DAY 10  Read. Write. Dream.

Well last day is already behind me.  And I knew the students would do well presenting.   Had an audience too.  A few parents.  Adults from several programs.  Judges.  And about ten cute ones, wide eyed and young.  They were sitting up front listening to me talk about the importance of reading and the novel Money Hungry, being entrepreneurs and the like.  Good audience they were.

The young people in Read. Write. Dream.  read some of the pieces they had written.  I love that several of them wrote some impressive beginnings to stories.  I spoke to the audience about creating pictures with words.  Reading.  And how much interesting stories students had written often with only an interesting photo as a prompt.

Presenting can bring about the shakes even with adults.  No shakes today, but I could see a little nervousness.  And who wouldn't be nervous?  Afterwards, while the judges did their thing, I invited the little ones to go and talk to the older students sitting at desks.  It was so cool to see the 13-14 year olds sitting with their posters spread out, flanked by 6-8 year olds asking questions, leaning in, captivated at times.

 I asked the older students how many wanted to be entrepreneurs.  About four out of thirteen said they did.  How many made the decision after the program?  About three.  Plus a few young ones even put their hands up.  I was giddy.  I wanted to teach Money Hungry with the entrepreneurial aspect because I always felt the two were a perfect pair.  Raspberry like so many youth, has an entrepreneurial spirit.   She is always  in pursuit of opportunities to work and make more cash.  But she doesn't think of herself as an entrepreneur, I believe.   Readers of the book might not think of Odd Job as one either.  Yet they both are.  So are many students in the classroom, so lets give them the information and skills to make a career out of it, was my thought.  Having students write up a business plan for Raspberry's boarding house gig would be a great teachable moment.  Wish I'd thought of it during the class

I'm hoping other people will do something along these lines with the book.   But mostly I hope the students I was blessed to work with will keep reading, writing and dreaming of owning their own businesses.  It's the American way after all.  Oh, and who won?  I'm not telling.  In my eyes, we all did.

By the way, thanks for hanging with me on this journey.  I think I learned as much as I taught.  Until next time, Read. Write.  Dream.