School Visits

Steve receives many invitations to visit elementary, middle, and senior high schools each year. To read what others have to say about Steven’s author visits, select any year in his Guestbook and scroll through the messages. As a classroom teacher in grades 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, & 8 over a fifteen year career, Steve is at ease with kids of all ages and quickly establishes a tremendous rapport with them. His school presentations focus on where ideas for writing come from and how those ideas translate into books. If you live outside the state of Illinois, please View a Letter explaining the costs and conditions associated with having Steve visit your school. After reading through the information in the letter, you are welcome to contact Steve with other pertinent questions. Persons living in Illinois should simply contact Steve via this website. It is strongly advised that you provide a home e-mail address to which this letter can be sent as many K-12 schools are blocking e-mail responses from Websites. If you do not receive the letter via e-mail within two weeks, contact Steve again and one will be sent via snail mail.

Steve’s Resource Center also offers a wonderful handout on "How to Host A Successful Author Visit!" It is recommended that this information be explored before inviting Steve or any other author to visit your school. Visit Steve’s Calendar to see if he is already scheduled to be in your state in a given month of the year.

Steve often provides teacher inservices, parent education seminars, and evening programs for reading councils or public libraries in conjunction with school visits. Connecting multiple groups can cut down on expenses incurred in bringing an author to your school.

A student writing workshop is also available for an extended time slot to students in grades 5-9. This workshop requires a two hours and thirty minute time block and classroom seating with tables and chairs. A maximum of forty kids in a workshop is the limit.