St.Damians - Budding authors??

I recently visited the very impressive looking high school, St. Damians. What a friendly reception to something I was extremely nervous about, my first 'structured' workshop at a high school. I have been in to a few schools but usually on a casual basis, really just saying hello and talking about books, how hard can that be? Once you get me on the subject of books or films I am in my element.

I had a small group of great children, who happily listened to me talking about characterisation, plot and structure. They even completed the little tasks I set them about building characters and at the end of the session I am sure there was the odd story running around a few heads. There were laughs over the cut out heads I provided for them and they kindly took to it with a great deal of enthusiasm.


From my point of view I love to see children immerse themselves in stories and it doesn't have to be books. If they take something out of a film or a comic, even a lesson and I hope they do ... of course, it means that they open their horizons to so much more. What I can't understand is the reluctance to do so. They might want everything instantly and with the advent of e-books they can do just that but that still seems to be in the minority.

I can't express enough what reading can do for you. Reading a lot means your school work improves across every lesson, you feel more confident about speaking up, giving your opinion, well I hope you do. The fact that you could all read the same book and everyone takes something different from it, always amazes me.