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Author-teacher visits Trinity Oaks Elementary

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: May 13, 2009

TRINITY - As a guest speaker intent on encouraging young children to write, Michael Sampson has strong credentials. He's an associate professor of childhood education at the University of South Florida - St. Petersburg. He's taught grade school. He's a seasoned public speaker. He's a best-selling author with everything from college textbooks to more than 30 children's books to his credit.

And he was once a kid himself.

Sampson drew from all of those aspects of himself when he visited Trinity Oaks Elementary School recently to pass along his passion for the written word with first-, second- and third-graders. For someone who teaches teachers, whose books are in school libraries across the country, and has won national awards for children's literature, he could be content that he has done his part to promote literacy. But the personal appearances have a special satisfaction for him.

"It's nice to see an actual author come and share his craft with them," said media specialist Tracey Pinto.

The students had been reading Sampson's books ahead of his appearance, Pinto said, which made it more fun for them as he talked about some of his more well-known titles, including "Kitty Cat Kitty Cat, Are You Waking Up?" "I Pledge Allegiance" and "Chicka Chicka 1, 2, 3."

"If you have any contact with kids, you know 'Chicka,'" Pinto said with a smile.

"I do probably 60 of these a year," Sampson said. "Usually once a week somewhere, and I do them all around the country. The main reason I do this is I want to encourage them to write."

Writing children's books presents simultaneous challenges, he explained before his first presentation of the day. You have to be clever with words, rhyming and repeating, telling a story and presenting a moral. If you do it right, education takes place on more than one level, with the content of the story making a point while the cleverness of the language seeps in to help build an appreciation for words.

Sampson's presentation takes a similar approach. As he reads through "Chicka Chicka 1,2,3" he uses voices to emphasize the characters and to enhance a lesson about self-worth while also touching on the mathematical concept of place value. While telling the story, Sampson stopped to point out to the kids some of the literary devices he uses.

"If you want to write a book for a little brother or sister who's 3 or 4, if you repeat things it makes it easier for them to read it because they can remember it in their head," he said.

Perhaps the story that resonates most with the students comes from Sampson's own life, when he tells them how he earned his first paycheck as a writer when he was just about their age.

When he was 8, he saw an ad in Boys Life magazine that said they would pay for any joke they published. Sampson told the children how he struggled to come up with a joke, and when he thought he had a good one, his best friend laughed at him instead of the joke. But he kept trying, and he finally sent in a joke. A few weeks later, a check came in the mail for $25.

"I think it was a crystallizing moment for me," Sampson said before the presentation. And from the spontaneous "Wow" that inevitably spouts up from the roomful of children when they hear that part, the idea that they really could do it themselves, maybe even at their age, resonates in them, as well.

After the first presentation of the day, Sampson explained all he hopes to do is plant the seed of possibility. There's no telling where it will grow or in what direction. The key is to get them started and to realize their lives can go where their imaginations take them.

Klint Lowry can be reached at 727-815-1067 or klowry@suncoastnews.com.

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