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Friday, June 11, 2010

Talismans...and, oh yeah, the world DID swallow me up.

Okay, maybe not the world, just the week. This week swallowed me whole. It ate me alive. I swear, the last coherent memory I have is Monday...and suddenly it is Friday??? Wha????

Anyway, I was cleaning my desk at school (a HIDEOUS job) and I found a very special folder that I totally forgot about. Some people collect beautiful things, display them elegantly and have lovely houses that make me drool with envy. But I collect paper.

Lots of paper.

Most of the paper on the desk I don't even look at. Ever. It's just there.....yes, I need the employee safety protocol for 2003! Yes, I need my evaluation project fot 2007!

Useless.

Yet I can't seem to let these pages go.....but I was gonna....until a stack fell out of the folder and I remembered why I could not throw the folder away.

It held the collection.

It held my talismans. Little snippets written by students about writing that are filled with such beauty.....*sigh*

They make everything I do worth while.

Here is one, written my a student who didn't speak English when she first came. I am leaving her original spelling.

Writing

Without writing
I would never remember all
the butiful things
I have wrote.
Writing is more powerful
than speaking.
Speaking might make you
forget things,
but no matter how old and wrinkly it is,
you will still remember every written thing.
Also, my hart says
to keep writing.
It is like my hart is controling me
to write as much as I need.
When you say something butiful
it will break against the wall,
but when you write,
you will keep it
forever.

M.P.

And that, folks, is why I do what I do.

Sometimes, as grown-ups, we forget the passion, the need, kids have to express themselves in writing. Their hearts control them.

Just like our hearts control us.

hrh

13 comments:

Sherrie Petersen said...

What an amazing, insightful student! You must be an incredible teacher. I would have saved that too.

Tricia J. O'Brien said...

Whoa, what an amazing child. "it will break against a wall" is such potent imagery.
I have a feeling she had an amazing teacher who helped her open that door to her heart.
Thanks for sharing this.

Shannon O'Donnell said...

Oh, I think my heart just melted! :-)

Clementine said...

I love that! You have an amazing job. If I was you, I couldn't throw stuff like that away either. They are pieces of your life! You need a big scrapbook to put them in. Time to go shopping, Shelley! BTW, I like your new header and your background. It's fun!

Myrna Foster said...

Beautiful. Thanks for sharing that, Shelley.

Corey Schwartz said...

Beautiful post, Shelley.

Joshua McCune said...

Kids always amaze w/ their insight b/c they can express with purity unadulterated by the day2day humdrum tedium of life. Thanks for sharing.

Sharon K. Mayhew said...

Shelley--Wonderful post...When kiddos find a passion for something it is all consuming...My daughter is writing. School is out so she's up late at night tapping away on one of her wips. I love her enthusiasum.

Jackee said...

How gorgeous: when you say something beautiful it will break against the wall.

Love it! Those moments make a job such as yours all worth it. Thanks for sharing! And welcome back to the week!

D said...

Wow!!! Ditto.

Kimberley Griffiths Little said...

I'm glad the world spit you back out! And what a beautiful piece of heart and writing from that child. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

My last coherent memory is Monday as well. I think it was a Monday in 2002, but it might've been 2003. I forget.

As for the poem, it's just lovely. Thank you for sharing it.

Nishant said...

I would have saved that too.
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