A Free SEL Author Visit That Brings
Radical Ray into Your Classroom.
A 45-minute visit that gives children something they will carry long after the school day ends.
Some things take most adults decades to learn. One of them is this: the beliefs we carry shape everything, from the thoughts we have, to the feelings we feel, to the choices we make, to the outcomes we keep getting. Children aged 7 to 13 are completely capable of understanding this. And once they do, something shifts.
Bobbi Chegwyn grew up in Australia, ended up in the United States, and spent time driving a school bus full of children just like yours. What she noticed on those rides stayed with her: children carrying weight they didn't have words for, and feelings showing up as behaviour long before anyone thought to ask what was underneath.
The Radical Ray school visit is built around one idea, simple enough for a seven-year-old and substantial enough for a thirteen-year-old: that every belief we carry creates a thought, every thought fuels a feeling, every feeling drives an action, and every action produces an outcome. If a child doesn't like the outcome they keep getting, they can go back and look at the belief that started it all.
In 45 minutes, your students will hear that idea introduced in plain language, watch it come to life through Ray's story from The Too Much Moment, and experience it interactively as a class, following a real belief through every step of the cycle together. No one is put on the spot. No one has to share anything they don't want to share. The room just gets to think together.
Every child leaves with one thing: the ability to notice a belief they might be carrying and ask themselves whether it is actually true. That one question, asked early enough, changes a great deal.
What Happens in the Room
Practical Things Worth Knowing
The visit is currently offered free of charge to schools as Bobbi builds her school visit program. There is nothing to prepare and nothing to organise in advance beyond a time and a room. Bobbi handles everything else.
For schools in Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana, visits are available in person. For schools further afield, the session translates well to Zoom and has been designed to hold a room whether Bobbi is physically in it or not. Alternatively, she has so far visited over 30 of the fifty United States and may well want to visit yours!
The visit can be tailored for a single classroom or scaled for a year group, and it connects directly to the social emotional learning frameworks already in use across US elementary schools, including the CASEL competencies of self-awareness and responsible decision-making. Your school counselor will recognise the framework immediately.
If this is your first time hearing about Radical Ray, the visit is designed to introduce Ray to children who have never met him, and to leave them wanting to know what happens next.
What Educators Are Saying
From a Licensed Professional Counselor
As a therapist, we are always looking for resources to help teach clients and create ways for clients to learn and grow. This book is an excellent resource for assisting professionals. It's wonderfully written and the talking points are amazing. Highly recommend not only for professionals, but also parents seeking opportunities to explore kindness and healthy coping.
Melissa Kappes M.A., M.Ed., LPCC-S Co-owner, The Counseling Professionals 30 years experience in counseling and child development
From an Ohio Educator
It is an easy read and can help many students through a difficult time of loss. Even if the loss isn't a parent, it could show how he went through the stages of grief without ever losing who his mother was. This could relate to a friend, other family members, a pet, etc. Many schools have programs that deal with loss and many discussions about how to work through grief, this book could be used for those discussions.
Intervention Specialist, Ohio