David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants

kid, and no one else is getting in.” Her
colleague Robert Pianta added: “There’s
no rhythm. No pace. This is going
nowhere. There is no value in what
she’s doing.”
Only then did the class begin to
deteriorate. The little boy started making
faces. When the child started doing
cartwheels, Stella missed it entirely.
Three or four students to the immediate
right of the teacher were still gamely
trying to follow along, but Stella was so
locked onto the book that she wasn’t
giving them any encouragement.
Meanwhile, to Stella’s left, five or six
children had turned themselves around.
But that was because they were
bewildered, not because they were