School Pictures

We were on a field trip to the Bon Secours Wellness Arena to watch Auburn play Vanderbilt in the first round of the SEC Womens Basketball tournament.

My group of twenty 4th graders and I got to sit in court side seats for the first quarter of the game.

I sat beside Mauro and Daniel.

Mauro and his family are from Guatemala.

Daniel and his family are from Mexico.

Both of them are on our school soccer team and know a lot about fútbol.

On Fridays at recess, they became my teachers and I became their student and they taught me to yell “Woah!,” cheer “Woo hoo!,” and watch the beautiful game (and them!) with eye that see, ears that hear and a heart that understands.

They taught me to watch in wonder.

I was on my school basketball team so I know a lot about the greatest game ever invented (according to Dennis Hopper as Shooter Flatch in the greatest story ever told about basketball, Hoosiers),

“Have you ever been to a basketball game before?” I asked them just before tip off.

“No,” they answered. “This is our first one!”

I loved explaining the game to them.

They loved learning about it.

They watched in wonder as a player made a 3 point basket from way beyond the line.

“Woah!” they yelled as a player drove to the basket and hit the floor hard when she was by another player and got to shoot 2 free throws. 

“Woo hoo!” they cheered as a player made a great pass to her teammate under the basket.

This is teaching and learning at their best - loving the subject, watching in wonder, smiling at the serendipity of it all.

Together.

Wow.