Yesterday, our Head of School gave us a day off to visit other classrooms, so I drove up through the colorful autumn countryside to visit some excellent teachers at Pomfret School, in northeastern Connecticut. It was a perfect fall day, with the sunshine just muted enough to allow the leaves to present themselves in all their clear colors. Bright sunlight would have been glaring on the colors, like a bright light in an art museum. Today the light was subdued and soft, so the quilt-like look of the woods was extra lovely. I spent an hour in the morning visiting with my grandson, Noah, in Brooklyn, almost next door to Pomfret. We walked around the leafy yard in the chilly air, sometimes raking leaves, sometimes just sauntering along together, hand in hand. We spent some wonderful minutes down by the woodpile, pretending to saw and chop wood. (See photo, above.) As he sawed with a stick, Noah made a wonderful sound like the motor of a chainsaw. I soon said goodbye and drove over to Pomfret, where I spent an inspirational few hours in the classrooms of some fine teachers. I was amazed by how much I learned from these young men. I learned to be gentle, polite, and firm, and I learned to expect great things from each student each day. (These were not new lessons for me, but it was wonderful to re-learn them today.) As I drove home through the rolling, multicolored hills of fall, I felt thoroughly grateful to be alive on this unique planet.
No comments:
Post a Comment