tiny literature fairies

This picture from my walk with Diego pretty much sums up how I'm feeling today. 

Full of life & vibrant colors,

a "the-sky's-the-limit" kind of mentality.

The air begets change. 

(And a word like 'begets' comes out of nowhere; did I even use that correctly?) 

The reason:

My most challenging student who can barely sit still for 30 seconds

READ SILENTLY IN CLASS TODAY.

For a full ten minutes.

AND THEN

proceeded to tell the class (without my direction) that the book he's reading is "really good" and then he talked about it for 3 minutes.

Even though he didn't raise his hand and just kind of verbally vomited into 

the empty space of the classroom

I was frozen in place as I watched something take place in this child's face

as his peers listened to him in silence. 

And it wasn't because he was telling a joke or making fun of someone. 

It was because he had something valuable to say. 

ABOUT BOOKS.

And then, other students started talking about how they liked their own books.

(This was the class that left me in tears two weeks ago, and I'm not talking about tears of joy...)

Tiny literature fairies flitted about the room playing songs of joy on their minuscule golden violins. 

To have this kind of breakthrough in week 4? 

Well, we have some work to do and I'm convinced it's going to be the

best year yet