School Visits & Workshops

School Visits and Workshops

In addition to his regular concert and conference programs, Barry is available to spend a day–or a week–at your school. He can meet with your students in assembly programs in the media center, gym or cafeteria — or meet with small groups and present a poetry writing workshop where elementary and middle school-aged children can write poems in a personalized setting. Barry’s “writer’s workshops” are very popular–students can “meet-the-author” and ask Barry questions about his work; his songs, poems, books and manuscripts-in-progress. Barry brings in not only his finished books, but also copies of his marked-up “rough drafts” for the students to see. Some books were revised twenty times before publication and comparisons of early drafts are made with the finished books as Barry discusses the process of rewriting and revising books and poems.

Polisar, the winner of the Parents’ Choice Award for his recordings, has written songs for Sesame Street and has performed at the Kennedy Center and Smithsonian Institution. He performs throughout the United States and instills in children the message that you can use the creative process to write about anything from your own experience.”
– The Houston Post, Houston, Texas

Advance Materials

Before Barry visits your school, we will send you copies of his books and recordings, so that every teacher in the school can have a set of Barry’s books in the classroom for the month before his visit. These books, along with a teacher’s guide of helpful suggestions on how to integrate his books with the school curriculum, can be used by the teachers to familiarize the students with Barry’s work and further enrich their experience.

Barry Louis Polsar is very good at what he does: firing up kids imaginations, letting them know it’s okay to write about everyday life and the stuff that exists only in their imaginations.”
– The Citizens Voice, Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania

If any teacher or student wishes to purchase a book or tape, Barry will autograph it on the day of his visit and your school will earn a percentage of all sales–or you can choose to pass the discount on to your students and teachers. All books will be sent to you as advance materials before Barry’s visit and are fully returnable after his author visit is complete. A typical school earns $300-$500 from book and tape sales.

If you would like to have Barry Louis Polisar visit your school, library or conference, Contact Barry and he will guide you through the entire process.

It’s obvious that Polisar has a good rapport with kids. In concert he is a lively performer and in the informal poetry and writing workshops he holds in school, he is relaxed and open.”
– The Houston Chronicle, Houston, Texas