Nothing to Do!"

In celebration of National Poetry Month, Marilyn Singer has challenged us to write poems inspired by the word "echo." Click HERE to read last week's spotlight interview with Marilyn. This week's featured poems were by Brenda Davis Harsham and Kristi Dee Veitenheimer. Thanks also to cbhanek and Catherine Flynn for posting their "echo"-inspired poems today.

If you're looking for other creative ways to participate in National Poetry Month, Jama Rattigan is your go-to for 2016 Poetry Month festivities at Jama's Alphabet Soup.

And last but not least, this week's Poetry Friday Roundup is being hosted by the ever-effervescent Laura Purdie Salas and her less-than-lovely (though VERY funny) poetry sidekick, Louis J. Pasternak, AKA Dr. Skullstench. You'll find them at Writing the World for Kids.