Teaching a love of reading and writing
A few things from my lovely day spent in Red Hook at their 10th annual author and illustrator tea:
1. Being a teacher is hard work! Keeping the students interested and engrossed, teaching them the material all while watching out for kids struggling or being distracted? I only had to do it for two 45 minute periods and still…. whew! I can’t say it enough, teachers are amazing.
2. I got lucky and spoke with two groups of fifth graders and the kids were just super smart and funny and engaged, and asked me a ton of awesome questions about writing and getting inspired and reading.
3. I was told to come prepared with an idea for a short writing assignment, so I led it off with this amazing quote from Andrew Solomon:
“The worst mistake anyone can make is to perceive anyone else as lesser. The deeper you look into other souls—and writing is primarily an exercise in doing just that—the clearer people’s inherent dignity becomes.â€
Which was just perfect.
Thanks, Red Hook students for making my day so great.