I'm just home from an interesting day at Joliette High School, where I worked with Miss Castiglione's two grade seven classes. You have probably figured out that when a person uses the word "interesting," there must be a story behind it! And there is! The first class I worked with this morning had some students who were a little disinterested. When I suggested that one of them might be happier if he left the classroom, he decided to leave. (To be honest, I didn't really want him to go... I thought that my comment would get him to participate more fully... but oh well, life doesn't always go according to plan, does it?)
That's Miss C in the striped sweater in today's pic. The other teacher is Miss Beddia, who teaches Grades 10 and 11 English and WHO WAS MY STUDENT AT MARIANOPOLIS COLLEGE!! (She came to sit on for part of my afternoon session.)
The student in the pic was also in this morning's group -- and he was wonderful. His name is Mathieu, but he also responds to the name Mathew. Which led us to discuss the possibility of a character who has an English and French name, and whose hair is dyed half-blond! Good idea, don't you agree?
The afternoon group was A PIECE OF CAKE. Sorry, I know tht's a cliché, but hey I LOVE CAKE. The kids were super. We had a good laugh when I asked a guy what his name was and he took a minute to consider the answer. Alice, the student sitting in front of him, answered for him: "His name's Selvin," she told me. I noticed a student named Chad had stabbed his eraser with his pencil. That led another student, Sophia, to say, "Pencil, it's like, 'Die Eraser!'" I suggested to Sophia that that might make a great title for a poem.
There was even time for a short exercise with the second group. Arabell (great name for a character!!) wrote about her memory of losing a tooth in kindergarten breakfast club: "the teacher gave me a little red tooth-shaped box.... I ate pancakes." Nice details, Arabell! Roxan remembered the "dress up chest" in her kindergarten classroom. Don't you agree that the word "chest" there really takes us to the scene?
Many thanks to Miss Ruby for the invitation to return to Joliette High School and to Miss C for sharing your students with me today. Yes, there were some challenging moments, but all in all, I had a great day -- and wouldn't have it any other way!