Ben Goldfarb, environmental journalist and author, video-called into the Panama Central School District Tuesday. Students are reading Goldfarb. “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter.” P-J photo by Jordan W. Patterson

PANAMA — Rarely do high school students meet the author of the book their reading in class, but on Tuesday, Panama Central School seniors did just that.

Environmental journalist and author Ben Goldfarb wrote the book “Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why They Matter” that 12th grade students are reading in English teacher David Becker’s class. The course is a companion course with Jamestown Community College and offers college credits for students.

“We’re fortunate all the way around,” Becker said of talking with Goldfarb. “It’s just a good experience for us that we can even do this.”

Goldfarb video-called into the newly installed “Tech Den” in Panama where those students were gathered. The meeting served as the first event of its kind in the new room.

The high school room and the elementary Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) Lab were both introduced this year with a wider focus on collaborative work.

“It definitely hits on what we are shooting for or what we want to see which is having our students reach beyond Panama and to make those connections to what their learning in the real world,” said Danielle Cook, secondary principal.

Cook emphasized the importance of the students being able to see the author and realize that the authors they read are normal people, too. She said the students benefit from learning how Goldfarb became an author as well.

Goldfarb’s book details the impact of European settlers on the North American beaver population and how it affects the natural world today. Becker said drought, diversity of species and types of trees are all impacted by the decreased population of beavers. Goldfarb’s book also discusses the impact of reintroducing beavers into an area where they were hunted to endangered numbers. Becker said beavers can positively impact droughts in the west by raising the water table.

“People that do stuff outdoors, their activities are helped by beavers,” Becker said.

Becker said, as an English teacher, he prefers to incorporate “good fiction” into the curriculum, so when he stumbled upon Goldfarb’s book over the summer, he knew it would be well suited for the course.

“I am an English teacher, but I think nonfiction is important,” he said.

Becker said various topics required by JCC to be covered throughout the course are implemented in “Eager.” Additionally, Becker said the beaver situation detailed in the book is relatable to Chautauqua County in a much smaller scale, but noted that it’s still applicable. He said many of his students are “outdoors kids” and the book piqued their interest.

“I thought all the way around it was a good book,” Becker said as to how it related to his class and his students.

The English teacher said Goldberg succeeded in combating a misunderstanding or lack of understanding of the role of beavers in his book.

The copies of “Eager” were purchased through BOCES, and Becker praised their prompt efforts of providing the books for the course.

During class on Tuesday, Goldfarb, who was digitally transported to Panama on the electronic flat-board in the technology room, detailed how he came to write the book they are reading for class. Becker guided the meeting by asking Goldfarb student-submitted questions that pertained to data gathering, duration of writing and the future of the beaver population.

Goldfarb was also asked about incorporating the modes of persuasion ethos, pathos and logos which represent ethics, emotion and logic, respectively. He said he used a lot of emotional appeal in order to make the logic or the factual side of his book more palatable to readers, and he noted that the goal of “Eager” was to argue the need for a strong beaver population which served as the ethical question of his writing.

The journalist-turned-author said he primarily focused on the details and description.

“I’m always looking for the details that I can’t help but tell people,” Goldfarb said.