August 20, 2014
Ideas that color the world…
The grown-ups in the room didn’t have to say a word. Given the opportunity to share their insights, our students said it all.
If you’d been at our opening assembly Thursday, you would have witnessed it, too. A second grader stood up and said, “If you have an idea, you should feel good because it’s YOURS. You should share your idea and not worry about what other people think. Don’t let other people discourage you from coloring the world.” She was interpreting a book I had read called What Do you Do With an Idea? by Kobi Yamada. A string of children of all ages, even some brand new to Mirowitz, stood up to add their insights about how ideas can color the world. Josh, a 7th grader, shared his idea of restoring a bowling alley for veterans with spinal injuries.
We adults didn’t have to say a word. Our students know intuitively that Mirowitz is a community in which individuality is honored, deep thinking is respected, and the ingredients for authentic learning shape their days.
St. Louis has been the focus of national news this week. The tragic events in Ferguson remind us that there are people in St. Louis who do not feel, as Mirowitz students do, that they have a voice. Our hearts and prayers go out to them. We pray that Mirowitz can serve as a model community for a world that respects and celebrates the ideas of all.
B’shalom
Morah Cheryl Maayan