Category Archives: crowd control

This is related to discipline and handling students in large groups.

Help! What Do I Do with an Antsy Audience?

Kids get squirmy. Adults chat. What do you do when their behaviors distract during your presentation?

Head ‘Em Off at the Pass: Understand that squirms and chattiness usually happen when 1) some event in school has them buzzing, or 2) the audience isn’t engaged. Engagement is key. Plan for this in the body of your presentation. About every ten minutes, change direction or involve the audience in an activity, ask a question, invite a volunteer to help on stage, or reveal a cool prop. Also, when you begin, be sure you’ve established a “quiet” down sign. Either use the school’s system (for example, some have a pattern of claps) or one of your own. (I hold my arms at an angle, palms forward.) Then wait. Don’t begin until they’ve settled. Waiting is essential. If you talk over a half-settled audience, the volume will rise and you’ll have a very hard time getting them back.

The Looky-Loo Effect: Whatever you look at, the kids will look at. This is great when you want them to focus on a prop or an important slide in your presentation. It’s not so great when a kid barfs in the middle of your assembly. (It happened to me! And I hope it wasn’t a commentary on the content of my program . . .) If there’s a disturbance in the room that’s out of your control, know that if you focus on it, the kids will too, and it can be challenge to get their attention back. Take the small stuff in stride so that the focus stays on your program.

Silence is Golden: Are two faculty members chatting together? Walk closer to them as you continue your presentation. Make eye contact. If they continue to chat, you might cover the mike and quietly ask, “Did you have a question?”

Are We There Yet? Have you ever been in a presentation and groaned, “When is this ever going to end?” I have. Audiences want to know in advance what your presentation is going to address. And they want to know when it’s going to end. At the opening of my assemblies for kids, I quickly give them an outline of what they’re going to learn and tell them that we’ll be acting out a story at the end. This way, they know the whole presentation arc will be covered and that you’re not just going to ramble then end when the time runs out.

Do you have any “antsy audience” questions? Or do you have a technique that work well for you? Share!

Podcast: Evergreen School Visit Advice

4 Ways to Make Librarians Love Your School Visit: Advice from Toni Buzzeo

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Toni Buzzeo, award-winning author, librarian and educator, has been giving great advice to authors and illustrators even long before the publication of her book, Terrific Connections with Authors, Illustrators and Storytellers: Real Space and Virtual Links, co-authored with Jane Kurtz, in 1999. Read on to find out her expert suggestions for making terrific school visit connections with librarians.

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I come to the topic of school visits wearing two stylish, but completely different, hats. As a children’s author, I have visited hundreds of schools across this country and around the world. And as a school librarian, I played host at Longfellow Elementary School in Portland, Maine to at least two authors every year for eleven years. As a result, I’ve gained a deep understanding of what it takes, as an author, to wow a librarian host. And I’d like to share my ideas with you.

1. Be clear, be prompt, be honest, and be gracious in your communications. Every school visit begins with a conversation, either in person, by phone, or through e-mail or snail mail. Whether the librarian is the one to reach out to you, or you are the first to establish contact, the impression you make in your first and ongoing communications will set the tone of the visit. Be clear about your needs. Hedging in order to land a visit and then suffering under unsuitable arrangements or honoraria will not serve your interests well and may ultimately alienate your host. Always respond promptly and honestly about arrangements as you plan. And above all, be gracious even when you feel put off by something that is suggested. It well may be that what appears to be a verbal or written mis-step was unintended. Leave room to discover this and smooth the waters.

2. Know and understand developmental ages and stages. Librarians, and all educators in the schools you visit, will appreciate your thorough understanding of the variety of developmental ages and stages within the groups of students that you meet. While some hosts may ask you to address a combined group of kindergarteners and fourth graders, or eighth graders and seniors, this is the perfect time to be clear and gracious. Explain that each of your presentations is designed with specific developmental learning stages in mind, making it necessary to avoid the combination of such disparate grades. It is essential that you do create presentations that are suitable for each age/grade range in the school, changing not only your content but also your method of delivery to suit the developmental needs and understanding of each group.

3. Understand and design presentations to respond to local curriculum. Your first reaction to this advice may be, “But I’m not a teacher!” Actually, that isn’t true. When you are in a school, you are temporarily in the position of an educator. Because every school hour is precious in this age of standards-driven education, and because in all but five states (see map), those standards are national (entitled the Common Core State Standards), it is easier now, than ever before, to become comfortable with the standards that govern educational goals and incorporate them into your presentations. Start here and then solicit help from teachers you know to refine your presentations.

4. Learn and practice appropriate “behavior management” techniques. If you have taught school or led Scouts or other youth groups, you already have experience in guiding children or teens to appropriate behaviors. If not, however, learning intervention techniques will benefit you by making you comfortable in dealing with students and make you a valuable visitor, readily handling disruptive students and situations yourself and moving quickly back to your presentation. Seek out avenues for learning successful interventions such as observing veteran teachers and librarians, discussing options with educator friends, and reading articles online or in educational journals.

About Toni Buzzeo: Working both from her colonial farmhouse in Buxton, Maine and her sunny winter nest in Sarasota, Florida, New York Times bestselling children’s author Toni Buzzeo has published 19 picture books so far, including the 2013 Caldecott Honor winning One Cool Friend. She also wears the hat of a seasoned educator. A former college and high school English teacher, Toni then became a practicing Library Media Specialist and was named the 1999 Maine Library Media Specialist of the Year. In that hat, she writes many professional books and articles, Common Core curriculum based on children’s literature, as well as teaching and promotional guides for children’s books. Learn more at www.tonibuzzeo.com

How I Got Back Into the School Visit Game

9 Ways to Get Teachers to Love Your Author Visit

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What qualities do teachers look for in a visiting author? I decided to go to the source! I asked public school teacher and children’s author, Rebecca Langston-George, for advice. Rebecca is a past president of the Kern County Reading Association, host of the Young Authors’ Fair, which is, in my opinion, one of the best-run author fairs in the country. She has seen many authors and illustrators through the years and thus is in a perfect position to offer insights into what works and what doesn’t. Enjoy this guest post! — Alexis

For the past fourteen years I’ve been involved in Kern Reading Association, including the annual Young Authors’ Fair. YAF, as we call it, brings several children’s authors into local Kern County schools in California each year. I’ve met many fabulous children’s authors and have had the opportunity to view many school assemblies. Here are nine elements that I look for in an author presentation:

Enthusiasm: Wholehearted enthusiasm is important – and contagious; if the author is excited the audience will be excited. The author should be positive and show that he or she is happy to be there, and likes being around kids and teachers.

Relevant Presentation. Have your content tie into the writing curriculum. This helps justify to the principal the expense of bringing in an author and teaches kids writing is a process. It can be as simple as talking about your writing process. How do you go from an outline or some notes to a first draft? How do you get other writers to give you feedback? How do you edit based on that feedback? How does your final product differ from the early draft? Teachers like for students to see that it takes time, practice and revision to write.

Great Visuals: if you show up with a slide show featuring pictures of you 20 years ago and based on books that are now out of print, it looks like you couldn’t be bothered to update your presentation. If you do a PowerPoint or other media presentation, your visuals should be large enough to be clearly seen in the back of the room. I hate when an author shows something on screen that no one can read and then comments “I know this is kind of small, but let’s see if we can all sing along . . .” This shows that you know you have a problem with your presentation and you are too lazy to fix it. Imagine if teachers taught that way–showing math problems on the board that the kids couldn’t read. No teacher can get away with that. Why should an author think he or she can?

Controlled Q & A Segments: I’m okay with an author not having kids ask questions during an assembly, but doing a Q & A takes some skill. This is the segment where I often see the audience falter and the author looking frazzled. It’s often hard for the author to hear the kids’ questions, and their questions are often repetitive or off-track or comments more than questions. Veteran authors will often ask teachers to get questions ahead of time, and then the author chooses which to answer. I’ve also seen authors who have some common FAQ that they just answer themselves: “I’ll bet you’re wondering where I get my ideas. Raise your hand if you ever wondered where an author gets her ideas.” And then he or she answers.

Good Crowd Control: Being able to effectively and positively control an audience is big. I love to see authors who teach kids a signal or use positive reinforcement. Authors who make comments like, “teachers please control your students,” don’t get invitations to return. I’ve actually seen authors snap their fingers at teachers and point to children they want quieted. Not only is this very rude, but some children have issues that the author doesn’t know about.

Fairness. I want to see the author interact with the entire audience. I regularly see authors who favor only one side of the room or only the front of the room, directing eye contact there, picking students there and never interacting with the other part of the audience. That brings up a lot of “That’s not fair” responses from kids.

Audience Participation. Too many people rely on lecture alone and fail to make kids part of the activity. But the participation needs to be appropriate. Nothing will get you on the “never gets invited back” list quicker than whipping kids into a frenzy. I’ve seen authors encourage one half of the room to yell something and then challenge the other side to yell it louder until everyone is out of control. Then the author wonders why the teachers can’t control the audience when the author wants it quiet for his or her presentation.

Positive Off-Stage Presence. Have a great attitude even when you’re not on stage. Everyone appreciates an author who can put on a great presentation, but sometimes the author’s attitude off stage determines whether or not the author gets invited back. The author who gave the best presentation I’ve ever seen and sold the most books at my school ever and was beloved by all the students will never be asked to return. He was surly and rude to all the staff, even going as far as refusing to speak to the coordinator during his visit. He made unkind comments about the quality of the luncheon we arranged and acted annoyed when asked to sign his books.

Ability to Roll with the Unexpected. An author’s flexibility and graciousness are greatly appreciated. Teachers regularly have kids puke in class, have lockdowns, endure power outages, have technology issues, have surprise fire drills when someone pulls the handle for fun. Something unexpected may happen during your visit. It may be something your school host has no control over. If you can smile, be flexible and try to make the most of it you will be admired and respected.

Rebecca Langston-George is a middle school language arts teacher, SCBWI Central-Coastal California volunteer, and children’s writer. She has two non-fiction children’s books forthcoming with Capstone Press: Fabulous Flappers: Dolled Up Styles of the 1920’s and 30’s will be out in January 2014 and English Rules! The Savvy Girl’s Guide to Language, Writing and More is scheduled for publication in September 2014.

5 Things I’ve Learned About Doing School Visits: Kim Norman

Choosing Volunteers

So, you’re facing 250 kids in an assembly. You’ve asked a question. Or you’ve invited volunteers to join you on-stage. What’s the best way to choose respondents or participants?

Kids are all about fairness. They want you to be equitable in your choices. So I try to make sure that I choose kids from a variety of grade levels and classes.

Here’s how I do it.

LARGE GROUPS: When I’m warming kids up at the start. I say, “Raise your hand if you’re a kindergartener,” and they raise their hands. I go all the way up the grade levels, noting where each group is sitting. Later, when I call on volunteers, I do my best to choose kids from each grade level and a variety of classes within that level. I’ve found that one kid becomes the hero for that grade, making everyone feel as if they had participated themselves because they know the person who was chosen.

SMALL GROUPS: When I’m in a small group, I say, “I have only one rule. When I say , ‘Any questions?’ you can raise your hand. When I call on a kid, all the other hands must go down so that you can listen to the question and the answer. When I’m done answering, I’ll say, ‘Next Question?’ so you’ll know when to raise your hand again.” It’s important to choose kids from all sides of the room. Most speakers favor right or left, front or back, so be aware of where you tend to look to make your choices and be more equitable.

AUDITIONNING: For my book THE RECESS QUEEN, I “audition” kids for the main role. As I stand in front of the assembly of kids, I make a mean face, stamp my feet and say, “I need a girl who can do this.” Kids immediately mock my facial expressions, and I quickly choose the first girl who mirrors this energetically.

READERS’ THEATER: When my assembly focused on my book, LOUD EMILY, I had kids volunteer to do Readers’ Theater. This made teachers nervous because not all of the kids I chose were great readers. But this worked out fine because, as the narrator, I stood behind each actor when it was his or her turn to speak, and helped them with words they weren’t sure of. I can’t tell you how many times I chose kids with really limited language abilities (by accident!), but they really shone in front of the whole assembly. For my picture books, I prefer this to having teachers choosing the “best” readers. But, I do think that texts for middle grade or YA Readers’ Theater might benefit from readers with a good command of language.

Kids love to be on stage. They love to ask questions. And if they feel that you are being fair in the way that you choose volunteers, they’ll relax and enjoy the experience.

6 Mistakes Authors Make in Assemblies

Mistake #1. Opening weakly

Solution: Get attention! Invite the audience in immediately with a startling statement or image, a communal action (singing, chanting, clapping in rhythm) – anything that commands attention and shows the kids that the program is in your capable hands.

Mistake #2. Being unaware of audience reaction

Solution: Learn to “read” the room. Are kids getting restless? Beginning to chat? Turning away from your presentation? Time to switch up the content or pace and get them refocused.

Mistake #3. Speaking too softly, quickly or monotonously

Solution: Practice breathing, projecting, slowing the pace and speaking with lots of expression. Even if you think you have a voice like a foghorn, it will sound strained to those in the back of the multipurpose room. Be sure to use a microphone. And don’t talk to the screen or easel – face your audience.

Mistake #4. Using visuals or props that are hard to see

Solution: Aim for the kids in the back of the room. Make props oversize. Be sure everyone has a clear view of your props and the screen

Mistake #5: Going overtime

Solution: Appoint a timekeeper to give you warnings at 10 minutes, 5 minutes and the end. Keep your eye on the clock so that you can adjust your pacing.

Mistake #6. Failing to create an ending with impact or with a call to action

Solution: If you like to incorporate a Q & A into your assembly, don’t end with it – place it just before the ending. Wrap up by sending the group out with one last anecdote, a summary of the points you made in your presentation or an appeal for them to do something (Be sure to read! Write! Start a book club!)

Crowd Control: Special Issues

Let’s say you got the kids to settle down and your program started off with a bang. And then something happens.

A kid throws up.
A kid keeps talking with a classmate.
A kid shouts out.
Adults carry on conversations.

What do you do?

I’ll give you some tips — but first, here’s a Very Important Rule:

Never Ever Embarrass a Kid or Teacher

Presume innocence. Kids and adults usually don’t realize they’re doing something annoying. Or consider that the child might have special needs (autism, Tourettes, etc.).

So, here are some strategies that might help.

A kid throws up.: This happened to me once. But the teachers and custodian were on the problem so fast, the kid was off to the nurse’s office and the spot cleaned up with barely a stir. It’s okay to acknowledge the problem and call for assistance if no one sees it happening. However, if you dwell on it, so will the kids. Show sympathy and keep on going.

A kid keeps talking with a classmate. If a kid keep chatting with a neighbor, first I stand near them and catch their eye. If that doesn’t work and they talk through my “criss-cross applesauce – hands folded on your lap” directions, I cover the microphone, bend down toward the kids and ask quietly, “Is everything okay?” This usually gets them to focus. If it doesn’t, and the chatting persists, I may quietly ask one of them to sit by their teacher.

A kid shouts out. Before I ask a question to the larger group, I’ll say, “Raise your hand if you know the answer . . .” so they know what behavior I expect. When I’m calling on volunteers to come to the stage, I say, “I need volunteers – but I’m only going to call on kids who are polite. That means, you’re sitting down, your hand is raised and your face shows me that you really, really want to be called on without calling out my name or saying ‘Oooo! Oooo!’” Showing the behavior you expect from your audience can head problems off at the pass.

Adults carry on conversations. This is going to happen. Teachers are with kids all day. When they see other adults, it’s catch-up time! They’ll usually stop chatting when you begin your presentation, but if they don’t, move close to them, as you do with the kids, and catch their eye. If they persist, you can cover the microphone and ask in a very sincere voice, “Did you have a question you wanted to ask me?” This usually works.

Finally, here’s a note about room set-up and crowd control –

In elementary schools, kids are used to sitting on the floor of the multipurpose room. I have them sit with an aisle up the middle so I can get close to as many kids as possible quickly. In middle schools and high schools however, students generally sit in an auditorium with folding seats, and organizers place speakers at a podium on the stage, far away and above the audience. But if you can break that distance and present from the floor, closer to the kids, you’ll have a much better chance of creating a bond with the audience and keeping things moving along without disruption.

Crowd Control: Starting Your Program

There’s a buzz in the room. Kids are excited to see you – to see each other – to be out of the classroom for something special. The kindergarteners are twisting around to talk with each other – some are stretched out on the floor.

Your time is limited, the classes have come late and you have a lot to accomplish in your assembly or workshop. Is it really necessary to get them totally quiet and focused before you begin your program?

Yes. It’s really necessary.

Do not begin until the audience is quiet and focused — even if it takes you all day (and it won’t). Why? If you show kids at the start that you are in control, you’ll be able to rein them in more easily during your assembly if things get a little chatty. They’ll appreciate it (kids do love rules and order, believe it or not) – and the teachers will love you (they want to have fun in your assembly, too, and not be disciplinarians).

The worst thing you can do is attempt to talk over the chaos. No one will hear you. And once kids know that you don’t mean it when you call for quiet, they’ll continue to ignore your requests.

Here are some tips for getting – and maintaining – crowd control.

Greet the kids & teachers as they come into the room. I stand by the multipurpose room door, saying hello to kids as they walk by and shaking teachers’ hands. This is a subtle way of showing them that they are guests in “my” space and that I know that they exist. As classes are getting seated, I also circulate and ask the older kids, “What books are you reading now.” This extra eye contact forges a stronger bond with them before the program begins.

Have a “quiet down” signal. Most schools have a physical symbol that means “Quiet down right now.” Ask your host what it is and use it when you need to.

Don’t be afraid to wait. For particularly chatty groups, it may take a bit of time to have the quiet spread, but it will. Don’t give up too soon.

Say, “Criss-cross applesauce.” I do mostly elementary assemblies where kids are seated on the floor. During the interactive parts of my program, kids get excited and a bit wound-up. But to bring them back, I say, “Criss-cross applesauce” which gets them back to the “listening” position. If that alone doesn’t work, I’ll add, “Hands on laps,” and demonstrate it. And. Wait. Until. They’re. Ready. For. The. Next. Part. Of. The. Program.

A last resort. If you’ve tried everything and there are still too many distractions to begin, you can always say, “Teachers? Can you lend a hand?” and they’ll jump in.

Everyone in the school is excited to have you there. When they know that you’re “in charge,” they can relax and have a good time. They’ll know that, even if things get a bit wild, you can lead them back to civilization where great experiences await!

School Visit Experts

Creating Programs That Kids, Teachers & Librarians Love