I had the pleasure of visiting Arthurs MS in person in 2019 and so it was really neat to catch up with them again, albeit virtually. Those kids are now in high school but it was great to see the same wonderful educators and another crop of avid readers, including Alex, who described himself as my biggest fan. Also, they used the same Welcome Marsha sign! How cool is that?
Here are my fave questions from this session:
In Winterkill, Auntie Pawlina’s songbook is destroyed by the shockworkers. In real life, what was the fate of her collected songs?
I like to leave lots of room for questions when presenting to students and this morning’s questions were superb! The topic was Winterkill, set during the Holodomor. Plus, I always talk about my own struggles as a kid, for example not reading til I was 9, and being bullied. Here are some of my favorite questions of the day:
If the Holodomor was such a huge event, how was it possible to hide it?
How did you deal with the bullying, and were you able to get it to stop?
Did you ever regret writing your first book about the Holodomor (Enough), seeing as you were subjected to so much hate because of it?
It was so nice to visit with 6th to 8th grade students from Bentonville Arkansas. We talked about my WWII novels and the real people behind the stories as well as what it’s like to be dyslexic and to write books. Middle School Student council members fielded the questions and did the introductions. Very well organized and great questions. There were 140 students participating and Sarah the librarian got this snap of one of the classes. Thank you so much for the invitation, Sarah!
It was pajama day at Traphagen school on my Scholastic Book Fairs virtual visit. I decided to join in and wore my housecoat. Many of the students were partway through Winterkill so they asked me not to give away anything past chapter 11! Great questions, nice students! And now I’m considering wearing a hat to bed!
The wonderful Ms Bartholomew invited me to Riverside Elementary, Suwanee Georgia, for two back to back visits this morning. I think this is the third time I’ve visited Riverside and always, the students are such a pleasure to speak with. Thank you, Ms Bartholomew and Riverside educators for your great prepping!
I didn’t think to ask for a photo until the second session was almost over — that should tell you how excited I was to get back in the class with students after the holiday break. This spring I have a number of in person visits scheduled and I’m really looking forward to that.
The final virtual visit for 2022 was with Cuthbertson Middle School’s 800 grade 6, 7 and 8 students in 29 different classrooms. Check out this pic!
Michele Bost had done an amazing job prepping the students and they were visibly engaged in the discussion. There were oodles of questions and we could have continued for quite some time but the school day was ending. Here are more pics from the other side of the screen:
Visiting Cardinal Slipyj school always feels like going home. I love the teachers and the kids and love the caring environment where those taking refuge from Russia’s war can feel a sense of security. Many knowledgeable questions and conversations about Winterkill and the Holodomor and the current war.
This morning I did a virtual visit about Winterkill and the Holodomr with RF Morrison school in Winnipeg MB and late this afternoon, I spoke with St Theresa Catholic MS in Sherwood Park, AB. What both of these schools have in common is a large contingent of Canadian students whose first language is English but who have opted for Ukrainian language classes, plus recent refugees from Russia’s genocidal war on Ukraine who have come to these communities because of their welcoming populations and are attending schools where they can speak in Ukrainian but learn English.
The other thing both of these schools have in common? Utterly dedicated, compassionate teachers who do everything they can to make their new students feel welcome. I think these teachers have figured out how to bend time because when I hear about all that they’ve accomplished, I am in awe.
At RF Morrison, the students from Ukraine were particularly interested in what my connection to Ukraine was and why I wrote so much about Ukrainian history. From their perspective, having grandparents arrive in Canada from Ukraine more than a century ago made me seem pretty darned Canadian. They were curious about the Canadian connection with the Holodomor in Winterkill, about the idealists who joined the Canadian communist party and traveled to Soviet Ukraine to assist with Stalin’s collectivization plans.
With St. Theresa, there was a technical glitch, so the students who were in the auditorium could see and hear me perfectly, but I couldn’t see them. Their questions were typed in and I had no way of knowing how they responded to anything I said. Thankfully, Ms Pohoreski texted me feedback, which helped tremendously. I found it interesting that the students from Ukraine at St. Theresa learned more about the Holodomor in Canada than they ever did while in Ukraine.
It was an enriching experience for me to speak with all of these students and I’m grateful to HREC ED for making them possible.
This is the screen from my side for St. Theresa.This is from the students’ perspective!RF Morrison studentsRF Morrison: on the screen, acknowledgement and thanks for HREC ED funding
Grade 7&8 students from Prince of Wales listened to the audio edition of Winterkill and studied my picture book, Enough. We talked about the war in Ukraine and the parallels between now and the Holodomor.
