First things first...

While there are many opinions (and even some controversy) on exactly what "tools for life" are, it might be best to start with the most obvious ones. I discovered two of my favorites during my first year of teaching, when I found twenty-nine first and second graders thrust upon me who weren’t the least bit interested in listening to me. Or, didn’t seem to be. Given the fact that I was born with a voice that hardly carried to the back of the room – much less across a playground – I managed to convince myself during the first week that I had clearly chosen the wrong vocation. What was I doing here? Even if I was willing to try another year with the upper grades (who were at least already trained to listen), I was still going to be stuck there for the duration. No way out of it.

I had signed a contract.

I prayed, and wept, and prayed some more, and – short of asking to be stricken with some fatal disease (which was the only honorable way out of the situation), I began spending hours in the teacher’s library, groping around like a blind person for anything that might possibly help. It turned out to be a spectacular place, and the best thing that could have happened to me that year. Because the teacher’s library was not only full of wonderful books, it also contained shelf after shelf of amazing "curiosities." Things like full size replicas of the human skeleton, chemistry kits, and fantastic models of the solar system. And even though most of that stuff was quite above grade level for my students, something wonderful happened.

I accidentally "tapped in" to two of the strongest impulses that are natural to children. Curiosity and enthusiasm. What’s more, I could see exactly how those two things functioned when used together. It happened one morning when I was struggling to shuffle a six-foot metal locker into the classroom, and had more than a few offers of help.

"What is it?"

"Something huge!"

"Maybe a basketball hoop."

"No, that’s an outside thing."

"It’s something science – she always brings something science!"

"It’s wonderful science," I finally reply, after a surprised realization that there were no stragglers to round up out of the hallway this morning. "It might be a little scary, though."

"Ah, nobody gets scared in the daylight!"

"Well, if anybody does, they can stand close to me while we open it. It isn’t dangerous though, I promise. And it isn’t real. It just looks real. Made especially for us to see what we look like inside…"

At any rate, the fanfare of presenting that model skeleton was a lot easier (and more fun!) than getting them all to sit down and take out their science workbooks. That was the morning I learned that curiosity and enthusiasm were "tools" that every child already comes equipped with. And to any teacher who learns how to use them properly, they are like flint and steel. Because whenever you strike the two of those things together…

They make sparks!