This Afternoon at Beaconsfield High

I'm just back at my desk after today's visit to Beaconsfield High School, where I worked with Miss Cochrane's Grades Seven and Nine classes. I've visited BHS before, and I've come to have a lot of admiration for Miss Cochrane, who really gives her all to her students.

This morning, another local YA writer, my friend Lori Weber. worked with some of the same students. So, in a way, I had an extra challenge: keeping the students interested in the second half of their day (just when they were getting sluggish and when they had already met a writer. I mean, how many writers can people handle in a day?!).

I'll be frank here: A few of the students exhibited body language that was less than ideal -- using each other as human pillows and nudging their neighbours. I have to admit I found that a little frustrating. But the atmosphere changed dramatically when we started discussing my book The Middle of Everywhere. Many of the students had read the book and had really good questions about it. One wanted to know if I'd ever seen a polar bear (no!), and someone else wanted to know if the part about a guy's getting his finger chopped off was true (also no). Another student seemed to know more than I do about polar bears. He said their fur is transparent and the skin underneath the fur gives them their whitish-yellow colour. Very cool. (Too bad I didn't meet this young polar bear expert while I was working on the book.)

Anyway, I must say that the students' questions showed how smart they are, and how carefully they read -- and especially that they think about things. And in my own way, of course, I'm glad my book got them thinking. I should also say there were several young people whose body language was "right on" -- I felt as if I could see their brains working... thinking about how stories work and considering where to go and whom to talk to in order to find exciting, inspiring and perhaps even funny stories. (By the way, the student in today's pic is NOT SLEEPING -- she was doing a writing exercise that involved closing her eyes in order to access an old memory!)

So special thanks go out today to the students at BHS who listened attentively, who asked good questions, who think about things -- and to Miss Cochrane for being so wise and kind.