As I mentioned in my last post, I taught a creative writing workshop at a community center in Jacksonville last week.
Ages: 9-13
Hours: 9 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Days: Monday – Friday
Me: Completely wiped out
There’s a huge difference between teaching 9 year olds and teaching 13 year olds, and there were three of the former and two of the latter in the class — all girls.
I felt like some kind of lion tamer.
The younger ones wanted to stand on chairs, draw princesses, and talk about Justin Bieber. The older ones wanted to actually work on writing (and smack the younger ones).
You might be surprised to learn that I’m glad I taught the workshop. It was truly a learning experience. You know, the whole “That which doesn’t kill us makes us stronger” philosophy. (Thanks, Nietzsche!) I definitely learned some new skills, which is always good.
And the girls really were fun. A couple of them have promise as writers, and I hope to see their work again.
So, I wouldn’t mind teaching it again next year, but we’ll need to put in some different age parameters, of course.
Maybe, if I’m lucky, it will be a scene out of a “Normal Rockwell” painting. (Thanks, Chris!)
Where’s the work of Abnormal Rockwell? That I’d like to see.
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Ha! Good one!
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