A favorite book that I read several years ago was called THE MIRACLES OF SANTA FICO. It was the story of a beloved priest in a small village in Italy. His dying wish was to witness a miracle, and so all the villagers faked a miracle by gluing leaves to a withered fig tree. Of course, the priest wasn’t fooled, but his parting words were profound to me…
His life stretched out before him and for the first time he
realized that it had all been a miracle –everything—
every day—every accident—every coincidence—every
disappointment—every joy—all of it…It was all a miracle.
As teachers and parents we witness miracles every day. Children are born knowing nothing, and yet they miraculously learn to speak, walk, laugh, and sing. They come to school knowing very little, and they learn to read, share, write, cooperate, play games, and love learning.
As we say good-bye to this school year, think about all the miracles you've seen as you've polished your little stars!
THE STAR POLISHER (Source Unknown)
I have a great job in the universe of occupations.
What do I do? I’m a “star polisher.”
It’s a very important job. If you want to know how important, just go out at night and look at the stars twinkling and sparkling. You see, I’m a teacher, an educator, a mentor. The stars are the children in my class. My job is to take them – in whatever shape they come – and shine and buff them and then send them out to take their places as bright twinkling beacons in the sky. They come into my room in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes they’re bent, tarnished, dirty, crinkly or broken. Some stars are cuddly and soft. Some are prickly and thorny. As I buff and polish, I train and teach my little stars. I tell them that the world cannot do without them. I tell them they can be the brightest, shiniest stars in the sky and the world will be a better place because of them. Each night as I look at the sky, I’m reminded of my very important job and awesome responsibility. Then I get my soft buffing cloth and my bottle of polish in preparation for tomorrow…for my class of little stars.
