“The Forest of Hands and Teeth” – a young adult novel about a young girl who needs to escape her secluded village because the fences are broken down by zombies. She tries to escape, and in the mean time looses everything and everyone along the way and finds out that her dreams are not real.
Inspired yet?
This is the third year that we have read this novel with our Grade 9 English class. It is a nice way to start off the year with a simple read full of amazing symbols and themes. It is relatable enough for the children to get attached, but is also full of fantasy so that they are intrigued by the unknown. Coming into this year, Graham and I were unsure if a third year would be a good idea. Has it already been done? Do the students know what to expect? Should we move on to something else?
We are able to do some great things with the students. Good discussions, our Zombie Day was the best one yet and their projects – or moon shoots – were well done for the most part. But how do we elevate this for the students and make it even more inpactful?
Our idea did not come from Graham or I. One day in class, near the end of the book, one of my students was really upset about the section of the book that she finished reading. “Why did he die? I am not reading this anymore! Everyone dies! What is Carrie Ryan’s problem?” Now these are answers that I can pretend to know or give my input on but the reality is, I have no idea. How can I know? I did not write the book and do not know what the author was thinking during the process.
So I told her, “Why don’t you ask her?”
She responded quickly with “I am going to find her on Instagram and DM her!”
Little did I know, that across the hall in Graham’s classroom, he was having similar reactions with his students. They want to know more. They were not satisfied with the ending of the novel and want to know why! Graham’s class took to Twitter to reach out to Carrie Ryan to find out why!
Somehow – we got a response. We had set up a Skype call with Carrie Ryan herself. We were about to get the answers we were looking for.
We just finished this call and I don’t know who is more inspired – me or the students. We worked together to come up with questions to ask her about her choices as a writer, or the writing process itself and she spent half an hour talking about everything. Characters became more clear, plot twists made sense and you looked at characters in such a different way. We found out that there is no other real meaning to the title – it was something that her husband chose! Students (and I) had no idea what exactly went into writing a book and hearing from a published author that it is okay to write things down that don’t work out in the end was a better teaching moment than I could ever provide. Her talking about how it is the process of writing without fear of judgement that is important was so powerful. Her saying that some of your best ideas come from the times were it seems impossible to write was inspiring. How amazing is it that next year, if we do the book again, Graham and I are able to have new and more in depth conversations with our students because “we talked to Carrie Ryan herself”.
This just makes me stop and think that nothing is impossible. This all started off as a bit of a joke. Something that the kids undertook themselves. They wanted answers and didn’t think that it would work – but it did. I never would have thought to reach out to an author to get questions answered. I am sure she has much better things to do than speak with students in little Rothesay, New Brunswick. But, Carrie was so kind and excited to hear from a group of students who enjoyed her book so much. It almost seemed like she was just as excited to speak to us as we were to speak to her.
Opportunities like this are possible on so many levels and disciplines, sometimes, you just have to ask.
Thanks for capturing this so well @jdykerman ! and thank you for omitting the extent to which I harassed her. And yes, what an incredibly rich experience from an extremely generous lady. The extent to which she shared insight into specific choices of this novel as well as her own process as a writer was absolutely jaw dropping. For the students as well as me. Furthermore, this kind of opportunity is yet another reason to deeply broaden the scope from dead, white men.
What struck me about this post was where the curriculum and pedagogy changed because of the student input. I love that both of you were able to capture that level of engagement (aka frustration) and channel it. “How might we all leave room and space for this to happen in our schools as a whole?” is a question that I am actively pursuing in my role – particularly with our student leadership and Day 9 intiatives. The role of student involvement is a growing concern of mine in our classes, clubs, sports, and educational processes. Thanks for capturing this as a microcosm in your classroom!
Wow! This is so awesome.
We live in such a different time than when we were kids in School. We might have been able to write to an author and maybe get a response back, but having a face-to-face interaction is so different. Such a neat experience that students will remember for a long time.
Your reflection is inspiring. Also, I want to know more about your novel selection! Let’s talk reading!
Thank you so much – it was a very inspiring moment. One where I found myself lost for words!
All coaches should read this post – @edaigle @nblair @amacrae @lmustard @jbornstein @rarcher @jsmith @ljensen @lbettencourt @egelleny @timrollwagen @tfaucher @nbendle @amcniven
A great reminder of the power of connecting our students with the outside world. Magic can happen!
Great work @jdykerman !!
Thank you!
This is so amazing. I think we can so often get into the habit of technology shaming, and I think it is so critical to show our students (and ourselves) that there is so much potential because of technology. It can get you in front of someone you would never have had the opportunity to talk to in person. Congrats on this really meaningful experience.
This is so awesome, thanks for sharing! Having an impactful experience with literature like this can really change a student’s relationship to books for the long term. I had a similar experience 3 years ago with our Grade 5 Mother Daughter Book Club. We got in touch with the author of The One and Only Ivan on Twitter and she let the girls ask her as many questions as they could jam into a single tweet. Now in Grade 8, the students still talk to me about that day 🙂
It is such an amazing experience for the students to be able to ask questions to the person that wrote it! It seems like such a simple idea but does have a huge and lasting experience on the students – that is what we want right? Memorable moments where learning comes alive!
Amazing! This shows the true power of the connectivity of our world. Social media, when used appropriately, can open doors and answer questions. Power to you both for embracing the students desire to seek out the truth and become true digital citizens in the process.
Love this.
Tim
Thanks Tim! It was quite the experience!