Piazza Mannino, 23

What a Thrill…

October 30, 2009

Thank you Children of Piazza Mannino.

You made my day. No, you made my year. No, you validated my whole 19 year teaching career.

Marta Richardson, our lovely violin teacher who holds a very special place in my heart, brought my violinists back to our piazza from her class. As procedure has it, the children went directly to the meeting carpet while Marta and I held back and had a quick hug and a word that well, turned into many words. You see, just being a little school doesn’t necessarily mean that the staff communicates very often. All day long is a whirlwind. I see Marta very rarely and when we do find each other face-to-face we always squeeze in a fast and furious and often compassionate conversation.

In the meantime, my keyboarders found their way back into class too and managed to somehow walk invisibly past Marta and I without either of us blinking an eye. We continued our rambling and she turned on her heels to leave as quickly as she appeared -

I turned too, to meet the children at the carpet, but stopped dead in my tracks. I realized that all was silent- all except for the sound of Peyton’s matter-of-fact voice. My breath ceased, my heart skipped a beat and there in front of me I witnessed what I think all teachers silently dream about and strive to create – all children taking the initiative to be present, resourceful and responsible for their own learning in their classroom.

Peyton was sitting in my chair, her classmates all facing her in ’story position’ while she read a story! Every single child was FULLY engaged. Holding back a flood of tears, I pulled up a seat and listened too while she finished the story (and grabbed my camera along the way).

I then tried to compliment the children on how all 23 children had just accomplished something very, very important and amazing… but I was still so stunned and in awe that heard myself just babbling away trying to string words together! Realizing that my message was not getting through to most, I reverted to drama and picked up my schoolbag and headed towards the door saying that they just proved they no longer needed ME to inspire and motivate THEM, nor facilitate their learning; they were perfectly capable of initiating the joy of learning themselves. I would just be on my way to take care of things that DID need my attention!

They got it. They beamed, they grew a couple of inches while bursting with pride and I resisted leaving for the rest of the day. Instead, we all had a run around outside, taking in the breathtaking autumn scene that the season has graciously unfolded in front of our eyes in Greensboro.

Thank you children. You make me proud. You inspire me and teach me more than I could ever teach you day after day after day. Yes, you most definitely got it. Clearly.

One very proud child said as we were heading out the door, “And we even chose a book about weather!”.

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized. .