Right, I prepared for this over a period of days. I have six exercises to take with me. Three poetry, two prose based, one script/drama based. That should see me through any boredom, repetition, lack of understanding, inability etc etc....or at least I hope it does.
I set off later than I'd have liked but still arrive 45 minutes early as the traffic on the A580 is almost non existent. The High School I'm attending is actually a sports college according to the sign over the main door. Inside it reminds me of schools from a bygone age. Dark wood and red carpet. There are school photos all over and all the staff have their pictures in reception. It's a proper 'establishment'. When I say school photos, I mean photographs of the whole school. Hundreds of pupils on bleachers, cascading down from fifth to first year. Mandy and I are there first and are met by the librarian and shown to a boardroom. More photo's reaching back to the late 1940's. School trips and black and white shots of the Netball team. There seems to be a very real sense of pride here I feel. Jane and Shirley are with us within the hour and we share coffee and sandwiches and discuss our approach for today.
Natalie Brewer joins us a few sandwiches later and shows us to the room where we'll all be working.
Mandy is taking more of a back seat this time. We are to run the sessions. She reminds us that she'll do the introductions and is there for back-up, should any of us need it.
The children arrive, 12 and 13 year olds as we'd been told. They are well behaved and get down to it straight away. I'm relieved that giving my first group a choice of task goes down well. We spend five minutes introducing ourselves and decide that writing an ode is the way forward. I'd explained what each of the exercises I'd brought entailed and they seemed to prefer to work collaboratively on this. I jot down the rhyme scheme for them and they decide that the only thing they all have in common is MSN Messenger [eh?] so, MSN Messenger it is! They produce ten lines in the ABABCDECDE scheme and agree to read it out at the end. They liked it! I'm so releived and much less nervous when starting with the second group. The kids stay in their groups and Jane, Shirley and I move around. I think it's easier that way.
The second group worked with Jane in the first instance and did a short prose exercise, therefore they opt for a poetry exercise with me. After some introductions and a short discussion on the exercises I have to offer, they decide upon writing a Haiku each under the collective term 'Haydock High-ku' [geddit?] They spurt away and it's great to see that they try very hard to adhere to the 5-7-5 syllable scheme. There is one girl who seems very vocal and active who finishes her task in minutes. I ask her to 'help out' the others, although they seem to not really need any help to be honest. This role keeps her suitably occupied. I move around the group and discuss their subject matters with them. Again, as with the first group, the children are keen to get their work down on pieces of flip chart paper so they can read them out at the end. It's good to see them express themselves. They tell me during the course of our session that it's rare that they get to work together in a group. They don't discuss things like they have done today, which they have enjoyed. It seems to have paid dividends too. It's rare that they write for the sake of it - for the joy of it, with no specific end in mind. There is always a purpose, it seems. I find that quite saddening as it's very limiting in my opinion. I ask both groups whether or not they keep a diary or produce a blog. Out of ten children, two girls offer up the fact they keep a diary. The boys seem to think it's not something boys do, which I found odd. I point out that I kept a diary as a child to them and they find that strange for some reason. Gender divides huh - who'd guess!
It's a really good day. Natalie is impressed with the output and takes quite a few photos whilst the work is going on. It seems that the work might get into the school newspaper or even be put on the school's website. That's just the sort of encouragement they need to make some of them carry on writing. I'd deem today a success for myself. They did what I'd prepared, they liked doing it, they laughed, asked questions, got into it.
Damn shame it's the last session, it feels like it's just starting to get rolling.
We have a short debrief with Mandy on what we might have done differently. I'm glad it's over but only because it went well. I feel very satisfied with what was achieved. It was easier than I expected and was amazed that so many on them wanted to read their work out.
Lovely moments:
- kids you'd only met an hour or so earlier saying 'thanks' to me
- watching them work together and enjoy it
Not so lovely moments:
- one girl just shrugging her shoulders and not really engaging, possibly through embarrassment
- two lads in the second group not reading their work out, again, embarrassment
note to self: learn to deal with kids who withdraw through embarrassment.
Quite tired after that, but happy with it. I can do that again, on my own, from start to finish.
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