All things must come to an end...

THE FINAL CHAPTER

Priceless photo #1

I've realized it's a lot harder to say goodbye than I thought, knowing that when I write my final entry for the year, it's just that...my FINAL chapter on the most monumental year of teaching I've had thus far.   I've put myself out there, and I've been honest about what I feel is truly important in this world.  In case you haven't guessed already, it's children (a close second, my banjo).  Yes those angelic, curious, spontaneous, fearless observers that remind you to create simply because that is what we are born to do.  They create art in all they do because it's within them, and that my friends is a force to be reckoned with.

Priceless photo #2:  Kids in crochet beards and sock puppets who look like they just came from an after party at Studio 54.  Thanks again to my cousin Aundrea Sprengelmeyer for making those beards (I expect to get one for Christmas, just saying).

So there you have it, It's quite hard to find closure (or the right words) when you're not exactly ready to write the final chapter.  The only only way I know how to say goodbye without writing a novel longer than that really boring text book that sits in the back of every classroom in America (from 1972), is by simply narrowing down the year to three projects that have meant the most to me:

1.  Sock Puppets

2.  Growing Up

3.  Dreaming Big

Priceless photo #3

1. SOCK PUPPETS
What happens when you watch the same Dave Eggers speech ten times (yes, another inspiring TED talk)?  You start to realize this guy has the right idea about teaching, which begins with making your learning environment a magical place to be in.  Though I wasn't able to make my classroom into a pirate supply store (YET!) like Eggers was able to do with his after school writing center; I was inspired by how he made one totally creative and engaging place.  IMAGINATION is not dead.  What kid (or adult) wouldn't want to hang out in a pirate shop?  Make a creative, eclectic space, and kids won't even notice they're LEARNING!  Imagine that?

This is 826 Valencia, home to Eggers' after school writing center, which also serves as a pirate supply store.  I first got to visit this place three years ago while on tour with my sister Laurel (a.k.a. Little Scream) in San Francisco.  They pulled a trap door on me, and I felt like a kid again.

826 Valencia inspired me to create my own dream classroom, which initiated a writing prompt given to my students beginning with three simple words: "My dream classroom...".  I brought their dreams to an organization in support of the arts: Art Gumbo.  There we won first place, parents cried (in a good way), and so began the building of our sock puppet theater/reading fort.  Let's just say we spent a lot of time after school gluing feathers and eyeballs onto used socks.  Used socks might not make you too excited, but take a look at some footage and photos of what we did, and you'll understand why this project made us a part of a real community - our One Magic Classroom tribe.

Sock Puppet Theater AND BEYOND!!!!!

You'll notice my awesome friend Julie Arensdorf who came into my classroom, played the piano, and did a writing project with my happy kids.  See happy kids below:

She read us a story as well.  Take note of the posing.  We practice that kind of stuff.

A roof made out of old books!  Recycling at its best.

Look!  There's even a light and handmade oversized pillow to sit on (thanks to Candace Eudaley!).

Our sock puppet theater also serves as a reading fort.  I'm not going to lie, I was a little worried that the kids would just mess around, but an amazing thing happened....they actually read!  I also got to use it as an incentive for good behavior.  Oh, and did I mention I'm totally working on my own fort at home?  It sort of makes everything you do a little more exciting and magical.  

2. GROWING UP
Birthdays are awesome as a kid: ice-cream cake, Beatles T-shirts, Polly Pockets, my brother water-ballooning my friends and I in the backyard (most definitely someone getting hit in the eye and crying as well), and last but not least my mom dancing in the living room.  Growing up One Magic Classroom style is a little bit like a birthday party; you get to tape fake beards on your face and wear vintage glasses.  These are some of my favorite photos from the year, mostly because the kids have tape all over their faces.  I'm thinking this might need to be a calendar at some point.  I still have a lot that I want to do as I get older...or "grow up" in kid terminology, so it's great to hear what they all want to do with their lives.  It really makes me think about my own goals, and that's a magical thing - a lifetime of working towards something bigger than yourself.

DYLAN

"Where did all the tape go?" says Grandma No-Fun.

BEN

I call this the "sophisticated beard" look.  Does this guy work at IBM?

3. DREAMING BIG
We all have dreams, in fact every night we dream.  But the kind of dreams I am talking about are the waking dreams, the dreams you might ponder while picking your nose or staring out into the horizon.  At some point growing up, you probably had to give up on your dreams because somebody said it wasn't practical, and I'm about to say that's not really a practical way to think after all.  Money may come and go, but when you follow what you love, your passion, your bliss; a magical thing happens---happiness, and that only comes from doing what you love to do.  That, my friends, no one can take away from you.  I had a dream that I would start a blog and spread happiness by simply letting my students imagine.  We did that, and because thousands of people have now read our blog, you've (that's right YOU being Mr. and Ms. Read-e-pants-McGee) really inspired my students to keep on creating and gave them a voice.  They've had not only an audience of supportive parents and teachers, but a global audience, and this is really exciting for kids.  Every time we check our readership statistics, we find another country and locate it on the map.  Who would have thought our blog has made it all the way to Muldova in just a few short months?  Don't lie to yourself.  I hadn't heard of it either.

If I had to sum up my year in one photo, it would be from a wish.  Laney made a wish and blew her dandelion into the wind, with it a magical force that reminds me to find my inner nine-year-old.  When I asked her what her wish was, she said it was for One Magic Classroom, and that if she told me it wouldn't come true.  Well, I made my own wish for O.M.C. and I'm not telling anyone either.  

"May the force be with you."

-Luke Skywalker from the movie Star Wars