Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Those silly kids

I visited my best friend, Tamara's, third-grade class today to talk about being a copy editor. On my way, I stopped by the paper to grab some copies for the kids. As I handed them out, they were so thrilled that they acted like I gave them all Xboxes or something. I was so happy to see them get so excited about a newspaper.

I admit that I was kind of worried about what I would say to take up time. I wondered what could be more boring to a bunch of 8-year-olds than a lecture from a copy editor about double checking your work and being careful about spelling.

These kids were so full of questions that I never really even had time for that stuff. They had a zillion (yes, a zillion) questions about the paper and how everything worked. They were incredibly curious.

Some of my favorite questions included:
"How much do you make?" (I figured I should be honest; they're just kids)
"Well, how much is that a DAY?"
"How much does your husband make?"
"Are you the boss of anyone?" (No)
"Oh, so you're like the lowest person..."

One boy said he asks for the newspaper but his mom won't get it. She probably can't afford it, but I felt bad that he really is interested in reading the paper at that age and he can't get his hands on it.

Several teachers also attended and had lots of questions. One of them had a daughter in journalism school.

I had a lovely time and was thrilled that these kids were so interested in the newspaper and how it works. I felt like the most popular girl in school.

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