The Odyssey Story
By Therese Walsh | March 20, 2007 |
This past week has passed in a blur for me. I live a secret life you see, as an Odyssey of the Mind coach for my son’s third-grade team. This weekend was our big competition.
The seven kids who comprised our team were eager students along the way, learning the basics of building story with me and then working for months to churn out their tale, then create all necessary props, costumes and scenery elements to make it come to life. They learned to not settle for the first ideas they came up with but to brainstorm until they reached the more creative ones beneath the surface. Odyssey became the gauge for the team whenever they were faced with making a decision. Which of a pool of ideas was more Odyssey? That’s the one they were bound to gravitate to. The end result was fantastic, a quest to travel around the world in 8 minutes, filled with hippie penguins, a disco penguin, a witch penguin and a Super Interviewer equipped with his fabulous Super Sonic Sound Scooter, traveling speedy-quick via sound waves.
Their performance Saturday was as good a show as I’ve ever seen them put on. I was bursting with pride (can you tell?). I was even happier when evening came and the team was awarded 1st place for their storytelling problem and 2nd place standing overall, even though they were up against 4th and 5th graders in our division. On a very personal level, they inspire me to dig deep and to never settle for a meh idea. Be Odyssey, they tell each other and me. Be Odyssey everyday. I think it’s a message every creative thinker can benefit from.
Write on, all!
Therese Walsh (she/her) co-founded Writer Unboxed in 2006 and is the site’s editorial director. She was the editor of WU’s only book, Author in Progress, and runs the Writer Unboxed UnConference.
Her second novel, The Moon Sisters, received starred reviews and was named one of the best books of the year by Library Journal and Book Riot.
Learn more about Therese on her website, and sign up for her newsletter to be among the first to hear about any new projects.
ter, congratulations to the team for the big win! wow!
“Be Odyssey”
What a great message for kids to learn, and a valuable skill-set you’ve coached them to hone. They’ll be using it for the rest of their lives. Congrats on the great finish, too!
On a parental note, what is it about penguins these days that have kids so fascinated? I don’t get that one.
Congratulations, Therese! It sounds like a great story for 3rd graders to write.
Thanks, you guys! I’ll pass your congrats on to the kiddos!