my best teachers

If you ask the children who is the teacher in the studio, most of them will assure you that they are my best teachers and here is a prime example of why:
I introduced a stack of nature photographs into the studio to be used in art and as an inspiration for art.  S came into the studio, collected a large bundle of photos, stapled them together and was about to return to class before I said, "Whoa".  I pointed out that taking a whole stack of photos wasn't fair to the other children, I watched her radiant face cloud with regret and immediately realized that I had made a mistake.  I suggested that we look at the stack and decide how we might work with them further.  Her smile brightened again and after some discussion she opted to make a book.

 She spent several studio sessions adding drawings and pages to her book.

When she was finished we read Beautiful Oops! together and I suggested that she could make a book any time.  She quickly countered, "As long as I don't use photos".  I smiled and served myself a big portion of crow and told her that the photo incident wasn't her mistake but mine.  I reminded her that sometimes I think I know how something should be used and then my wonderful teachers come into the studio and remind me of the thousand other ways that I had never begun to imagine.  She laughed at that and returned to her class.