I was honoured today with the invitation to participate in the Skype call to Arthur Slade (author of the great Canadian novel Dust). Ms. Peacock had asked if I could help her with setting up the technology component (projector, Skype, etc.)
The whole start of this came about when a couple of students in Ms. Peacock’s grade nine class tweeted the author of the book they had just finished reading in class. Ms. Peacock then asked Mr. Slade if he would like to be a guest speaker for her class. Mr. Slade responded that he would be happy to do a quick 20 minute question and answer for her period four class.
Students were prepared, very respectful, despite the excitement, and very responsive. Mr. Slade did not disappoint, either. His answers were thorough, thought provoking, and very witty. Even when a short question did come up, he quickly shared his personal connections to the question, how he came to these connections, and where these connections may lead him. The students and Mr. Slade were awesome.
We wrapped up the Skype session around 2pm; we nearly doubled the time that he had allotted us. A few key takeaways that I’m sure most of the class got, were...
- There will be no movie anytime soon as Dust is not as internationally known as many other stories
- Mr. Slade’s mother has read the book; however, despite having a character named after him, his father has yet to read the book.
- Mr. Slade does not believe in ESP or ghosts, but he does enjoy writing about them!
Mr. Casey
-----------------------
Matthew Casey Wachna, OCT
