Small Gifts

"Mr. Spencer, can we talk?" 

Usually the words "can we talk" lead up to something dreadful. I nod reluctantly. 

"We want blogs," a boy says. 

"Real blogs. We want to know how to do Wordpress blogs," a girl adds. 

I talk to them about parental permission and ideal platforms. We get into visual design and talk about potential names. They talk about starting an informal "blogging club" where they comment on each other's blogs. 

I'm not entirely surprised. I told them they could come see me if they wanted to continue blogging after our larger blog project. Still, I always feel like the luckiest teacher around when kids want to pursue something we've done in class on their own . . . for fun. These moments are rare. And they probably have less to do with my teaching abilities and more to do with the students. Still, these are the small gifts that make a huge difference. Listen to the audio reflection here: