My sister-in-law is a teacher. Correction. My sister-in-law
is a GREAT teacher. She has been an instructor at a school in Atlanta for the
past several years and during that time has done the standard stuff – reading,
writing, math, science and so on.
But this year she gets to do something totally different.
She is teaching 6th graders how to write for the entire year.
Focused on just one topic for the entire school year, each and every day.
God, I wish I was back in 6th grade again.
She was kind enough to ask if I’d be interested in speaking
to her class about my own process of writing – the mechanics, the mental
preparation, how to spin a tale and make it work.
I was honored and delighted. I prepared by reviewing some of
the most current YA fiction out there. I spoke with my son who is also a 6th
grader to get some context. I made lists in anticipation of their questions.
When the day arrived, I was 100% ready for the interrogation.
Or so I thought.
We started the Skype session and I was informed that my head
was being projected upon a giant wall-to-wall “smartboard” and the kids thought
that was “high-larious” so I made the most of it by instructing them to ignore
the bald man behind the curtain.
I think maybe 3 or 4 of the students got it.
Two charming students acted as moderators for the entire
experience. After the first question, I knew I was in for a severe grilling.
I guess I expected the typical “how often do you write?” and
“who are your favorite authors?” and queries like that.
Right out of the gate they hit me with the following;
“When constructing your narrative arcs, how do you make sure
that character, setting, voice and tone support the overall plot structure of
your stories?”
Oh. Crap.
These were some of the most intelligent, polite and mature
kids I’ve ever spoken with. Now I’m not a complete stranger to the experience
of working with kids. I was a Cub Scout leader for 5 years and participated in
a number of similar activities. But this was a whole different ball of wax.
We ended up discussing the finer points of revising and
editing. Questions about limited 3rd person POV vs. the more
intimate aspects of 1st person. They asked about brainstorming
techniques and mind mapping. When I told them I used EverNote to capture my
thoughts throughout the day, they all laughed and told me that they also used
EverNote to do their assignments and get homework from a centrally located
digital distribution hub set up in the labyrinth of the school’s network!
Oh, yeah. They each have a school-issued iPad for doing
homework.
We had a blast and I really enjoyed the time.
When it was finished and I said my good-byes, perhaps 10
minutes passed before I got the pleasant chime indicating that I had new email.
It was from my sister-in-law. She was very pleased with the outcome and decided
to share with me some of her student’s observations and reflections about the
experience.
I opened the file and started to read their comments.
I can only hope that one day I end up working for one of
them in a professional business environment. The feedback was precise, concise
and right on target. I printed out their notes and will get them framed
shortly.
Whenever I hit the wall all I will need to do is take a look
at some of those nuggets, written by 6th graders, to remind myself
gently of why we all write.
“Writing is fun for Mr. Bauer because he loves to tell
stories.”
