Every time I present at a school I am surprised by how much I enjoy it! Maybe it is the teaching genes I have inherited and have been ignoring all these years! I recently presented How to Write a Feature Article to a group of Year Nine English students at Carey Baptist college. I was pleased with how well the session went given I normally do seminars on this topic to older students.

I also shared quite a lot about my book Women of Note as the students were looking at Australian cultural identity with the focus “Those we have forgotten”. Women of Note is full of overlooked composers so it suited perfectly.

I received some lovely feedback from the teacher:

“I would like to acknowledge the excellent work you did with my class in terms of writing a feature article responsibly and effectively.  Hearing it from a someone who actually does this in ‘the real world’ gives it so much more credibility – therefore a reason or motivation to give it your best shot.  

I was so pleased with the information  about  those members of the Australian society that are not usually mentioned when we talk about national identity and identity ‘shapers’.  You certainly enlightened the students so that they have a much broader understanding of those who make wonderful contributions to the richness of this country.
Lastly, I was impressed with your ability to connect so well with students.  It was as if you teach them every day!  Your teaching style and the fact that you on their ‘page’ in terms of interests and language use made it a very successful session.  
Thank you so much.  I wish you all the best – such an exciting life!
Kind regards
Pamela van Rooyen“
I don’t always feel like I have an exciting life, but that day I did. I wish the composers were with me as I talked about their music, just to watch the response of the students as their faces lit up.