I made my living by acquiescing to childish antics, then twisting the rules to empower the darlings.

And a first-grade classroom is the place where words are born, and reborn, year after year, cradles of letters and sounds. Here, words linger longer in the air than in any other space on earth, inviting us to capture them, revel in them, then walk away with them into the world, hand in hand. Words, like children, wait to be noticed, then known, then ennobled. Words are the scaffolding upon which we build our lives.

Children arrived as innocent as fairy dust and left as tiny beacons of knowledge, and while I lived every day inside their world, I could never explain what happened. Until now.

Let me tell you. My kids are brilliant. Never underestimate children. I don't teach to their minds. Or their hearts. I teach to their spirits, and not one child has failed me. Ever.