The beauty of teaching students is subtle. Sometimes seeing a shy, unassuming kid smile at adult humor is the best beautiful episode of the day. Then the I-get-it moments are the ones that take a teacher’s breath away. Friday, it was a piece of writing.

I think freedom is
Declaring an opinion in the form of written language is scary. Asking fifth graders to explain why an art print shows details of personal freedom and how democracy is in the work is exhausting. However, students want to understand. So they take the risk and write what they think.
words written as opinion are beautiful
“You can see people communicating because no one can tell a person they can’t (communicate) because they are adults and they (adults) make their own decisions.””It is both (freedom and democracy) because they are fighting for their freedom, but they can get hurt.” Hearing kids make connections is beautiful.The first step for them is taking a risk. And they do that well.