This March (2018), we had the privilege to connect with children’s book author and inspiration, Lisa Thompson, http://www.lisathompsonauthor.com/. We not only learned her story, process, and inspirations behind her books, but also got a unique opportunity to learn WITH her as our Global Professional Teacher.
Many of us shared honestly that writing is not something we feel good at or feel excited to do. At the same time, many of us shared that if we felt like we were good at it, we would enjoy doing it and want to do it more. Ms. Thompson was very understanding and wanted to help us reach a new perspective.
Having the chance to share and talk WITH someone who is an expert in the field made us feel like our ideas mattered and that we have every chance to all be storytellers and writers, by looking around us for inspiration. Our librarian and global educator feels it’s important our potential is nurtured; global education allows us to do that by video conferencing with experts in every field. We become carriers of valuable information which makes up feel important. Lisa Thompson cared enough to listen to us and ask our input.
We got an opportunity to share funny things in life we have experienced, and cataloged our ideas in a visual graphic to hopefully inspire us in the future.
We even became inspired to share our ideas for writing, with each other, circulating the room to talk with our peers about what we wrote. We created unique characters, and since many of us are fans of non-fiction, we discovered how it can be intertwined with fiction writing. We were even inspired to believe that even if we don’t like writing fiction, we are still creative writers.
One student even shared an experience where he was busy playing video games and his dog got mad at him and peed on him. In this session, we laughed, thought, squirmed, wrote, and potentially became writers in the making! This is what Global Education is all about!
Watch our video to catch all the highlights and see the power of this authentic learning journey with Lisa Thompson, to whom we are super grateful!
How wonderful to give children the opportunity to learn from a real writer. I loved everything Lisa Thompson had to say. Great writing whether it be fiction or nonfiction requires the same writing strategies. You’ve got to hook your reader and get them engaged to keep reading. I was especially glad that she touched on the nonlinear aspect of the writing process: write from the part you’re interested in most and build from there.
I also love that she broke the conventions, too, and shared that it’s really about what inspires the reader. I look forward to making writing less overwhelming for students. When students are eager to write, as they are in younger grades, we see them grow. Sometimes, when we force the process too much, students can lose the love because of the “work”.
It is so easy to get caught up in the “I am not a good writer” talk and give up before even getting started! I believe that by hearing an expert’s thought process, learners of any age can approach a similar project with more realistic aspirations. Allowing students to interact with Ms. Thompson through their own graphic organizer puts them right into the action, rather than asking them to simply sit and listen to a presentation.
It was so wonderful to talk to you across the Atlantic! Students – I especially loved hearing snippets of your memories that you can ‘steal’ and embellish and add to your own stories (I might even ‘steal’ a couple of them for myself!).
Keep reading, keep writing and change the world!
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