Lots of Learning Going on at Christmas Park School

Today's blog entry comes to you from Christmas Park Elementary School in Beaconsfield. Grade Five teacher Mrs. Barbara (that's her standing two over from me in today's pic) invited me to Christmas Park to do writing workshops with her students. I worked with two classes -- and they had very different "personalities."

The first class was super lively. They had so many questions I had to ask them to hold off for a bit so I could get through my writing tips! Aleisia, who is sitting at the front of the pic, wearing a pink hat (Happy Birthday, Aleisia, had I known sooner I'd have sung Happy Birthday to you in Dutch) told me: "You got me interested in pursuing writing every day." I must say I was wow-ed by Aleisia's use of the word pursuing. We discussed how police officers pursue a felon, and I like the idea of running after writing! Writing every day (or even writing regularly) requires energy -- a little like chasing down a felon!!

When I explained that even after so many years of writing I still need to keep REwriting, I asked the students why they think that is -- and David came up with a beautiful answer. He said, "Because you're still learning." THAT COULD NOT BE MORE TRUE, David! And isn't it cool that adults can keep learning too?

Darion made a comment I found brilliant. He said, "A lot of things you say make me think about perseverance." Well, Darion, I never thought about that before, but I think it's true -- and I like it.

And during the writing exercise, Samantha (I vote for her for future prime minister) produced the following definition of a man who worked at the daycare she attended: "He had a square face. He looked tired and bored." I love those sentences because they are direct and simple, and a square face is interesting, and because Samantha, you've made me get a picture in my mind of the man you are describing. That is good writing!

Mrs. Barbara's second class was much quieter, and several of the students said they weren't interested in becoming writers. (Hopefully I convinced them that writing is a skill worth cultivating!) But these students really shone during the writing exercise -- when I asked them to write about the hardest thing they'd ever been through and how they managed to get through the experience. These students showed me they have a lot of courage. And as I told them, writing -- especially about difficult subjects -- takes COURAGE. For that matter, living takes courage too!

Some high moments from my work with the second group: Beatrix said rewrites are important because "You don't have all the punctuation correct and not everything is perfect yet!" How lovely! Perfection is a lofty goal -- I don't think I'll ever get there with my writing, but I think that's also why I'm so hooked on writing... because I want to keep improving! Tianna told us she is "super curious," which I explained is a vital skill for an author. And at the end of class, Lukas made me laugh when he waved his paper with notes and his writing work in the air and asked me, "What do I do with it?" MY ANSWER: KEEP IT FOREVER! REMEMBER ALL THE STUFF I TAUGHT YOU ABOUT WRITING AND WORK ON YOUR STORIES!

Oh... before I forget... another funny thing. Mrs. Barbara told me that at recess, she asked two students from the first group what they thought of me and my presentation. Their answers: INSPIRING and DIFFERENT. I'll take that!!

Special thanks to Mrs. Barbara for the invite to Christmas Park; thanks also to librarian Ms. Meehan for being such a keen librarian -- we had met before and I was happy to see her again! (I had met Mrs. Barbara before too!) Thanks especially to the kids -- for sharing your stories, and for being such lovely, kind and smart young people.