Throughout the year I know I've talked a few times about time, how fleeting it is and how if we let it, it controls our thinking and our whereabouts and where we are and where we want to go. And I think if anything I have done this year, it is come to the realization that you can never make the excuse that you don't have enough time to "have fun." That time isn't wasted time-it's precious time. Do you really need to shove in one more math question or do you have time for a little 1 minute brain break to tell a pretty funny story. Stories are the essance of humanity. In fact, if I really take a look at the teachers and mentors who had the most profound impact on my life-they were the teachers who told the stories. They told stories so well in fact that to this day-I may not remember that exact piece or that exact content area they taught, but I remember that one story they told that left me with the biggest smile on my face. Perhaps the key to a successful teacher is one who embeds stories so seamlessly into his/her lesson that you can't even tell the difference between where the story begins and where the lesson ends. Because think about it-a lesson is a story-if you're doing it right. 

Today I was headed into teaching reading and we were completing two novel studies and before I began I noticed of my students who consistently brings in little trinkets had brought yet another. I scooped the little trinket up and then smiled at the thought this student's mother had told me not too long ago. After her mother had checked her pockets and backpack for little stuffed animals and such, this student got on the bus and as the mom was looking at the bus window she saw her student and a little stuffed animal waving goodbye from the window. The entire class (including the student) burst out laughing because even more important about sitting in the classroom of life is we find joy in eachother's very unique and diverse personalities and characters. Just stop for a minute. Because life is short. Tell a funny story or perhaps listen to one. Stories are what create the love and the whimsy that is constantly passed from person to person. Humor is the best medicine of it all.