Students get sneak peek of Rob, The Really Old Ball
Lord Selkirk School Division Superintendent Jerret Long is passionate about educating students. He’s currently keeping the school division on track but before that was a gym teacher. Combining his interest in education and history in the gym he wrote his first children’s book Rob, The Really Old Ball and shared the soon-to-be-released book first with students in the Lord Selkirk School Division.
“The book is called Rob, The Really Old Ball and like all books, it’s about experiences. And so, for me, it was a collection of my life as a teacher, and what I saw with kids, and then my own life and I think lots of books are like that. It’s a children’s book and for the first time this year, I’m glad to be able to say it’s finally being published. It’s being printed right now and it’ll be available for purchase in April,” said Long.
One of the classes that he shared this with were the grade fives from East Selkirk Middle School. They learned from the story that Rob used to be a new ball that was played with often. As he got older, he got scuffed and worn and the children played with him less and he was pushed to the back of the equipment cupboard. He started to feel left out and hoped to one day be part of gym class again.
Long says that this is an experience that happens as a gym teacher when older equipment is used less.
“One day he gets his chance. The story is really a collection [of thoughts surrounding] the idea that because Rob is scuffed, what happens is he’s able to be caught by the kids better because being scuffed, it’s easy to hold on to Rob. If you’ve ever kicked a brand new soccer ball, you know, it hurts but Rob’s a little bit older, so the kids love to play with him,” said Long.
This allows kids to reflect on their own experiences.
“Sometimes the things that we don’t like about ourselves are not things to overcome, or to change, they are things that actually make us pretty awesome and special. And that’s the main story there. Because there are a lot of there are a lot of good books and stories out about overcoming the things we don’t like about ourselves. I wanted a story, from working with kids and just my own life experience to say that, sometimes those things are the very things that make us pretty special,” said Long.
He’s enjoyed being able to share this story with his students this I Love to Read month.
“It’s been a pretty exciting experience to be able to share books because I love to come and read at schools every year but to be able to come and read one of your own and share some of your own personal experiences is good. If it just means for a minute that someone can relate to something, then it’s all worthwhile,” he said.
Long hopes to share a copy of his story with every school in the division.
Stay tuned to the Selkirk Record to learn more when the story is officially released later this year.
