On wednesday I went to Irving to hang out with my CAP kid, Darian. When I arrived the students were in the process of writing their own ending to a story they had been reading over the week, Dogzilla - the kiddy version of Godzilla. I sat down with Darian and his partner and helped them finish thier ending. To solve the Dogzilla problem they thought the mice of Mousopolis should build a catapult and put things that Dogzilla would chase in the basket: bones, cars, and furniture. When the catapult flings the items towards the volcano, where Dogzilla lives, he would chase them back into the volcano. Then the mice could use the wood from the catapult to build a fence around the volcano incase Dogzilla tried to escape again.
After all the students finished their alternate endings the class gathered around and presented their stories. The third graders were all excited and nervous to present, there was two cap mentors present including myself so it was a big deal to them. About halfway through the presentations the teacher asked them to remember what kind of genre they were writing. They all yelled excitedly, "Fantasy!"
I couldn't wipe the smile off my face as I thought of our discussion in class about how fantasy needs to be stressed more in school. The teacher continued and said, 'and it's ok if they aren't real, remember we're working with our imaginations, suspend the disbelief.' Click. Lightbulb! I asked the teacher about it before they went out to recess and brought up Coleridge and his 'willing suspension of disbelief. Her face lit up as she remembered her own college class. And she told me a story about taking classes somewhere in England. One of her professors was obsessed with the romantics and Mrs. Sutton, the elementary teacher, loved this teacher.
That thirty minutes was absolutely awesome. So many ideas and themes came together so effectively, and in a elementary school, that I was almost inspired to change my lit option to teaching that day. Maybe I will teach someday, but I really hope I can reach out to people in a similar fashion through writing, for kids and adults.
-P.S. Free Plexico!!!
