We had our Popcorn Poetry Performance in the classroom. Lights were off, colored lights draped around the perimeter of the classroom creating an ever-full soulful vibe of kid-friendly, powerful third grade performance whimsy. So excited they were for this performance- talking about what they should where and who they should bring and how many chairs we would need, etc. 

Usually I get choked up at any kid performance because once again, I've become rather "soft." However, I did quite well until the students read their very last poem which they entitled "Dream to Be." Before I go on, might I add that this performance was truly a creation of my students and their whimsical eye. They decided how many lights should be strung and where. They decided where to put the desks and where the stage should dwell. They decided the order in which we would move our poems along and they even decided upon an opening and closing poem as well as where they would stand and why. Student-centered, truly "their own" is what I strive for within my classroom. 

As we neared the end of our performance, the students rearranged themselves at a separate area in our room and began their poem "Dream to Be." Each one designed a flowing poem to be read about their future dreams and aspirations from a painter of houses to getting to college to being an engineer to helping others, to writing a book to change the world. Of course these dreams change as children grow older, but the act of reaffirming the importance of dreaming is so very important-particularly with elementary students. The sooner kids are encouraged to chase their dreams, the hope is they will continue to do so throughout their lives. And as this poetry was continuing, I looked out at the sea of parents sitting in my room-not a dry eye. For some, it was just the mere delight of seeing their child speak in front of a crowd with such raw emotions. For others, perhaps the tears were this realization that kids are sometimes pulled in so many directions, we don't even stop to ask what they are dreaming to be. Or perhaps the tears were deeper for some, tears of dreams that they once had but were never brave enough to chase. Whatever the reason, there was not a dry eye in the sea of eyes I saw as I looked out into the world of parents. 

In that moment what we, as a group, wanted people to hear and realize was optimism and the many voices taking risks and standing up and self-esteem and taking those dreams collected in a bottle and setting them free-all different, beautiful, interesting and filled with a pride and a shared whimsical understanding and a hope for tomorrow...

"Dream to Be...."