Sometimes a book finds you – rather than you finding a book, and The Three Questions (based on a story by Leo Tolstoy) by Jon J. Muth is a book that found me. In the midst of looking for other topics, my eye was drawn to the muted water color and the fact that there is a children's book based on Tolstoy - not an easy author to understand. I settled down on the floor to enjoy the story.
Nikolai wants to be a good person and
sets out to find the answers to three questions: When is the best time
to do things? Who is the most important one? What is the right thing
to do?
Like most quest stories, Nikolai consulted several creatures:
Sonya, the heron; Gogol, the monkey, and Pushkin, the dog. Each gave
answers according to their own perspectives and experiences and their
answers did not satisfy Nikolai. Figuring Leo, the wise turtle, might
have better answers, Nikolai went to him. Leo was digging and
Nikolai offered to help. In the midst of digging, Nikolia heard a
cry for help and rescued an injured panda and her cub and cared for
them. Through these experiences, Leo observed that Nikolia had the answers to his own questions,
“Remember then that there is only one important time, and that time is
now. The most important one is always the one you are with. And the
most important thing is to do good for the one who is standing at
your side.”
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| From: https://twitter.com/TeachYOUMatter |
Just recently a teacher mentioned how
discouraged she was with teaching - the Common Core mandates, a
district imposed literacy curriculum, and general disrespect of the
teaching profession. She said, “There are days that I wonder if it
matters. What are we doing?” I reminded her of the tale of
the boy walking down the beach and finding an old man throwing the
stranded starfish back into the water. There were hundreds of the
starfish on the beach and the boy exclaimed, “Why are you doing
this? There is no way you can save them all!” The old man turned
to the boy, while picking up another, and said, “It matters to this
one.”
The teachers I know matter. Each and
every day they focus on doing the best they can for each child in
their classroom – the ones standing by their side – even in the
midst of overwhelming mandates, testing and general discourtesy. It
matters – to each child – each day – every day.
