IRW’s school program team coordinates every aspect of our author & illustrator visits. But their most important task is simply being present with the kids.

Director of School Programs Alison Johnson and Programs Assistant Lisa Herrington visit a lot of classrooms, facilitating more than 50 visits annually within our partner school network of 26 schools. That can add up to over 2,500 students to interact with! Our visiting authors and illustrators may be the star of the show when we enter schools, but Alison and Lisa play a critical role too.

Kelsey Buckley, Director of Communications: So tell us a bit about what it’s like on school visit days and the considerations you’re juggling. You’re there with the author/illustrator, you arrive together at a school—what does your role look like?

Alison Johnson, Director of School Programs: Usually we begin the day with some kind of large presentation, and then we get into smaller workshops where we have an author/illustrator doing a demo and getting kids into either art or writing prompts. At that point, we’re making sure the author has everything they need. Do they need a flip chart or are they using the whiteboard markers? What are the kids going to need? Drawing paper? What kind of art supplies? Then we’re keeping the author flowing, monitoring the interest level of the kids, having conversations with the classroom teachers that could range from just getting to know them better or asking them about their professional development interests. 

Lisa is usually handing out the feedback forms, making sure those get taken care of!  And of course, keeping us on task by watching the clock. So, because we have so much experience doing this, even though we’ve prepped with the author about what they’re going to do, we always tell them—our agenda is just our guide.

It’s how we hope the day flows, but we always want to be responsive in the classroom. So for example, if an author comes in and the kids are just inundating them with questions, we’ll say—”Let’s do a Q&A for 15 minutes, ’cause these kids are into this book.” We have to respond to where the kids are right in that moment.

And most of our authors are pretty adaptive in that way. They are great with that.

Lisa Herrington, School Program Assistant: Oh, we’re pretty good at reading a room. I think it’s really important to note that a big part of it is not just managing logistics and supplies, but it’s about being in tune with kids.

Kelsey: Let’s talk a bit more about that. What are the special considerations you’re making when you’re in that classroom?

Alison: We definitely have to pay attention to our phones as a tool for communicating with the office, and we use them to take photos all the time to document visits. But we also try to put them away as much as possible and make sure we go around to each kid, ask them what they’re working on, comment on their work, try and spark conversations. And so if there’s the author and the two of us, there’s three extra adults in that workshop apart from their usual classroom teacher.

That’s three mindful, encouraging adults that those kids don’t have on a regular day to get some extra positive attention. And that’s so important.

Kelsey: What are some of those special or memorable interactions you’ve had with kids? 

Alison: I mean, some of these kids you’re seeing twice a year, every year for some time. I have a great memory from our last visit to Milbridge Elementary School with Maya Myers. There’s a picture of me with this kid, he was a kindergartner and he had his copy of Maya’s book, Not Little, and he started to read it. I just scooched down next to him as he was reading and he was really excited to be reading the whole thing. I just stayed next to him as he read the entire book, and coached him a little bit, helped him along.

He was so proud and what a good feeling for him and a good feeling for me to experience that. I felt like that was just a treasure to,—how lucky are we to be part of that? It’s priceless, really.

Lisa: There was another similar moment during one of Casey Robinson’s school visits with her book Small Things Mended. A fresh new reader said “I’m gonna read this!” He just started reading the book and was so excited.

Alison: Oh yeah. There was another kid waiting in line for his copy of Brian Floca’s book Locomotive to be signed and said, “I can’t wait to get my book because I am gonna read it over and over and over again, because I know this is that kind of book.”

Lisa: “Oh my God, I love that”, when they’ve all got their books and they’re sitting on the floor or at their desks and they’re flipping through the pages and they’re showing each other, it’s like Christmas, you know? They’re so happy and so eager to share the work they’ve done when they stand up in front of the whole class.

Some students have never done anything like that before, and we’ve had teachers start crying with pride and excitement. Those are huge moments.

Kelsey: Wow, that’s truly moving. What do you think it is about IRW visits that make kids that might be shy or hesitant otherwise feel so excited and eager to get up in front of their class and share about their experience at the end of the day?

Lisa: It’s important that we meet children where they are —we’re making reading enjoyable! It’s supposed to be a fun adventure that we’re on together. We’re not there to force anything they aren’t comfortable with, and so we can adjust our approach per child. If they really don’t want to write, we say, “draw a picture!” If they don’t want to draw a picture, we sometimes go in a corner and read to them or talk—whatever it takes to make it a good experience, just being present with kids.

Alison: It’s about the positive associations with us being there with the author and/or illustrator and the book being there, that is really important. And that’s our mission.

Kelsey: It is. Right down to the sentence: inspiring a passion for reading. And It’s incredible that, after 18 years, we’ve started a whole third generation of kids, pre-K–8, who have had IRW programs every year. That must be so special for you both to experience.

Alison: Totally. You see these kids twice a year, every year. It’s special.

Lisa: I’lI have kids say, “I remember you! You’re always here.”  And I’m like, “Yeah, I’m here twice a year!” But then, I’ll start counting. I’m like, wait, you were just in kindergarten? Now in fifth grade. We’ve seen these kids grow up.

Alison: I was just gonna say that eighth grade class! I’m crying now.

Lisa: They’re smart, lively, they’re entertaining. I can’t remember if it was that eighth grade class or another one, but at the start of the new semester I encountered this sweet girl while I was waiting in the library for workshops to begin. As she came in, she looked at me and said, “So nice to see you again!” Yes! “So nice to see you again,” I told her.

And I just thought, it’s always so nice to be back.

Kelsey: I love the approach you and Alison have in these visits and the focus on being present with kids. I always think of this moment from one of the first visits I ever went on, shortly after I came to work at IRW. It was Whiting Elementary School, and we visited the Pre-K/Kindergarten classroom, which I think was just four little girls. It was so small! I remember they had drawing paper out and they were on the floor with their teacher. Alison just got right down with them, and she was like, “Come on, Kelsey!”

So that day I learned—wear pants and some good sneakers! Be ready to get down to their level. And I recall her saying—Kindergarten is magical. And it was SO MAGICAL.

Recommended Reading & Listening

• Becoming Better Grownups: Rediscovering What Matters and Remembering How to Fly, by Brad Montague

• The Importance of Being Little: What Young Children Really Need From Grownups, by Erika Christakis

• “How to Become a Better Listener and Strengthen your Connection with your Kids w/ Lori Gottlieb,” Raising Good Humans Podcast, April 2023