Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Skype visits






Spring is usually my busy time for school visits (by usually I mean when I am on the east coast and not juggling a new baby), this year I had to make some changes. Lately I've been loving doing skype school visits. You can visit schools all over the place (next month I'm skyping with a school in Alaska!) without having to get on a plane, which is a lot more convenient now that I'm a mother. I plan to resume regular visits soon, but in the mean time its been a great solution. Kids get excited about the new technology (a couple of times its started some interesting discussions about time zones) and I get to talk with kids about books from home. The other day I got an awesome package of thank you notes from a skype visit in Masbeth, New York:






(Sorry about the hard questions Lindsey)

Sometimes there are technical issues, Skype can freeze or pixelate if you have a bad connection. I'm hoping the technology evolves soon. I've heard googlechat is pretty good quality, though I don't know how it would look when blown up by a projector. If anyone has had some experience with it or any other video chat I'd love to know what you think!

3 comments:

Grace Lin said...

aww! Lindsey also said you were pretty! I agree!

Libby Koponen said...

Me too....this also makes me remember the hilarious (and great) review of ABIGAIL SPELLS--the one by the father quoting his three daughters.

One said,
"Everyone in the book has good fashion."

She then went on talk about how the author, Anna Alter, was wearing a kerchief
(though they didn't know what to call it) like Abigail's....

I think it's cool that your young readers respond so strongly not just to your books but to your LOOK.

And you are pretty and you do have good fashion!

Libby

Anna Alter said...

Ha ha, thanks guys.