Doesn’t this picture illustrate what we want for our children–happiness?
When I first taught at The Prospect School in Vermont, I struggled yet I also shared so many moments of joy with learning about the world and just being with the boys and girls in my group. Tasks might be hard, feelings hurt, rules frustrating—but there were opportunities to move, choices to make, questions to ask, time to think and express and exchange thoughts through a multitude of mediums and activities.
This picture from Born Vain/Michael Cox helped me remember the underlying drive for me these years—this is really what I’ve been going for with every initiative and approach to teaching I’ve brought to teachers in school buildings. This is why I feel a gut churning sickness when our students spend their days in compliance, resistance, confusion.
Do you see joyous smiles and laughter on your students’ faces? What do you do that leads to or even allows for that to happen? What if we made it one of the goals for the first day of school and at least once every day after to ensure we could see joyous smiles on our students’ faces?
I know its contagious.
photo (by Philip Green in Black Hedge Fund Group)