During our Friday lesson this week a wonderful thing occurred. It displayed trust and an openness to express and be vulnerable. The greatest part of it was that it came from a number of different students and it came of their own volition.
At Sarah Gregory’s suggestion I decided to begin the class by reading a poem. I chose If A Tree Could Wander, by Rumi, since it had thematic elements related to what we were speaking about and a specific stanza about the water cycle.
I announced to the class that I was going to begin by reading a poem and I was about to start when I was interrupted. One of the students jumped up asking if she could read the poem out loud to the class. Then another joined, and another. I decided to let each one read two stanzas so that they would all have a chance to participate.
It is moments like these that remind me why I choose to teach. I stood and listened while each student took their turn to read and the class listened. I can’t tell you how proud I was to see that they had developed enough trust and confidence and courage to offer to do this on their own. They never cease to amaze and delight me.