There is a little friend I’ve “adopted” this year (really, this child has adopted me).  From the first day, first moment of introduction, a connection was formed:

• Teacher:  …and this is Mrs. Van; she’s the boss of our school.
• Child:  Why do you want that job?
• Me:  I’ve been asking myself that question for years…

It’s been “on” ever since that first encounter.  This child seeks me out daily to interact, comment, and share a special observation or two along the way.  Take this conversation:

• Child:  (Getting out of the car to walk with me) I need to eat breakfast today.
• Me:  Wonderful, because here we are!
• Child:  This is the lunchroom, NOT the breakfast room.  Where is the breakfast room, boss of the school?

Or how about this observation:

• Child:  I need Monday off for ‘labors’ (Labor Day)
• Me:  Well, you will have Monday off in fact!
• Child:  I guess you are smart enough to be the boss of the school ’cause we need rest from all this school work we have to do the first week.

After another weekend, this was our morning encounter:

• Child:  So boss, I went fishin’ this past weekend.
• Me:  I enJOY fishing!  Did you catch anything for supper?
• Child:  No, it’s called fishin’ and not catchin’…we ate hamburgers instead.

Then, there’s one of my favorites I overheard during lunch last week:

• Another child to my little friend:  How do you know she’s the Boss of the school anyway?
• My friend:  Do you not listen to her at rally and on the mornin’ ‘nouncements everyday?  ‘Cause she just is and ’cause she carries keys and open doors and serves breakfast in the lunch room and helps children and teachers and ’cause everybody says so…
• Other child:  Well, who made her that?
• My friend:  Well, God of course ’cause she’s got a direct line.  (Don’t I hope?!)  🙂

Today, while walking through the classroom of this friend, the child asked to speak “private” with me.  🙂  We decided to go for a little walk and run a couple of errands together in the school.  During our walk, we stopped in the lounge to fill my glass with ice and the child noticed the staff board with pictures:

• Child:  So all these people work with you, Boss, to make our school work.
• Me:  That’s right!  It takes all of us working together as a team to help you reach your dream everyday.
• Child:  Well, Mrs. Miller must’ve had a dream to build this school ’cause we sure work as a team here at Miller everyday and nobody wants to cross you or her, Boss.

It does take the entire team working together to make dreams come true for our learners.  Just like my little friend, I believe in the POWER of LME and in the POWER of Mrs. Miller’s “dream” too!  Dream on, Team Miller!  🙂

Note:  …and for those of you curious to know, this child knows my real name but prefers to call me “Boss of the School…out of respect.”  🙂  I love my job!