This is me with my students today as we worked on composing The Digital Simile and Metaphor project (as tied to various themes in the novel we are just finishing, Sharon Draper’s Tears of a Tiger.

Can you feel the joy? The energy? The enthusiasm? This is what real education looks like — at least at certain moments over the course of a school year, but unfortunately far too many of America’s classrooms never have even one spectacular moment of sheer joy for the kids whose butts are in our seats. And if students aren’t enjoying learning, how effective can we really be as educators.

Smile, it’s Happy Friday!! And we are being very productive. (Rigor and enjoyment are not mutually exclusive — when are our schools going to learn this?)