I recall hearing someone speak of “the dawn of ideas”, and ever since, I’ve tried to see that dawn doing its wonderful work in my classes. Like many of us, I love the look of a newly made morning, with the sunshine once again slowly dispensing its good spirits, and I like to look for a similar kind of newness in the thinking my students and I do. Together, we are the recipients of countless ideas in a 48-minute class period, each of them rising among us with warmth and encouragement, each of then throwing a little light out for anyone needing it. Even the undersized, wispy ideas that surface in the midst of our conversations bring their own special and useful brightness, though sometimes they disappear among the more dazzling ones. New dawns of ideas don’t stop in my classes, or in any class. When minds meet in a classroom, consider it a law that the light of ideas – imposing or petite, showy or reserved -- will inevitably brighten up the place.
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