I have so much fun reading your comments on the blog! Since it’s the season for being thankful, I want to thank you for sharing your stories. Here’s one of my own favorites. It’s about Noah. He was a brilliant math student but not much of a reader. Daily independent reading was a struggle for Noah, and I was desperate to engage him in a book. One weekend, I read Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer and thought it might appeal to several of my students. So I brought the book to class and gave Noah the first chance to read it. He opened the book and noticed what looked to me like a random pattern of symbols running along the bottom of each page. He was instantly intrigued. He checked out the book, took it home, and broke the code that night. A week later, he brought in pages of the text he had deciphered. Wow! I was impressed and made sure he shared his discovery with the class.

The next day I noticed that he was enthusiastically reading the book. He was hooked! When he finished that book, there was another one in the series that grabbed his attention. Then he picked up the first book in the Redwall series by Brian Jacques, and I realized that Noah had become a reader. Daily independent reading was no longer a struggle for him, and it became his second favorite time of the day. (Math still came first!)

Being a teacher is a unique and wonderful way of life, isn’t it? Despite the hard work and the long hours, there is just nothing in the world as rewarding as when the aha moment lights up a child’s eyes. I must admit I miss it, and that’s what makes me so thankful for this blog. I get to be in the classroom for a few minutes every day—I just peek out through your eyes. Thanks for sharing! I can’t wait to read even more! Do you have a favorite aha story? I can’t wait to read it.

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