Monday, 23 November 2009

Free Author Visit to Wetherby High School

This was a very enjoyable visit. I worked with mainly year 8s. There were more boys and they were remarkably engaged. And they say boys are not interested in reading… Still, I do have to confess that rumour had it that the alternative was their usual French lesson. How ironic! I used to be a language teacher. And today I had the proofs of a French resource I’ve written. If only they knew!
Nevertheless, the students- the majority boys –listened well and responded well to my questions. Many admitted to liking fantasy and science fiction. Only a few girls liked science fiction. Could The Prophecy change that? Who knows?
It was good that they understood, much of what was going on in the snippets of The Prophecy that I read out. Am I allowed to say I wrote it right?
They listened well and asked some very shrewd questions. Extremely pleasing for their age again – especially from the boys. I told them quite a lot about my editing processes, and they seemed to understand quite easily.
I also met a teacher and a Y13 student very committed to writing. It is good to meet people like that.
I arrived at about break-time. I realise the staff room is something I miss from my days as a secondary school teacher. There is a certain camaraderie not found in Higher Education. A large chocolate cake dominated. Someone had reached their thirtieth birthday at the weekend. At the university, you are lucky if somebody comes out of their box -aka office- at the same time as you let alone meets your for a coffee or lunch. But I guess we also have compensations. Like the fact that I’m working from home for the rest of the day.

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