On Friday last week I had the privilege of joining a number of other artists and musicians in providing a day of fun called “Everybody Grows.” The premise is to give teachers an opportunity to plan for 3 hours while their students participate in art activities provided by the Arts Council teaching artists.
I taught 3 different second grade classes in the morning and 4th grade in the afternoon. In my activity, the kids composed a fall poem and then chalked it outside on the playground. By 3:00, I was zapped and not happy that the earlier fall temperatures had risen to a very warm 85 degrees, but I persevered.
As I was leaving, tired, hot, dehydrated, and wondering if what I did was as valuable as banging on drums or doing a torn paper collage, our director Bree said to me, “You don’t know where you may have sparked a child’s interest in poetry.”
We don’t know what seed we have planted with kids. And it may not have been the flower I was expecting to grow.
I did the same writing activity with my grandchildren on Saturday. These seeds I will be able to watch as they grow.
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