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A Big couple of Weeks

2/11/2014

Well a lot has been happening lately. First, Resource Links magazine named Touch one of their “Year’s Best for 2013”. I'm on the list with some other Canadian writers I look up to. It's a big honor.

Then last week I was interviewed by Canadian Children's Book News for their regular column called "Keep an Eye on..." That issue will be out in April. Of course before that my new book, Stupid, will be on the book shelves. It comes out March 1st. The same day, coincidentally, that a brand new parkour gym, Breathe Parkour, opens. They are mentioned in my book. Yes - I can see into the future.

And if that wasn't enough, I signed up for the Scrawl-A-Thon on March 15 where I will write for six hours straight in a room full of rowdy drunken (aren't they all?) writers. I will be posting all my writing that day, hourly or so, on this blog. So check in at around 4 PM mountain time to start seeing stuff. Hopefully a whole story will be told. This Scrawl-A-Thon is a fund raiser for WordsWorth youth residency. If you want to help out by either becoming a participant of by sponsoring me, just give me a shout and I'll hook you up with the details.

Of course during all this I've been working hard on my class materials (mostly bleeding on said materials) for my Drink The Wild Air class. Which is a live action version of the Hero's Journey. It's going to be so much fun, I can't wait. And this ridiculous cold might actually bugger off by the time we go to camp. An added bonus.

Then, last night, the best news ever - I'm going to be teaching at WordsWorth for week one AND week two. I'm so excited. I love that camp.

And just when I caught my breath and thought I couldn't take any more excitement, I get this e-mail from Ontario telling me that my play (which I wrote with the 35th Calgary Girl Guides) called, The Rock 'N Roll Trolls was performed to raise money for a seniors centre. The kids had fun. The audience had fun. And they sent me pictures! I've had the best ever couple of weeks and it's only going to get better I'm sure.

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A Writer's Brain in times of Crisis

6/23/2013

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So there I was Thursday night, finishing packing for the Girl Guide camp,
putting the last touches on the campfire story I was going to tell complete with all the girls’ names when a knock comes on our door. We have to evacuate. The river is rising. The flood is coming. The first thing I grab – not our important papers or even our electronics. No, the first thing is my memory stick with all my novels, plays, works in progress. And the whole time I’m packing and calming my younger daughter and organizing our escape and the pets’ escape with the help of my husband and my older daughter, I’m thinking of the various scenarios and scenes and stories these emotions and actions could fit into. But that’s a writer’s brain for you. You have to write from experience and even if the place is outer space on a ship invaded by monsters where you are madly trying to get to the escape shuttle with all the equipment you can carry – the emotion is the same. The experience is the same. I just didn’t have laser guns. I really should get me some laser guns – or probably more helpful, some kind of super sponge gun
that could sop up that river and get me back into my house.

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Teaching - Different Styles

6/10/2012

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I spent the weekend with over a hundred Girl Guides aged 4-17, though mostly I hung out with the younger set. Our them for this camp was the Queen’s Jubilee. The girls were challenged with learning twenty facts about the Queen and her family. And while most of the girls ran around reading posters and reporting the facts to earn small flags of felt, some girls ran into trouble. These girls had different learning styles than the rest. So, instead of insisting that they do the task as it was laid out, I adjusted it to fit their needs. For some it was as easy as teaming them up and walking them through the task. But for four girls, just thinking about finding twenty facts, answering all those questions, and sifting through so much information seemed overwhelming. They wanted to participate, but they were scared they would fail.

These girls have learning difficulties. It doesn’t mean they can’t learn, only that they learn differently. By adjusting the task and using positive words, high fives, and repeated success, the girls went from tears of frustration and the feeling that they were going to fail AGAIN, just like they had so many times before – to smiles, laughter, and a racing search for the next poster. In the end I heard the best thing a Girl Guide leader can hear,
“This is really fun!”

The girls thanked me again and again for helping them be like all the other girls with their flags pinned to their shirts. I just told them I knew they could do it. That they are smart. It’s something kids who have different learning needs don’t hear often enough.

So if you see a kid struggling, don’t write it off as not trying. Most of the time these kids have to try twice as hard as everyone else just to come up with average. Give them a hand, adjust how you present the task. Talk them through their fears of failure. Give them lots of praise. And don’t let their despondency turn you off of helping them – they are just afraid. It happens to us all.

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A Big couple of Weeks

A Writer's Brain in times of Crisis

Teaching - Different Styles

Kim Firmston

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