Monday, May 09, 2005

Manchester Schools

That would be ALL the Manchester schools – the elementary and middle schools in the morning and the high school in the afternoon. According to my sources (the third grade) I was the first author/poet sighting at Manchester Elementary since, well, since forever, which when you are only eight isn’t that long.

While I was at the elementary, Michael was writing with kids at the high school. I sat in on one of his sessions. What impressed me the most was how tuned in the kids were. Seniors are known to tune out to school oh, about January of their last year. Kids in general start to tune into summer and out on school in May. The kids at Manchester were very tuned in. One image created in the writing workshop sticks in my mind – a girl was writing from the perspective of a humble toilet and no, it wasn’t filled with the smelly obvious. Instead, the toilet spoke with envy of the bathroom mirror, which the writer observed, gets all the attention.

Thanks to Sandina and the kids at Manchester for making us feel so welcome and for changing my prejudice against upper school visits in May.

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