Ted Scheu

Ted Scheu makes writing fun! One moment he’s a gigglebone-tickling poet, sharing his ‘heartful’ verses aloud in a rollicking, interactive assembly. Next, he’s an inspiring, energetic teacher—of both kids and teachers—zooming around their classes, helping them to look carefully at their world and find their own writer’s voices, encouraging revision of their work, and demonstrating the power and fun of poems. 90% of his schools invite him back each year.

Ted’s goal is to connect with kids—to get them excited about writing, and, secondarily, to get their teachers excited about teaching writing (Ted has taught grades K to 5 in Vermont). We can provide many rave reviews from kids, teachers, and parents. Ted does single or multi-day residencies with 4-5 presentations per day with students in Kindergarten through Sixth grade. Before each program, Ted sends along complimentary books and a workshop ‘menu’ from which teachers choose—figurative language, revision, writing from the heart, rhyming, or customized workshops. Each child—even the most hesitant writer— succeeds in writing a poem draft in each class, and begins the revision process.

Ted’s poems appear in over two dozen anthologies and collections in the US and UK. His own collections include family poems, (“I Froze My Mother”), school poems, (“I Tickled My Teachers,”, “Now I Know My ZBCs,” “Someday I’ll Be a Teacher”), and sports poems (“I Threw My Brother Out.”) His ‘best of’ collection is called, “Getting the Best of Me.” Most recently, Ted’s poems have appeared in several delightful anthologies, including, “One Minute Till Bedtime” from Little Brown, and “The Poetry of US,” and “Nature Poetry,” both from National Geographic.

Recently, Ted has had great success with virtual workshops on platforms such as Zoom and Google Meet. Once he learns your goals and constraints, he will work closely with you to plan a super-fun virtual school program, where the kids write, giggle, and find their voices in their poems. Using a combination of customized pre-visit videos, grade appropriate real-time workshops, and a follow-up sharing visit, schools who need a virtual program get a complete package.

A few of Ted’s books