I have my name on the substitute list for classroom aides at the school. A couple times a week I'll get a phone call to go to work. Usually I help individual children with math or reading or help special needs children with their daily routine. One day I was asked to sub in the library - my favorite place to work. This particular time, I ended up teaching a grade two class about biographies. We were to discuss what a biography is and then the children were to pair up and write the biography of their partner.
As the class went to work on their assignment, I walked around the room trying to keep them on task and answer any questions they had. One little girl tapped my arm as I walked past her. "Mrs. Humphreys, my friend told me you are a real writer and wrote a real book." When I said that her friend was right, this little girl's face lit up in amazement. "That is so cool!" she said. Then she turned to her partner and they started working on their biographies.
The next time I walked past her, she tapped my arm again. "So you have a real book that you really wrote?"
"Yes." I smiled and asked her to turn back to her work. She giggled and said again, "That is SO cool!"
This went on for the rest of the class. Every time I walked by she would have a different question. "What is the book about?", "Is your book in a bookstore?", and "Are you writing more books?" After every one of my responses, she would say how cool it was. (I wouldn't have normally encouraged her interest in the middle of class, but she was one of the more diligent students and was getting the assignment finished.)
At the end of the class period, I had them line up at the door to return to their classroom. This little girl stood at the end of the line where I was standing and said, "Mrs. Humphreys, if you write books, you must make all the money in your house."
She was a little disappointed when I told her Mr. Humphreys makes the money in our house. Oh well, it can't all be cool, can it?
