Seeing Stars

We are stars wrapped in skin
The light you are seeking has always been within-

I recently read this meme somewhere and liked it enough that I jotted it down and it eventually made its way into my journal. But the truth is I am seeing stars. and lots of them. There's plenty of light worth reflecting on and writing about.

Like young Le Roy Brown who recently introduced himself to me before auditioning for our Fall production of Sherlock Holmes- a self assured and confident sixth grade boy who broadly smiling, declared "I'm Le Roy Brown, and you are never going to forget me!". A real dancer, this one... true joy resonates from him- and I'm sure he's going to be right. He's cast in the show and already making his presence well- known in wonderful memorable ways.

Or Daniella- one of our "difficult" students from last year's graduating class who dropped by last Thursday's Open House long enough to let us know she was really doing well in HS, and now could see why we were so hard on her last year-  not letting her quit or give up; so confident now she clearly understood and was grateful and let us know with hugs and praise that I could wear for a year- the kind of gift that honors a teacher's efforts, especially on the most challenging of students. We're all so pleased for and proud of Daniella.

I'm seeing stars! Bright shining stars!

Mary Oliver will soon publish another brilliant volume of essays and poems that I'm sure I'm going to love. Last week I read a preview- she writes in Upstream,

"One tree is like another tree, but not too much. One tulip is like another tulip, but not all together. More or less, like people- a general outline, the stunning individual strokes."

Beautiful. and timely. For it's becoming that time of year when the stunning individual strokes begin to manifest themselves in my classroom.

I'm seeing a multitude of individual stars select great words for claim sentences about immigrants as they see bias represented in a drawing from over 100 years ago that they have zoomed in on and sucked the details out of. Technology brings the drawing to life for them in ways that we haven't been privileged to use in years past and the results are astounding.

"According to the artist, Immigrants were not treated good. According to Roosevelt ,immigrants were ignorant and illiterate."

"According to the artist, immigrants passing through Ellis island should be treated different and looked down upon. According to Roosevelt, immigrants don't belong in America and should not be treated fairly."

They're comprehending message and using clever words to sound out as stunning individuals- far beyond what I'm used to or ready for this early in the school year. They actively seek synonyms and choose to express their claims with clear strong words. It's unexpected and delightful these stunning individual strokes.

I'm delighting in stars!

I'm still singing Hallelujah! and learning to make a habit of pausing long enough to notice and delight. These children who were supposed to be so tough and so challenging are giving us plenty to sing about and recognize as awesome first steps toward a year that now seems sure to be filled with so much light.

We just have to choose to look for the light and to see the stars. For stars are a constant even on cloudy nights. They are never so far away that we can not find them if we just choose to look. This is a different kind of astronomy. and I'm enjoying the looking and watching and waiting for the splendor it continues to reveal.