“Hands-on activities are an excellent way for us to retain and practice SWIRL. I loved this workshop!” — Participant, 2025
“Activities that were relevant and I can implement immediately like ‘hot seat’.” — Participant, 2025
“You bring a welcoming attitude that allows others to be more willing to speak and share.” — Participant, 2025
“Amazing materials that I can use right away. Extremely engaging and fun to revisit and learn new strategies to teach all students.” — Participant, 2025
“I loved Along the Lines and Map It and can see many ways these apply to my grade level/content area.” — Participant, 2025
“Thank you for your closing snowball activity. I struggle to close lessons in an engaging way, and I felt like I listened and learned a lot from the circle at the end.” — Participant, 2025
“ALL praise! Susan’s SWIRL presentation was interactive and hands-on.” — Participant, 2025
“I really enjoyed this session! So many great activities and we were shown how to do each one.” — Participant, 2025
“Great! So nice to have such a versatile presenter with so much time in the classroom.” — Participant, 2025
“Incredible presenter! Wonderful to have so much personal attention! Using her amazing expertise, knowledge, and experience, Susan had an ability to pull the tone, voice, and dialogue out of the participants that was priceless.” — Omega Institute participant, 2025
“Excellent, singular focus on the craft of book writing for kids! It was inspiring to hear about Susan’s devotion to this craft and leave with concrete steps to move this forward as a part of my writing life.” — Omega Institute participant, 2025
“Susan is an oracle of knowledge about children’s books, publishing, and writing. She worked with every one of us to edit our manuscripts and move us forward.” — Omega Institute participant, 2025
“They had a blast! The kids were all so excited to tell me about their stories.” — Timothy Walker, American School in Tampico, 2024
“Our 2nd grade students LOVED their virtual visit from Susan! The teachers noted how engaged and interested the kids were for the visit, almost as if she was in the room with them! They learned a lot and had fun while doing.” — Lizzie Martino, Principal at Decatur Classical
“Her assembly was very engaging, students learned a lot and were involved throughout, and she used excellent engagement strategies to pull students who were starting to get off-task back on. I would say this was our best author assembly yet!” — Mr. Tornquist, Teacher
“It was amazing! Really loved how the meditation station makes the idea of mindfulness concrete for kids. With our site’s focus on kindness, I found the Share Your Love story, and the idea of sharing kindness with someone you don’t like, to be very powerful also.” — Ms. Sylvester Sandoval, Teacher
“I loved her management of our classes. Her kind nature, her knowledge and games that she played with the students. Best assembly we have had by an author!” — Mrs. Norenberg, Teacher
“In my opinion, she has been the best one for our older students. She used call backs, which no one ever does. The books were on their level and she talked about authors that I read in class, like Alan Gratz. My class said they liked this one the best so far, and they are a tough group to please.” — Mrs. Torres, Teacher
“Susan B Katz brought so much energy and fun to our school assembly! We loved the different costume changes, and the excitement that she brought! Everyone went away learning something new!” — Kate Kropf, PTO President
“Today’s event with Susan was amazing! She is such a great presenter, engaging, fun, and so experienced working with students. Here is an article that the school put together. The photos are priceless! Susan, thank you so much for your time, preparation and facilitating such a wonderful, flawless event! It has been a pleasure working with you.” — Josarie Molina, An Open Book Foundation
“Susan’s classroom presentation of Mama Earth was an absolute delight for my 1st graders. My students were thoroughly engaged as Susan, dressed as Mama Earth, encouraged active participation throughout the reading. Susan’s presentation aligned perfectly with our writing program as my young “authors” got to meet a real author, see and hear the author’s work, discuss the writing process, and learn first-hand what an author can accomplish. Well done!” — Andrea Roberts, 1st Grade Teacher
“Spectacular! A charming presenter. Extremely practical—well planned, filled with interesting anecdotes. I picked up useful and detailed tips. I’d sit through this again tomorrow just to pick up more!” — Denise Beckfield
“Susan’s presentation was outstanding! Across our building, our K-2 students are studying shapes and attributes, and her book tied in perfectly! Susan’s engaging presentation was a hit for students and teachers alike!” — Kelly, Principal, South School
“We were all delighted with Susan’s visit. The students were fully engaged in the presentation, including answering questions, volunteering to hold props, learning accompanying hand motions, and singing the lyrics to her book, MY MAMA EARTH. The students were very inspired to write their own stories. It was a wonderful presentation and we are so grateful that Susan took the time to encourage our young readers and writers.” — Ms. B, Central Elementary, Belmont, CA
