As I walked in afterschool today, I felt as if I was looking into a service-learning snow globe. Students were making holiday cards on one end of the room and packing toys on the other end to be donated to those in need. I heard laughter and saw kindness and patience, determination and wisdom, love and cooperation. And I began to think how much further we would be in education today if we just treated every lesson and every day in our classroom as a way to think about molding citizens and giving back to the community. 

There are people who always say, "Students should learn about worksheets because they are required to follow directions and that is a life skill." But I argue that worksheets are just so impersonal and so disposable. I cannot remember a single worksheet I completed from elementary school through high school. But I do remember the authentic experiences, the band concerts, the nights marching in the rain, the stadium lights, the power of being part of a classroom, that ridiculous discussion we had inside one of my history classes, the personalities of my teachers and the discussions that were either so funny or so ridiculous that they are forever ingrained in my mind. 

Authentic discussions are so very important. Loving others and thinking beyond ourselves is so very important and finally if we aren't teaching our children how to be citizens-well-we aren't teaching them anything at all really. Learning and Giving and Living are the words and the soul that empower the field of education and the field of whimsy.