René Schmidt

Testimonials from teachers. 

We had the pleasure of having Rene speak to our Grade 7/8 classes about the research and writing process, his novels, and life as an author. Despite being a near-impossible feat, Rene fully captivated our Intermediate Classes by creating intrigue and suspense as he interwove more ‘common’ historical knowledge with less-known, but more interesting Canadian History, especially sparking interest in our history buffs! Showing various drafts in his writing process complemented our Literacy program goals - emphasizing the importance of writing several drafts, and the time it takes to edit those drafts to completion. Rene’s previous experience in the classroom made his presentation even more seamless. He understood where the students were at - and created an interesting digital presentation that captured their interest throughout. We definitely look forward to more visits with him. 

Angela Burr, Madoc Township Public School June, 2022

“We were meeting someone famous."  "I can’t believe we read his book and then we got to meet him.”

    These were some of the many great comments that I received from my students after our time with Mr Rene Schmidt.   

    It was such a pleasure to have Mr Schmidt visit our classroom. He made his book come to life and we received answers to some of our burning questions. We enjoyed hearing about the process it takes to write a book. We were surprised how long it took. This was a great learning experience received from a real life author. We also had a chance to learn about the process of not believing everything we see and hear. We all know this is an important life lesson. It was such a wonderful experience for myself and my students. 

His visit was a great way to wrap up the school year! 

Thanks Rene!  

 

Miranda Mak T.D.S.B.   

Rene visited our school during our craziest part of the school year - mid June - which I really appreciated. I really enjoyed how he was able to engage our Grade 4 students who are our most reluctant readers by allowing one of our students to dress up and act as one of his characters using real mining props from his days as a miner while he did his reading. It really brought his mining story alive!

 

Pamela Vanderburg, Native Studies Teacher at East Northumberland Secondary School Brighton ON.  Rene gave an insightful and amazing presentation on the Franklin Expedition that engaged students in their learning in Geography, Native Studies, History and Sociology. So much interest was shown by students that subsequent presentations were moved to the library to ensure all students were given this unique opportunity.

 

Brett Manlow

Canadian and World Studies, Trenton High School, Trenton ON. 

Mr. Schmidt,  I would like to thank you for your presentation on the lost Franklin expedition and recent discovery of the Erebus. I remember reading about the Franklin expedition as a young adult. I was amazed by the curiosity and courage of expedition members to venture into such uncharted territory. As an educator now, I know that history comes alive through the telling of harrowing stories such as that of the Franklin expedition. Your use of accents and voices to make the story more authentic and engages students in learning about the past. I can see how your series of Disaster books would be very useful in an English or Geography class. I can't wait to see what your next book will be about.

 

Geoff Said, Teacher at College Street P.S. in Trenton 

René kicked off our Education Week celebrations by presenting to an assembly of our Junior and Intermediate students. He had pictures to project on our screen and he dressed one of our students in his old mining equipment to talk about child mine labourers in the 1900’s. René effectively combined readings and stories from his Canadian Disasters books. You could hear a pin drop.  René also did readings from his novel, Leaving Fletchville, as well as reading more disaster stories during classroom visits.  Students and teachers alike began discussing getting a return visit from him.  I would recommend René Schmidt to any school.