more, we saw more, and in turn, we became more interested. Interest
kept us looking, and as even more was revealed to us, we became amazed.
Through all this time, we deepened our appreciation of the complexity of
the tasks undertaken by these children and the significance of their
accomplishments. In short, we felt respect.
Our work made us want to meet these children, to get to know them,
to ask them our questions and hear their answers, to tell them what con-
fused us and delighted us and made us wonder. We wanted to learn from
them and to help them in their learning. We wanted to look at the work
of other children, too.
Much was unresolved when the last session was completed. Signifi-
cant questions had been raised but not answered. Few of the teachers
knew yet how this work would really influence their teaching. None knew
if they would ever use the protocol again or sit with colleagues in similar
sessions. Still, when we left the table at the end of our last session together,
this looking and wonder and respect made a fine foundation, I thought,
for going back into the classroom the next morning.
References
American Heritage Dictionary. (1993). New York: Dell.
Armstrong, M. (1992). Children’s stories as literature: An interview with Michael
Armstrong. Bread Loaf News, 5 (1), 2–4.
Costa, A., & Kallick, B. (Eds.). (2000). Assessing and reporting on habits of mind.
Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Seidel, S. (1998). Learning from looking. In N. Lyons (Ed.), With portfolio in hand:
Va l i d a t i n g t h e n e w t e a c h e r p r o f e s s i o n a l i s m(pp. 69–89). New York: Teachers
College Press.
Smiley, J. (1991). A thousand acres. New York: Knopf.
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