Lee, Aaron, and Joseph

As a Bachelor of University Studies student, it was an invaluable experience to meet these talented guests and learn about their experiences in working with children.  Their insights into sharing stories and demonstrating that poetry is a way to tell one, helped me to understand the best way to relate poetry within real life for the students I will be teaching.  They conveyed the importance of not making poetry a punishment, or writing in general.  They told the group that many students are very resistant to writing and may fight the process.  It was encouraging to learn that the best way to get the students to interact may be by telling them to write about how they don’t want to be writing!  Students may have a poem or story waiting to be told, locked up inside of them.  Many of the students have untapped talents that are just waiting to be exposed.  The performance at Tibbet’s was very impressive.  Lee, Aaron, and Joseph were interactive and able to get the students involved in a poem as they performed.  Their poetry was light, dramatic, and everywhere in-between.  They left the students interested in learning more about poetry and what it means to express themselves with this kind of storytelling.

Louise Mae Hoffmann

Louise Mae Hoffmann was a very delightful and  interesting guest.  The book titled Goulash and Picking Pickles is comprised of stories from her childhood.  She grew up in the rural Midwest, and had many stories to tell about her interactions with children and family life. She was the 4^th of 5 children. Louise’s father was a schoolteacher in Wisconsin and taught her in her 8^th grade school year as well as three of  her other siblings.  She told us how she was one of the only students that were required to go home to eat lunch and her memories of being reared by strict parents that always had their eye on her.  We discussed her teaching career and that she wanted to make her father happy by becoming and educator as well.  She told the group that although the pay was never really that great, she received enormous satisfaction from helping children to learn.  Her book contains many different stories all wound into one book.  She shared that the best way to document an experience is not by including every miniscule detail, but by writing about the experience as a whole reflection of the overall impression and occurrences.  Louise’s family life seems rich and full of history.  She shared stories of the times that they have family get togethers and how they all try to talk at the same time.  I had to hold back a chuckle when she mentioned this, as her family sounds very similar to my own.  Overall I felt that it was an honor to have listened to the stories she presented us, and to have spent the hour listening to ways in which to improve our writing and storytelling abilities.

Devin Murray

The genre of Manga is an art form full of tradition and pride in the Japanese culture.  Devin Murray is a former Children’s Literature student and is involved with the Education program.  He discussed Manga and Anime and the distinctions between the graphic art and the animation that separates the two forms. Many Manga books cover themes that include historical fiction, non-fiction and biographical information.  Manga books are gender specific and are intended for certain audiences depending on their story line.  Naturo is Anime that had become popular in American culture.  This is how many people are introduced to the animate form of Manga.  I learned that not only the caricatures are important in the telling of the story but also the way the frames are shaded.  Dark shading is often used to convey seriousness or dark themes.  Light shading is used to portray an easy going story line and a joking, happy mood.  Devin’s visit left me interested in reading more Manga books and seeking new opportunities to explore different forms of literature.