I read Kwame Alexander’s new book, Booked. When I told him via Facebook that I had a question about my reading and if I missed something and needed to read the book again, he replied, “Ha Ha!”
The class watched his poetry workshop from March 2015 on Meet the Author. I thought it was informative and entertaining. (Boring words! We broke out the dictionary and thesaurus.)
Compelling? Instructive? Revealing? (Yes, revealing. I learned about Kwame’s thoughts on writing poetry, his process for finding words to use in his writing, and his rubric for grading students on their “poetry’s behavior.”) The whole program was in spots/scenes from the studio, Kwame’s office (at home? Cool!), and the stage where the students read their poems.
Delightful? Gratifying? Welcoming? Amusing? (Yes, yes, yes, and yes.)
I am always ecstatic to share my video finds with my students. What a great way to Meet the Author! I’ll need to find more of this program. For this, I searched You Tube for “Kwame Alexander” videos. I found this program on the Fairfax Network/Fairfax County Public Schools channel, dated July 2, 2015.
Reading Teacher Writes 
April 12, 2016 at 9:11 PM
Loved your account of your poetry learning with students, and virtually with Kwame Alexander. Exciting! Thanks for sharing a video resource, too. I checked out the first couple minutes and will soon revisit to watch the whole thing!