WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.530 --> 00:00:04.240 - Hi, I'm Suzanne Young author of the Program Series 2 00:00:04.240 --> 00:00:06.460 and the Girls with Sharp Sticks series. 3 00:00:06.460 --> 00:00:09.070 I'm also a high school English teacher. 4 00:00:09.070 --> 00:00:11.190 I've been teaching about 15 years 5 00:00:11.190 --> 00:00:13.500 and teaching has definitely impacted my writing 6 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.490 but not in the obvious ways. 7 00:00:15.490 --> 00:00:17.100 A lot of my students will often ask 8 00:00:17.100 --> 00:00:18.520 if they can be part of my books 9 00:00:18.520 --> 00:00:19.353 and I will tell them, 10 00:00:19.353 --> 00:00:21.600 "No. Real people are kind of boring 11 00:00:21.600 --> 00:00:23.900 when you translate them to the fictional sense." 12 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:25.862 But they have inspired me in other ways. 13 00:00:25.862 --> 00:00:29.270 My students always have believed in me 14 00:00:29.270 --> 00:00:33.690 and that is kind of an incredible thing. 15 00:00:33.690 --> 00:00:36.060 Although every day I am just the one 16 00:00:36.060 --> 00:00:39.814 who assigns too much reading and too much writing, 17 00:00:39.814 --> 00:00:41.530 whenever I had a book come out 18 00:00:41.530 --> 00:00:43.280 my students would get really excited. 19 00:00:43.280 --> 00:00:44.921 When someone online would post a review 20 00:00:44.921 --> 00:00:46.507 they would be the first ones to go, 21 00:00:46.507 --> 00:00:47.710 "That's my English teacher." 22 00:00:47.710 --> 00:00:49.010 And they were very proud. 23 00:00:49.010 --> 00:00:54.010 But I also had them come to my events and let them perform. 24 00:00:54.020 --> 00:00:56.080 So my students would come up on stage 25 00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:59.330 and recite their own original work 26 00:00:59.330 --> 00:01:03.770 or act out a scene or play music. 27 00:01:03.770 --> 00:01:07.670 I helped them to kind of be part of the writing community 28 00:01:07.670 --> 00:01:11.810 but also kind of indulge their own creativity. 29 00:01:11.810 --> 00:01:16.200 And a lot of that helped inspire me to keep creating 30 00:01:16.200 --> 00:01:20.170 and making sure that they felt a part of the process. 31 00:01:20.170 --> 00:01:24.060 In fact, my absolute best memory as a writer 32 00:01:24.060 --> 00:01:26.120 and probably a teacher 33 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:29.660 was with my senior class. 34 00:01:29.660 --> 00:01:34.130 They had been a big part of, of my planning for my events, 35 00:01:34.130 --> 00:01:36.460 for The Treatment, one of the program books. 36 00:01:36.460 --> 00:01:40.360 And one day they were at an assembly 37 00:01:40.360 --> 00:01:42.580 and I was in my classroom eating lunch. 38 00:01:42.580 --> 00:01:44.660 And I got the call that The Treatment 39 00:01:44.660 --> 00:01:46.780 had hit the New York Times Best Sellers list. 40 00:01:46.780 --> 00:01:49.930 And I was overcome, I had no idea it was going to happen. 41 00:01:49.930 --> 00:01:52.050 It was really out of the blue. 42 00:01:52.050 --> 00:01:53.335 And I went and I told the principal 43 00:01:53.335 --> 00:01:56.382 and the principal made an announcement over the intercom. 44 00:01:56.382 --> 00:01:59.100 And to let everyone know that, you know 45 00:01:59.100 --> 00:02:02.060 Mrs. Young had hit the New York Times Best Sellers list. 46 00:02:02.060 --> 00:02:04.910 And I was crying and I walk out into the hall 47 00:02:04.910 --> 00:02:07.350 and the doors burst open 48 00:02:08.860 --> 00:02:10.790 and my students came running in 49 00:02:10.790 --> 00:02:14.530 and they said, "We did it Ms. Young. We did it." 50 00:02:14.530 --> 00:02:17.793 And, and I thought we did, we did it. 51 00:02:18.650 --> 00:02:21.050 And I have to say that being a teacher 52 00:02:21.050 --> 00:02:24.460 is my greatest passion. 53 00:02:24.460 --> 00:02:27.720 I love getting a chance to work with students 54 00:02:27.720 --> 00:02:32.690 to inspire them, get them to love reading the way that I do 55 00:02:33.570 --> 00:02:36.020 and I wouldn't trade it for the world. 56 00:02:36.020 --> 00:02:36.853 Thank you.