Great Teachers

Some might argue that Northrop Frye’s greatest legacy was the educated imaginations of the many students that he touched through his teaching. In a recent book by Frye scholar Robert D. Denham entitled: Remembering Northrop Frye: Recollections by His Students and Others in the 1940s and 1950s Bob recounts how he wrote to 78 people who appeared in Frye’s 1949 diary and 59 responded, all with stories about their great interactions with Frye.

This week I had the opportunity to meet another great teacher. I was at a wonderful art and poetry opening at the Moncton Public Library (which will be on during the entire Frye Festival, so check it out!) when a woman introduced herself and we began a conversation. The woman in question is Karen Bauer and she is a recently retired English teacher. Karen spoke about her love for teaching and how much she and her students had enjoyed the Festival over the years (and of course how excited they all were to be able to meet Margaret Atwood!).

When I started to ask her more specific questions about authors she had had in the classroom, well the stories really started to come out! She recounted how last year Christian Bök had come to her classroom. Initially, she was a bit sceptical about his book when she received her copies from the Festival, but she had a look at it and passed it on to some of the students. No one really knew what to make of it. However, when Christian came into the classroom, the students were completely engaged – but not necessarily the serious English students. Christian’s approach seemed to appeal even more to the musicians in the class, who didn’t necessarily feel the need for an English class!

Karen also recounted the visit her class had from Miriam Toews. As anyone who has read Miriam knows, she captures that time in adolescence when you still live under your parents’ roof, but you have a lot of flexibility to go off and do things under the radar that your parents would probably not approve of! Needless to say, the students were mesmerized by her stories and her completely captivating manner.

When I asked Karen why she thought that having authors in the classroom was important, she had a few reasons. Yes, students are savvy these days and they like to meet the “real” author. The authenticity of the “real live author” is definitely a big factor. However, she also cited the authors’ varied experiences of being writers as very important. There are so many different ways of becoming a writer, a point that always seems to impress the kids. And finally, Karen thought that by meeting the authors, who while it seems that they have these extraordinarily exciting lives, the kids appreciate that in reality authors are ordinary people who have followed their dreams.

I didn’t realize that Karen was such a huge Festival fan. In fact, she had attended the very first Frye Festival back in 2000 at the Aberdeen Cultural Centre. But, like many great teachers, she had followed the youth performance events over the years. She is a huge fan of Café Underground and she recounted the story of one of her students, Ed McNamara who in Grade 12 read “one chapter from his upcoming novel” at Café Undergound three years ago. Ed was very empowered by the experience of reading (but also by being interviewed by the media and all the positive follow-up to his reading) and Ed has furthered his studies in literature in Montreal and has already had one of his plays produced. Karen was so pleased that an extremely bright student like Ed had had this opportunity, but she also noted that it is often the struggling students who are most impacted by the Festival, the ones who realize through their various interactions, that their voice matters.

So, thanks to all the great teachers all over New Brunswick who invite Frye Festival authors into their classrooms, prepare their students for the visit and then allow the world of imaginative literature to inspire their students.