This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about when (as a teen) we felt SEEN by adults ... and how we write about mentors, teachers, and other...
This month at YA Outside the Lines, we're talking about when (as a teen) we felt SEEN by adults ... and how we write about mentors, teachers, and other adults in our YA (young adult) novels.
I rarely felt seen as a teen, and that was okay or even intentional. Sure, I sometimes got comments from teachers when I'd had a great tennis match or basketball game. But teachers seldom even knew who I was until we got our first graded papers or tests back ... when I got an "A," and they suddenly looked up to stare quizzically at that quiet girl in the back row who never raised her hand. Or when the school poetry magazine came out, stuffed with my poems, and a couple of teachers asked if I was okay.
(I loved writing despondent poetry, just as today I love writing breakup songs. Fun!)
I was a closet geek, or tried to be. I preferred to be known as a girl who played basketball and tennis and quietly made jokes in the back of the classroom.
So, yeah, I was rarely seen until a teacher saw my grades and suddenly started calling on me in class, which was beyond annoying ... including the fact that I usually didn't study until the night before a test. lol.
Oddly, neither my tennis nor basketball coach knew me well, despite all the time I spent in that world. I didn't connect with either of them.
But I can think of a few teachers. Savvy teachers notice kids.
Mr. Skamser taught 12th grade English. He didn't fall for anything. He was incredibly clever about tripping you up during a one-on-one chat about a book you'd read, mostly to see if you'd read the book itself or just the Cliffs Notes version. I loved his dry sense of humor. I can't say he got to KNOW me as a person, but in individual moments he saw me. In my YA series, The Bennet Sisters, the 12th grade English teacher is named Skamser ... and he's true to the original.
Senior year, I was co-editor of the yearbook. Ms. Patterson was our advisor, so I saw her for final period every day. Hoo boy, she saw me, and I adored her. She could crack the whip when she had to, and she sometimes had to with our staff, but she was funny and smart. But another teacher in school, Mr. Bohman, was always trying to catch me doing something wrong, which was weird, especially since (1) he was the assistant boys' basketball coach, and basketball people usually stick together, and (2) most teachers thought I was a squeaky-clean kid who didn't get into trouble. (Mostly true, but partly because they didn't SEE me.)
ANYWAY, as co-editor of the yearbook, I ran around school during final period, checking on things for the yearbook. Unfortunately for me, Mr. Bohman had hall duty during that period, and he LIVED to catch me without a hall pass. (No other teacher would've even asked me for a hall pass.) So I finally mentioned it to Ms. Patterson. She rolled her eyes, then wrote me a permanent hall pass that read something like this: "Dear Mr. Bohman: Mary Strand has my permission to go wherever the hell she wants to go during seventh period. ~ Ms. Patterson." She was utterly cool.
One final anecdote. Senior year, someone chose me to serve on a city-wide committee to write the athletes' code of conduct (including penalties) for our school district. The committee had administrators, coaches and teachers, and four student athletes. I realized immediately that they handpicked students who were COMPLETE goody two-shoes and who wouldn't object to anything. But one of those students was me, and I objected and argued ALL THE TIME, especially on the subject of fairness and the right to a proper hearing. (Ironically, I had violated one of the rules the summer after my sophomore year, but no one in the school system ever found out.) The adults on the committee were surprised and annoyed that a student was actually in their face like that. (They didn't know I already planned on going to law school. heh heh.) But when we finished our work on that committee, the athletic director for the school district took me aside. He said, "I strongly suspect that you're not as squeaky-clean as the other students they put on the committee, and you maybe cross a few lines once in a while, but I'm good with you. Nicely done." And then he grinned at me.
So in my own YA novels? Well, the cool teachers are the ones who are smart and savvy and who really see the students. And there are other teachers, too, just like in life. But I do tend to give more time in my novels to the cool ones.
Who wouldn't?
Mary Strand is the author of Pride, Prejudice, and Push-Up Bras and three other novels in the Bennet Sisters YA series. You can find out more about her books and music at marystrand.com.
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