Tayari's Blog: I.D.E.A. Public Charter School
Posted by TayariJones on May 2, 2006 10:03 AM
Filed under
D.C. Diaries
I've just returned from a visit to Mrs. Janice Jones's class at the I.D.E.A. Public Charter School in N.E. Washington, D.C. Mrs. Jones is the kind of teacher that makes students love school. You can tell that she can be stern if she needs to be, but that need doesn't come up so often. If you've read Leaving Atlanta, you would say that she is a teacher from the Mrs. Greir School.
I.D.E.A. students wear uniforms: burgundy shirts and khakis, but notice that the students manage to express thier sense of style primarily from the knee down. Some wear their trouser legs rolled up to display striped socks or orange Chucks. Some of the girls show off from the chin up with spangly earrings. I loved it.
I visited class thanks to Pen/Faulkner Writers in Schools which provided copies of Leaving Atlanta for all of the students. When I arrived they were prepared and bursting with intellegent question. They wanted to know the specifics of the Atlanta Child Murders Case, but they also wanted to know about how these murders affected childhood in Atlanta in 1979. We talked about accountability, culpability, and of course, the possibility for change.
The students have written poems and essays about Leaving Atlanta. One student, Kiara, precocious and verbal recited a snippet of hers. I can't wait until their teachers sends me the hard copies.
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Comment #1, by Sharon ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tayarijones.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
Awwwwwwww....
This had to be a blast. I would love to have a similar experience of talking to kids who had read something I had written and respected it and related to it enough to have questions for me. I wrote a short story that I submitted just last week for publication, that I had my 16 year old son read and give me feedback on. The way he looked at me was different than before. He found a new reason to think I was great....what a rush! He even said he might try to write the same idea from his perspective.
Kudos to you Tayari for understanding the impact you can have on us all, including young folk!
May 2, 2006 12:52 PM
Comment #2, by Ladylee
I love Leaving Atlanta!
I am glad you had the opportunity to share with those kids the uncertainty and fear of what we went through as kids during the ATL missing and murdered cases.
May 4, 2006 11:47 AM