Do prepare the kids in advance.
Activating student interest helps build enthusiasm for the poetry lesson. Share my poems and student poems with the announcements, read my books in class, has students respond to the poems with pictures, essays or their own poetry. I cannot emphasize this enough - preparation is key to success.

Do ask kids to prepare questions in advance.
Not that we have to stick to these questions, but if the students take time to jot some questions down on index cards it will help us avoid wasting precious time talking about what kind of car I drive.

Don't limit presentations (including writing workshops) to just the gifted kids.
Please. Poetry is an intramural event, all ages, all abilities. I'd rather give problem students a chance to participate rather than meet them after the show after they've been told to sit in the office. Poetry is often a bridge to troubled kids.

Do plan the day with a maximum of four presentations.
And send us the schedule well in advance so we can review it together. Assemblies should be no less than 45 minutes and no more than an hour and a half. Writing workshops may vary, we can discuss your needs. I'm open to discussing any ideas you think might work, but I have some definite thoughts on what I know does NOT work.

Don't let the kids beg for autographs on little paper scraps.
This is a terrible waste of time. I'd much rather shake hands with kids and look them in the eye. If you want, we can duplicate a bookmark with my signature for kids or I can sign one greeting for each teacher or some other alternative. Of course, I'm happy to sign books, but if we have a whole lot of them, either give me the names in advance or be sure to block out enough time during the day.

Do get all the teachers involved.
I am coming to help your teachers meet their classroom goals, not to add to their burdens. It is important that the teachers attend the assembly with their students, particularly the language arts teachers. I've been at schools where the only teachers I met were the gym and music teachers since my assembly was at "special" time. That's crazy and a big waste of your budget. Teachers will be able to build on the learning, but only if they are part of the experience. Grading papers in assemblies, conferencing or cruising the internet during writing workshops (would I make this up?) is poor modeling at its worst.

Don't ask me to video tape any presentation.
There are a variety of reasons, including copyright issues, that this is not permitted. I'm happy to pose for pictures (as long as I don't have to look at them) and adore mingling with students.

Do plan some break times in between presentations.
Particularly if I am changing locations and have to set up sound equipment.

Do ask a student or someone to meet me at the door.
School secretaries are some of the busiest people on earth, especially before school. If you are going to be tied up on bus duty or some other task, please arrange for a student greeter to escort me to the presentation space. And please, save me parking place if I'm driving. I'll never forget the time I asked one school administrator where I should park and she answered, "good luck."

Don't overload the writing/performance workshops with too many kids.
This pretty much guarantees that no one will get anything from the workshop. I've had schools try to put as many as 200 kids into a writing workshop and (trust me) it just doesn't work. Assemblies are another matter, I handle large groups well. But the key to making this work is (again) preparing the kids in advance.

Do communicate with my agent,
Kelly Weist. She'll be asking you for contact phone numbers if the school phones are shut down (as they usually are before school hours when I am traveling to the school). She'll be your contact for book sales, scheduling, travel arrangements and purchase order type details. You can reach her at kelly@saraholbrook.com or (540) 338-5992