The interpreter arrived a little early for my next conference, and since there was nobody else in my room, I invited him in to wait. He was a friendly guy; introducing himself as Julio, he walked around the perimeter of my classroom as if it were a gallery.
"Look for small moments?" he read from an anchor chart, and then gazing up he read from the banner above, "How can we become better writers?"
"I love writing," he told me, "and this is good advice. There is so much meaning in the small moments."
I nodded agreeably, "That's what I tell the students."
"Do you mind if I take a picture?" he asked.
"Not at all," I answered.
He moved to a poster with an Ethiopian proverb. "When spider webs unite," he read, "they can tie up a lion!" He snapped another photo and turned to me. "What a fantastic message for your students! Small things together create greatness."
"Thanks, Julio!" I replied.
Next he read the series of posters from the Academy of American Poets that hang over the bookshelves in my room. Each April the organization releases a new one in honor of National Poetry month. "Nature is a haunted house," he read as he clicked another picture, "but art is a house that wants to be haunted."
"Emily Dickinson," I said.
"Wonderful!" he said. "It goes perfectly with the small things and small moments idea. Think how many miracles we overlook every day! You are teaching your students to stop and notice them, to see all the miracles all around them!"
Am I? I wondered and looked at another quote I had scribbled nearby.
Hope is a thing with feathers.
"Look for small moments?" he read from an anchor chart, and then gazing up he read from the banner above, "How can we become better writers?"
"I love writing," he told me, "and this is good advice. There is so much meaning in the small moments."
I nodded agreeably, "That's what I tell the students."
"Do you mind if I take a picture?" he asked.
"Not at all," I answered.
He moved to a poster with an Ethiopian proverb. "When spider webs unite," he read, "they can tie up a lion!" He snapped another photo and turned to me. "What a fantastic message for your students! Small things together create greatness."
"Thanks, Julio!" I replied.
Next he read the series of posters from the Academy of American Poets that hang over the bookshelves in my room. Each April the organization releases a new one in honor of National Poetry month. "Nature is a haunted house," he read as he clicked another picture, "but art is a house that wants to be haunted."
"Emily Dickinson," I said.
"Wonderful!" he said. "It goes perfectly with the small things and small moments idea. Think how many miracles we overlook every day! You are teaching your students to stop and notice them, to see all the miracles all around them!"
Am I? I wondered and looked at another quote I had scribbled nearby.
Hope is a thing with feathers.
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