You can schedule Dr. Ravay Snow for a visit
to your school! Here is the information you need, plus teacher testimonials,
photos, and an op-ed article!
About
Dr. Ravay Snow:
Ravay is a former reading and writing teacher,
as well as a professional artist and technical writer. She earned her
Ph.D. in Education from the University of Colorado and is a recognized
expert on standards-based education and assessment. She has worked as
a policy analyst at the Education Commission of the States, as well as
an educational researcher at McREL and the University of Colorado before
deciding to return to her first love, well-written, beautifully-illustrated
childen's books.
In addition to Hildegarde and
the Great Green Shirt Factory, Ravay has illustrated several
other books. She is currently hard at work on two sequels to Hildegarde,
the illustrations for her next picture book, One Perfect Ear
of Corn, due out in 2008, a young adult novel, a collection
of short stories, and illustrating an ongoing children's e-zine at www.worldheritagepointer.com.
More information about the author is available by clicking here.
Dr. Ravay's school visits are characterized
by the use of art and writing process techniques customized for grade-alike
activities. She also works collaboratively with teachers to make sure
that the excitement generated by her visit is directed seamlessly into
the teachers' own curriculum, so that real learning gains in reading and
writing are leveraged!
Click here
to read teacher and student testimonials about the joy and effectiveness
of Dr. Ravay's school visits!
About Dr. Ravay's first children's
book:
Dr.
Ravay is the author and illustrator of the picture book Hildegarde
and the Great Green Shirt Factory. Hildegarde
spins the tale of a sheep who's more than just one of the flock. She's
creative. And unique. And her boss, mean Mr. Arno, just doesn't understand
her ideas.
Hildegarde and the Great Green
Shirt Factory has won a lot of recognition and national
awards. These include:
Winner, Benjamin Franklin Award for Best First Children's
Book (Bill Fisher Award)
Winner, Writer's Notes Award, Best Children's Book
Winner, Best Children's Book, Colorado Independent
Publishers' Association
Dr. Ravay is prepared for whole-school activities and has done a number
of whole school assemblies, sharing slides and anecdotes from her sketchbooks
and art portfolios. However, it is optimal to schedule her for individual
classes of up to 30 students. This way, there's more one-on-one interaction
with the students, and the special learning activities for each group
have more impact! Ravay has worked with ages from preK through adult around
this book, although the presentation, of course, varies with the audience.
She has also done a number of community back-to-school nights with parents!
A typical 45-minute class format for students entails the following:
A dynamic reading of the book, in costume as Hildegarde.
(You can click here to see photos of Ravay
as Hildegarde.) Depending on the age range (and ability to sit still)
of the students, this may take from 10-20 minutes of time.
A question and answer session about writing and illustrating,
individuality, and creativity. Teachers often ask Dr.
Ravay to address particular things, like how long writing a story takes
and the role of editing. Ravay brings her art portfolio and samples
of writing for this section of the program, which may take from 10 minutes
up to the remainder of the class period.
Standards-based, fun activities that integrate art and
creative writing for your students. These activities integrate
art and writing and inspire your students to work on their own writing
skills! Specific topics are customized for different classes, based
on input from local teachers. Some examples include: having students
design their own unique T-shirts or other hands-on activities (good
for younger students), developing a common story outline as a class
while discussing the elements of successful story, working on descriptive
language (e.g., onomotapoeia, simile, action words) with a specific
mini-lesson, after which students create their own short stories (excellent
for grades 2-4) and "extreme writing makeovers." (best for
students grades 4 and up who have had instruction working in groups
and on the writing process).
The day of the school visit, two books published by Snowbound Press are
available for students and parents to purchase:
Beasts in the Closet--written
and illustrated by Jeff Snow, Ravay's little brother, who is now a famous
DreamWorks artist!
Click here
to download a .pdf file about Ravay Snow's classroom visits!
Click here
to download the flyer's flipside, with book reviews and testimonials from
reviewers, teachers and parents!
Dr. Ravay's time is billed at $500 for two
class sessions, with additional class sessions billed at $125/class. A
full day of 6 or more classes is billed at $1,000/day. It is suggested
that schools outside the Denver area schedule a full day of class sessions
or workshops, since travel and overnight lodging are not included in these
rates. Please call for specifics.
Join the thousands of happy students and teachers who have already participated
in this "ewe-nique" combination of creativity, fun, and learning!
Contact us via email (info@snowboundpress.com)
or phone ((303) 347-2869 or (303) 434-4960) for more details!
Click here
to download and read Dr. Ravay's article on the disconnect between
teachers and educational policymakers. Find out why she prefers writing
and illustrating children's picture books to working with governors and
legislatures! Send the article to your teacher friends! This article, written by Ravay Snow and published in May, 2004,
is provided courtesy of The Colorado Communicator, edited by
Dr. Yvonne Siu-Runyan and published by the Colorado Council of the International
Reading Association.
About
Dr. Ravay Snow: