Okay, so we aren’t really climbing Mount Everest — I was just trying to come up with a catchy title for today’s blog entry. Photographer Monique Dykstra (that's her in today's pic, getting ready to photograph the class) and I are at Everest Elementary School in Quebec City, working with Shelley Longney’s Grades 5 & 6 students. They are certainly a bright and lively group, with lots to say and lots of fun ideas. We had several votes until the students agreed on a topic for their chapter in this year’s edition of Quebec Roots: The Place Where I Live. Now you must be eager to know what topic won the vote, right?
I’m trying to build suspense….
Okay, here goes!!
Once every six school days, all the students at Everest walk around the baseball field across the street from the school. The administration keeps count of the number of kilometers covered — and the goal is for the school to “reach” the pinnacle of Mount Everest (or at least the first base camp). It’s a way to encourage fitness and friendships. And that’s what the students want to write about, and this project is all about giving students a voice so they can express their thoughts and feelings about what community means to them.
I took some notes during Monique D’s photo workshop this morning. (I’m always learning new things when I hang out with photographers.) She told the students that curves (for instance a curving road) can contribute to a nice composition in a photo, and that cloudy days are usually better for taking photos than sunny days (too much glare).
Earlier this morning, I talked a little about how I get ideas for my books. I was telling the students here that a couple of years ago, I got a book idea from a class I was working with on that year’s Quebec Roots project. (The kids at that school were famous for misbehaving on a Montreal bus called the 121 Express… and I ended up writing a book called 121 Express). A student here named Jimmy called out, “For real?” I thought that was great… because it’s a big question… all of us who make things (that means writers and photographers and cooks and gardeners)… are inspired by reality, but then we use our imaginations. And who knows where our imaginations will take us?
Right now, I’m looking out the window of Miss Longney’s class — I can see the baseball field… and I’m imagining what it would look like with all the Everest students out on their walk. If they succeed with their chapter (and I’m sure they will), they’ll take us readers out on a walk around the world, too!!
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