You can find them there in the classroom on Monday and Tuesday mornings.  They talk about the weekend and pets and paint colors.  They laugh and smile and compare whether high top Chuck Taylors are the best or not.  It’s a 15 minute appoinment that’s regularly kept by this first grade student and this young and energetic art teacher.  There are lots of smiles and talks with ease that build a bridge for helping a student transition into the world that demands much more of students than just easy conversation.

This world within the school walls demands performance.  It demands persistence.  It demands conformity on some levels and to not stand out in many ways.  It demands.  But teachers like this young teacher in her Chuck Taylors?  They are those who equip and infuse and encourage.  They are the visionaries who see ‘outside of the box’ and see the needs as well as the beauty and help the beautiful works of art that these children are come to life right before our eyes. For these students truly are works of art in human form that are daily transforming before our eyes.  It’s not complicated. It’s simple committment and kindness and an embracing of individuality.  It can change the world for one little boy in high tops  at a time, one day at a time, one minute at a time. Thankful for that reality, and for the opportunity to see transformations in the classroom happen right before my eyes.

“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
William A. Ward

Whether that teacher is wearing Chuck Taylor high tops or or suede boots, or designer high heels, the great teacher inspires, and then leaves behind an influence of works of art for the world to admire. Am thankful for the beautiful little masterpieces that I see in our midst, and the young teacher who’s like a little work of art herself who wants to paint her world in a positive light, one little guy or girl at a time.  Now, that is education….

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