"But I am back again said Norah..."

A coincidental meeting at a Somerville performance in May, my monkey curiosity and a desire to see some of the kids I had been teaching and had to leave so precipitously drew me to do a free gig for my old school yesterday.  Yep, I am that sentimental and I  love storytelling that much. Yesterday I was the guest speaker/teacher at a Theater and Literacy Class for middle school kids. The students had been writing memoirs all summer so we worked on telling personal stories.  The kids who remembered me gave me a big shout out and then all did a great job of mining their experience for details and finding words that made the moments of their experience come alive for the listeners. Very fun to work with them and great to catch up a bit with Branigan and meet her co-teacher, Laura.  We had just over an hour and in that short time, at the end of the workshop, 4 kids took the mic and told 1- 2 minute stories filled with detail. Wished I could have stayed to hear them all and do so more coaching. The students were really good about giving each other specific positive comments and listening to each other. My visit had a wistful feel, I am sure only for me, and I kept thinking of the last line in one of our family's fave read aloud books  Noisy Nora. "But I am back again said Nora, with a monumental crash!"