Most of my school visits are to primary schools but I’m starting to get requests from high schools too. Mrs Newby, who works in the library at Our Lady’s, invited me in to work with a group of Year 8 students so I headed off to Lancaster with Eric.
The afternoon session began with my author talk. I shared my writing journey with the students and shared extracts from the Tales and Eric. They got to see the illustrations at the various stages of the process and managed to spot the alterations which Martin made.
Next, we read a short extract from Blown Away and I challenged the students to rewrite one paragraph and create an alternative version. The students created some fantastic pieces of writing and it was a joy to work with them and edit and tweak their writing. They were so proud of what they had created they were eager to share their writing with their peers and some were happy to read their writes to the class.
I finished the session by telling one of the Impossible Tales in the traditional storytelling way. The students listened ever so well and it was a delight to share one of my stories.
We finished the session with a group photograph which Eric was happy to join. I had a great time working with a lovely group of students at Our Lady’s Catholic College and I’d like to thank Mrs Newby for inviting me in.