TMC6 Keynote Speaker: Eric Walters

TMC6 has officially kicked off with keynote speaker, Eric Walters!  

During his time on the road between events, Eric made use of time in his car by calling the many smart people he knows who are passionate about writing, education, and literacy and brought them together at the Canadian Reading Summit.

Bringing together people from different areas relevant to reading Canadian completed the picture and resulted in I Read Canadian Day.

This day recognizes that Canada "is a powerfully diverse country" and asks people to read a book of their choice on February 19th 2020 at schools, libraries, and daycares across Canada.  Find out more at I Read Canadian Day.

The Eric Walters Summer Lending Program started with a Tweet, followed by an article.  Schools quickly got on board while Eric signed posters and bookmarks and sent them to participants.  Over 165 schools were involved.  The results of this program are examined in the research paper, The Eric Walters School Library Summer Reading Challenge: Findings from the Research by Anita Brooks Kirkland and Carol Koechlin. 

Eric spoke about his beginnings writing as a teacher for his class, approximately 114 books ago, as well as his newest book, Fourth Dimension.  The book features his grade 5 teacher, Christena Gay, who told him he could be a writer when he grew up and demonstrates the profound impact teachers have on their students.

Learn more at Eric's website