Most of us have pretty routine days, which is great because they allow the special days to really be special! Most of my day today was pretty ordinary. Around 4:30 this afternoon, I sat down at the computer to do some very typical schoolwork. That’s when my relatively ordinary day turned into something special. When I checked my email, I found a note from Dana Hankins, the movie producer of Under the Blood Red Sun. Suddenly, my run-of-the-mill day was not so run-of-the-mill. Through our blog, we have made a connection with a movie producer, actors, and the author and screenplay writer, Graham Salisbury. These people are taking the time to email, Tweet, blog, and now Skype with us as we share our experiences learning, reading and writing.
How many kids do you think have the opportunity to talk with authors and movie producers about books? Are we not fantastically lucky that people in Hawaii are interested in what we are learning here in Florida? Not only are they interested, but they want to HELP us LEARN MORE! How great is that?
Dana Hankins inspires me! Thank you, Dana! Thank you for turning what could have been an ordinary classroom experience of reading and discussing a novel into a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me and my kids.
And with that, I have to now list nine more people who inspire me in my work. They make the ordinary extraordinary.
9. Graham Salisbury, author of Under the Blood Red Sun and commenter on our blog!
8. Priscilla Cummings, author of Red Kayak, the first author who visited our classroom, and with whom I got to eat dinner
7. Joan Hiatt Harlowe, author of Thunder from the Sea and a resident of our hometown, Venice
6. Liz Lantigua, author of Mission Libertad who visited our school and related the work involved in publishing her first novel for young people
5. Fern Schumer Chapman who wrote Is it Night or Day? about her mother’s escape to America during the Holocaust and who Skyped with us
4. . Anjna Chouhan and Lisa Peter, the curators of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust who Skyped with us during our celebration of the Bard’s 450th birthday
3. Jan Smith, teacher extraordinaire and Huzzah! blogger
2. Sue Waters and Ronnie Burt, the Edublogs Support Team. Without Sue and Ronnie, my kids and I would not be blogging because I would be lost in the technology. Nobody does customer service like Edublogs. Nobody. Nowhere.
1. My KIDS! Think of all the special times we share during our routine schooldays. Last night I saw one of my former students at a New Year’s Eve party. He said, “When I heard you were here, I had to come right over to see you.” Now those were special words for a regular old language arts teacher to hear. My kids inspire me every day.
Who or what inspires you?