Odd Training

As promised, I will tell you about my training. The first day was held in the United Way building on Friday from 1-5 for new writers to WITS. They basically told us the ins and outs of the WITS program and what to expect in today's public schools. I sort of catnapped through this part of training since it hasn't even been two years since I spent most of my day in the classroom. I did sort of chuckle when they made it very clear that we are NOT teachers and we are not to park in the teacher's parking spots and also the school time is very exact. 11:05 is 11:05, not 11:00 and definitely not 11:10. If we are late, we will frazzle our teacher to no end because they have planned on us being there working with the kids for an hour and now they will have to find something for the class to do in our absence. All very true! Also, WITS had a keynote speaker from Seattle. She is a WITS writer in Seattle. Her particular genre is poetry and storytelling. She gave us some great ideas for the first day and even practiced a few on us. All in all, the day was informative and pretty good.
Saturday was in a school right off of 45 near 610. The school itself was celebrating its 100th year! All WITS writers were there. We started off by thinking of a teacher in our past that really encouraged us in our lives. We were told to write three characteristics down that come to mind when we think about that particular teacher. I did not have anyone inspire me to write (in fact I have a college professor who actually discouraged me, but that's a different post) so I chose my student council advisor. She had high expectations, she challenged me, and she was very dedicated. I think I have developed all of these characteristics. Anyway, next came the introductions. We were supposed to stand up and say our name, how long we have been with WITS, our three characteristics and our writing genre. Shouldn't take that long, right? WRONG! It took over an hour and a half!!! As the time wore on, writers started telling all kinds of stories and I basically knew everything about them. I suddenly felt a little out of my element because all but ten of us were poets and many of the writers were students at U of H in the MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) program. I have learned that this particular program is very hard to get into and only ten students are selected. I think 8 of them work for WITS. I was thinking these college students probably have all kinds of time to write since they don't have to worry about putting dinner on the table, cleaning toilets, etc. Also, I don't write poetry, mostly because I don't think I understand it! And to top it all off, it now was very apparent that many of them chose a lifestyle that the bible clearly does not agree with! So now I am beginning to think they are all gay and all poets, where do I fit in? I kept reminding myself that I am not here to fit in, but here to teach writing to kids.
After lunch the sweet little speaker was talking to us. Just picture a little old librarian....long simple skirt, curly frazzled hair, a few dangly bracelets, sandals that were never quite in style...you know the kind I am speaking of, right? That was our speaker. Well she was talking about the importance of finding someone to share your ideas with. She said you can't keep them inside. She said the hardest part is actually finding someone who will listen. She said, her partner has no choice....OMG Grandma is GAY. I never saw that coming. So now I really felt out of my comfort zone until I went to the breakout session...
They had two choices for breakout sessions. I was praying only one was about poetry. They were announced:
Poetry as a self portrait
and...
you guessed it....
poetry and collage.

I went to poetry and collage because they said we would be cutting and pasting. I love to play with scissors (but I never run with them :) ) and glue is fun too! Well I walked in with very low expectations and ended up meeting my hero!!!
The breakout teacher was a published author!! She was not a poet and happily married to a .... MAN!!! She is a stay at home mom who thought as soon as she graduated from college, she would write a book. Well then she had a child and her life stopped. Sound familiar??? After that one grew up a little she was ready to write and then found herself pregnant again!! She called her sister and said she just missed writing so much. Her sister told her to just write a Chick-Lit book. She said to her, "how hard could that be?" She sat down and wrote intensely for six weeks and then she had a book. Her name is Katherine Center and her book is The Bright Side of Disaster. It is a story about a single mom and the woes of raising a baby. It was the most popular book last July. I was in awe of her ability to do something she loved while taking care of her children. After the session I told her she was my hero and why. I asked her if I could email her with any questions I had. She said yes! I left feeling so much better and like I finally connected with someone. Oh and her session was fantastic and I even wrote a poem!
So that was my training. I was definitely out of my comfort zone, but it turned out to be ok!