I Am Smart and Kind

R2 with friends on Picture Day. The entire look is her own.

A couple of days ago we had goal-setting conferences at school. Each advisor (teacher) meets with every student and her/his parents to set academic and self-efficacy (behavior) goals for the school year. They start with where the child is currently and go from there. R2's advisor (Ms. B) took the time to write down and share a description of my little girl. I have to say I was blown away by the accuracy and beauty of the portrait she outlined--she sees my daughter, the whole child. She was very perceptive. I loved the way she spoke to R2: with obvious respect. Ms. B framed everything--R2's strengths as well as the things she needs to work on--in such a positive way that R2 didn't touch the ground for the rest of the day. I don't think she even knows what happened to her in that meeting, but the effect was profound on her and on me. I learned a big, fat parenting (read: mothering) lesson in those 15 minutes.

This same advisor also helped her students create poems about themselves. Here is R2's. I love it:

[I made the mistake of publishing R2's poem without her permission. She has requested that I remove it. If you had a chance to read it, count yourself lucky.]