Alexis O'Neill will spend a full day at your school, combining dynamic large group assemblies with eyeball-to-eyeball small group follow-up sessions, motivating students to read and express themselves through stories.

ASSEMBLIES & CLASSROOM VISITS: In lively, highly interactive assemblies, Alexis uses music, costumes, props, images and kinesthetic experiences to engage students in "performing" stories.  She shares strategies for finding ideas and shows the importance of playing with words, making messy first drafts and reading each draft aloud. With older students, she also demonstrates how professionals work in the "real" world of writing and how it parallels with their school assignments. 

Following her assemblies, Alexis visits intermediate classrooms (Grades 3–6) for eyeball-to-eyeball Question & Answer sessions with students. These sessions amplify the instructional benefit of her author visit to your school.  She shares behind-the-scenes information on how books are published and shows how she handles the writing process — from group critiques to revisions to publication. 

WRITING WORKSHOPS:  Alexis, a former elementary school teacher and museum educator, also offers dynamic workshops for young writers:

"GETTING UNSTUCK — WRITING WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE TO START"
Engaging students in creating a book "signature," Alexis leads them through an idea-generating exercise to show students how to come up with ideas for writing when they are stuck.  Through activities with photographs and works of art, students then demonstrate their observational and writing skills, generating new ideas for storytelling in fiction and nonfiction. 

"SEE YOUR NAME IN PRINT." 
Focusing on "audience" as the ultimate goal, students apply a real-world writing model to their research and writing.  Using students' works-in-progress, Alexis demonstrates how a professional writing group operates.  She shows students how to prepare manuscripts for submission to contests, magazines, and other periodicals that encourage student authors and illustrators. Handouts include a sample list of markets.

You are welcome to contact Alexis directly. (E-mail is preferred.)
Alexis@alexisoneill.com www.alexisoneill.com

Author's Home: Simi Valley, California
Suggested Audience: K–6
Maximum number of programs per day: 2–3 large assemblies and 3–4 classroom visits

Honorarium:
Local: $975 per day plus mileage.
Non-Local/ California: $1200 per day plus expenses.
Out-of-State: $1500 per day plus expenses.
Discounts for consecutive day bookings with neighboring schools
Honorarium is set by the author and is subject to change.

 

ISBN	Title	Level	Retail Price
0-439-20637-5	The Recess Queen	Gr.K - 3	$16.99
0-545-01023-8	The Worst Best Friend	PreK - 3	$16.99