Ave Maria

I have a classroom of entrepreneurs. I should probably be teaching the fifth graders business. They'd thank me in the long run. Some day Ella's clay meal business will become a world-renowned toy company. Perhaps, David's free swing tickets will become the Ticketmaster. Mayhaps. Mayhaps not. I don't know when they work no these projects. It's certainly not while I'm teaching. Many of them I had not even noticed, but this weekend I decided to read the little pieces of paper they have taped to their desks. Each paper offered a different ware or service to anyone who was interested. Most were free, but a few came with a penny or nickel price tag. These fifth graders drive a hard bargain.

Unfortunately for them, I do not have a heart or mind for business. If it were up to my teaching, they would all become hopeless, dreaming artists with nothing to live off but their love of everything. Beautiful, but useless.

Most of them don't love learning. At least, they act as though it's the book stuff they don't enjoy learning. That's fair, I suppose. I don't think I'd want to spend my days reciting and practicing using intensive and reflexive pronouns, either. So I don't really mind that they're not that interested in my rants about the parts of speech. If only there were some way to channel their passion for learning about life, people, friendships and nature into a passion for learning in general. And I'm not talking about learning pronouns. Forget the pronouns. I'm talking about asking big questions. To plowing deeper into the chasms of things that I probably don't know. I'd love that. But now were stuck on how boring those pronouns are and how much we want to go to recess. And, for now, that's what I expect, but I'll keep hoping and trying for more.