More residency rambling

I thought the Iola residency went well, from beginning to end. Big thanks to the Bowlus Fine Arts Center for bringing me in. I enjoyed myself thoroughly in the Allen County schools. Here are some random things that happened yesterday:

In a fifth grade class, I made an offhand comment about having ADHD (never diagnosed, but I'm fairly sure). The teacher told me afterwards that the kid I happened to be looking at then also had ADHD. He was one of those kids with all the lights on, so that wasn't a surprise to me.

At lunch I sat with the kids, as promised. At one point, I sat next to a kingergartner with Downs Syndrome. He looked at me, smiled, then circled his eye with his finger, just as the kids all do with The ghost with the one black eye. Then he did the next step in the story, patting his knees to show the characters running up the stairs.

I happened to have my copy of Berte aux grands pieds with me. In answering a question about where I find stories, I decided to show it to a class of fourth-graders. That very book was printed one hundred years before they were born. I'm not sure what they thought about that.

The teacher of the last class had warned me earlier that her class was having a bad day. She hoped they would behave. I tried to reassure her, but she didn't seem convinced. By the end of the session, she was pleased--the class behaved wonderfully! Yes, there were some chatty kids and one kid tipped her chair over twice (not for attention, but because she was busy listening), but they really responded to the stories.

Before I left, the school secretary told me that the kids had written down my website so she could go listen to some stories.

I drove home content and tired. In the 26 days from Oct. 20 to Nov. 14, I gave 59 performances. I slept well last night.