Pointing, Painting, Priming

I gathered Elena’s backpack and my water bottle, stood by our bookshelf, and ran a quick email check on my phone. After noticing the lack of urgency in my inbox, I looked at the top shelf where the yellow, orange, and red books rest peacefully. Love That Dog was pushed back out of plain sight, so I pulled it out and into my bag, put a bow on Elena’s pigtails, and got on my way.

Later that day, when our students left for P.E., I sat with Gianna and asked her if she had read that book. She shook her head no and asked about it. I said, “This will be our next read-aloud, and if it’s okay with you, I’d like to read it.”

When I opened the book, I was surprised to find all the pink stickies Christy had left for me when she gifted me this copy. “You see? I learned so much from her,” I told Gianna as we laid out the stickies to study Christy’s coaching moves she planned for when reading this book to a group of teachers back in 2019.

I remember that summer institute with her so well. I remember the familiar inspiration, the well-known “I want to do that” feeling, when she shared a teaching move I hadn’t heard of before. I also remember my confidence building up as I prepared myself for a big grade-level change. Those four days in Maryland with Christy gave me an unexpected closure to my time learning from her.

I can’t speak for her, but I can imagine this feeling is similar. When I sit down with Amy, Estelle, Gianna, Darlyn, Liz, and Vicky, I feel the joy of painting possibilities for them and seeing their sense of competence go up. I see my quick think-on-paper ideas evolve into a solid interactive read-aloud experience or magical book club sessions, and I feel joy.

It’s not what I do but how my unshaped ideas go into someone else’s hands and become something bigger, better, and authentic—it’s the idea of paying it forward I always carry with me because I know where many came from.

The other day, while I pushed Elena on the swing, she pointed at a boy climbing the slide across from us. She held her hand up, indicating there was this thing outside of us that she wanted me to see. She pointed [at the boy] like saying, “I see that, Mama. Do you see it, too? Let’s share that.”

When I meet with teachers to answer their questions, I feel like I’m pointing at something the same way Elena does, and as I do, they create their perspective of what they see. Similar to what Christy did for me all those years—priming the seed ideas in need of fresh eyes and recent creativity. I still have her key ideas and pink stickies with me, but I have made something more of what she pointed out.

What a refreshing and energizing way to learn with others.