Massachusetts School Library Association
 MEMBER PORTAL                
​Join or Renew     Member Directory
  • Home
  • About Us
    • MSLA Leadership 2020-21
    • Executive Board Meetings
    • Joint Statements: MLA, MassCUE
    • Spotlight Archive
    • Strategic Plan 2016-22
    • MSLA Constitution
  • Membership
    • Member Portal
    • Join or Renew Your Membership
    • Members Map
    • Email List
    • Regions >
      • Boston
      • Northeast
      • Metrowest
      • Southeast
      • Central
      • West
    • Independent Schools
    • Vocational Technical Schools
  • Conference
  • Prof.Learning
    • Online Courses
    • MSLA and PDPs
    • Member Blogs
  • Resources
    • Pandemic Resources
    • DESE Rubric
    • Certification & Licensure
    • Program Standards & Rubrics
    • Job Description: School Librarian
    • Job Listings
    • Literature Resources
    • ELL for School Librarians
    • MLS Strategic Planning
    • Intellectual Freedom
    • Virtual School Librarian
  • Advocacy
    • MA School Library Study for Equity & Access
    • MSLA Advocacy Priorities
    • Everyday Advocacy
    • Library Legislative Day
    • Library Legislative Breakfasts
    • ESSA
    • Exemplary Programs
  • Newsletter
    • 2021 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2021
    • 2020 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2020
      • May 2020
      • October 2020
    • 2019 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2019
      • May 2019
      • October 2019
    • 2018 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2018
      • May 2018
      • October 2018
    • 2017 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2017
      • May 2017
      • September 2017
      • October 2017
    • 2016 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • February 2016
      • May 2016
      • October 2016
    • 2015 MSLA Forum Issues >
      • April 2015
      • November 2015
    • MSLA Forum 2002-2013
  • Awards
    • Judi Paradis Memorial Grant
    • Archive: History of Awards
    • 2019 Awards Picture Gallery
    • 2018 Awards Pictures
    • 2017 Awards Pictures
    • 2016 Awards Pictures
    • 2015 Awards Pictures
  • Bookmark Contest
    • 2020 Winners
    • 2019 and 2018 Winners
    • 2016 and 2017 Winners
    • 2012 to 2015 Winners
    • 2009 to 2011 Winners
    • 2004 to 2008 Winners
    • Bookmark Judges

Ignite Talk: Dreaming of Possibilities

10/17/2017

0 Comments

 
Wendy Garland is the Librarian at Avery Elementary School, in Dedham, MA,
​and received a 2017 Super Librarian Award
My 7 year old son stands at the bottom of the driveway.  He is prepared for his new car wash business.  He holds a sign.  It is written in large, wobbly 7 year old letters, in pencil on scrap paper.  I could not read it from the other side of the kitchen, let alone from a moving car.  Yet there he stands, awaiting the customers that he is sure are just around the corner.  45 minutes later he is still there.  In the same spot.  This is the same boy that bounces from one activity to another.  How is it possible that he is standing, alone, at the end of the driveway for three quarters of an hour?

“How’s business?” I ask.  “No one yet” he responds.  Did I mention that we live on a dead end?  Did I mention that he is charging $20 a car?
​

My entrepreneurial son is feeling a bit defeated after several afternoons of standing at the bottom of the driveway.  I talk to him about the price of his car wash.  I explain that while I know he has his heart set on a twenty dollar bill, people are looking for the bargain car wash and only want to spend about $6 or so.  He begrudgingly makes a new sign to reflect the NEW rate - $6.  And while he’s at it, I suggest using a marker so drivers could see it better.  He goes back to the end of the driveway.
I had a revelation one Saturday while weeding my gardens and watching my son.  What motivates a young boy to stand alone with his orange sign for days on end?  The very same thing that motivates a reader to pick up his or her next book. Possibility.

Possibility is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “something that might or might not happen or exist.”  The Oxford Dictionary defines possibility as “unspecified qualities of a promising nature or potential.”  The common theme is potential.  As a reader I know that it is a possibility that in a book…
  • I will understand or learn something new.
  • I will meet someone like me
  • I will meet someone not like me
  • I will travel
  • I will escape
As a reader I know that it is a possibility that in a book…
  • I will love.
  • I will be loved.
  • I will fear.
  • I will confirm my beliefs and ideas.
  • I will meet someone or something that challenges my ideas.
  • I may answer questions I have.
  • I may develop bigger questions.

So let’s return to my son’s story.  We left him standing at the end of the driveway (on our dead end).

My son knows that it will take him weeks to earn the kind of money that one car wash will bring him.  The possibility of getting a customer that will bring those riches motivates him to prepare and wait.  He knows that interest is developing.  Neighborhood kids are asking him about business.  One woman slowed down and offered him a dollar for his “efforts.”  That was all the inspiration he needed.  He was reinvigorated to stand at the bottom of the driveway.

As I watched this story unfold I was intrigued by the extraordinary moment of motivation.  I began to reflect on what this meant to my role as an educator.  Am I guiding my students to these moments of motivation?  What is motivating me?  How do I make this happen?

My son dreams of a booming car wash business because of the possibilities.  Will he do business?  That remains to be seen, but the neighbors are now waiving at the determined little boy at the end of the driveway.

Our students are opening a world of possibilities.  Our job is to support them on their journey and provide them with opportunities to learn, affirm and challenge their beliefs, question and grow.

I would like to conclude with a quote from Jean Piaget. “The goal of education is not to increase the amount of knowledge but to create the possibilities for a child to invent and discover, to create men (and women) who are capable to doing new things.”

Go.  Open the doors of possibility for your students and for yourself.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Forum Newsletter

    Co-Editors
    Katherine Steiger
    Reba Tierney

    Katherine and Reba are Librarians at Newton South High School and Waltham High School, respectively.

    Categories

    All
    AASL
    Academic
    Advocacy
    ALA
    Authors
    Book Trailers
    Censorship
    Column
    Conference
    Culture
    Databases
    Dewey
    Digital Citizenship
    E Books
    E-books
    Elementary
    ESSA
    Ethics
    Evaluation
    Inquiry
    Leadership
    Learning Commons
    Legislation
    Literacy
    Maker Space
    Nonfiction
    Orientation
    Planning
    PLN
    President's Remarks
    Professional Development
    Reading
    Science
    Secondary
    Standards
    Technology
    Union
    Volunteers
    Weeding

    Archives

    February 2021
    October 2020
    May 2020
    February 2020
    October 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    October 2018
    May 2018
    February 2018
    October 2017
    September 2017
    May 2017
    February 2017
    October 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    November 2015
    April 2015

    MSLA Forum Past Issues:
    January 2015
    April 2015
    ​
    2002-2015 MSLA Forum

    RSS Feed

The Massachusetts School Library Association  works to ensure every school has a school library program that is fully integrated at all grade levels across the curriculum and has a significant and measurable impact on student achievement….Read more…..and Learn more about MSLA

Contact MSLA:
Emily Kristofek, Office Manager/Event Planner
P.O. Box 336. Wayland, MA 01778
ekristofek@maschoolibraries.org
​
508-276-1697 

®2021 Massachusetts School Library Association. All Rights Reserved.