These are some of the comments given to me by people who visited my room. It gives me great pride to hear these things. I strive to make my room a calm oasis for my students (and me), a place to escape from the world so that we can get right on to the important things- the business of learning and growing, the important work of play. I don't want too many distractions. The sound of a bell may be occasionally jarring, the sounds of unscheduled announcements may invade from time to time, but my classroom is our little world within a world.
The name of my blog is "Awefilled Wonder" because that's what I wish for my students. Awe filled wonder for the world around us, and the world within us. Whether it's in our story workshop and writing time, to our play, to listening to and reading stories, I want to approach my students in a way that incites wonder.
I have been listening to Glennon Doyle's podcast "We Can Do Hard Things". I am finding it incredibly inspiring over these last few days. As I was listening to their talk with the poet ALOK What Makes Us Beautiful, What Makes Us Free , I heard Glennon say she reads a piece of poetry in the morning before she gets out of bed because she isn't quite ready to give up the Magic of that space. She does it to prepare herself for going out into a space and place that isn't quite as magical as her inner world (I am totally paraphrasing here, knowing I don't have the words to convey the beauty that my mind created when I heard this). Of course, as a teacher, it got me thinking about this idea of Magic and Sacred Spaces in relation to my classroom, my Kindergarten classroom.
When I think of Kindergarten, I can't help but be reminded of Froebel and his idea that it is truly a garden for children. I want my classroom to be that magical, sacred space between early childhood and the rest of life. I often say Kindergarten is the half-way house of school. I want my students to know that it's more than that. It's the beginning of something beautiful. The beginning of a life of learning.
Happy New Year to all of you teachers and students out there!
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