Rosemere High School: First School Visit of the Year!

Let me start by saying: this is the worst photograph I have ever used to illustrate a blog entry! (It's just a copy of my notes!) But let me explain: I was so busy this morning working with Ms. Lawrence's Secondary IV English class at Rosemere High School THAT I FORGOT ALL ABOUT TAKING A PHOTO FOR YOU!

So there's lots to tell. I had met most of Ms. Lawrence's students three years ago when I did one of my more usual writing workshops. But this year, Ms. Lawrence made me an interesting offer: to come back and give the students an advanced workshop. And I can tell you that I had them work just as hard as I made my CEGEP students work for me when I was teaching at Marianopolis College!

I started with a mini (very mini) pep talk. Basically I reminded the students that writing is difficult and that it takes a lot a lot a lot of hard work! But that there's a great satisfaction in writing -- maybe because it takes so much work!

All the students in Ms. Lawrence's class have been working on short stories, which many of them are planning to submit to a writing contest. So I spent the rest of my visit doing my best to work one-on-one with every single student. (Confession: I ran out of time and missed one student, but after she had to leave for her next class, I managed to make some notes on her story too! Phew!)

Here are just a few of the interesting things that came up when I was responding to the students' writing.   

I had shared my opinion that ADVERBS MUST BE KILLED OFF! So while reading a student named Gabriella's story, I came across a line explaining that her character, Paloma (great name for a character!) was "mindlessly scrolling on her phone." I killed off the word mindlessly and then we discussed how the word scrolling is perfect in this sentence because it suggests mindlessness! Which let me share another pointer with the students: STRONG VERBS MUST LIVE ON!

Speaking of strong verbs, I liked how a student named Damon described his character "slamming the snooze button." Can't you just see that happening? 

And I need to tell you about a student named Juliette, who, in a separate exercise in which the students had their characters write them a letter, wrote: "I've come to learn that positivity has been my only personality trait for far too long and I want to change." I just love the honesty of that line. What a beautiful thing for your character to share with you, Juliette!

Thanks to all the students for working hard -- our time together felt like ten minutes, not nearly three hours! Thanks also to student teacher Miss Alyssa for being a big help and putting so many writing tips on the board. (That would have made a better photograph for today's blog entry, especially with a few students in the pic too.) And thanks to Ms. Lawrence -- I always love coming to work with your students who are so very lucky to have you! (Hey, so and very are also two word on my MURDER list, but I decided to give myself permission to use them here!)

Happy new school year to all of you! I feel so lucky that I was back in the classroom today! Keep writing, keep re-writing, and let me know when you win that writing contest!!