When I got to school today, this photograph had been sent to the all school list-serv. It made my day: first, because the sentiment matched the act of creation itself, and if course, because of how it got there.

My Autobiography and Memoir class read the narratives of Ben Franklin and Frederick Douglass. Both of these men had things to say that the world should hear, both of them were newspaper publishers, and both were certain of their importance in the trajectory of history. Our next book is Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama, another man with a message for the world. I always like to give my students a chance to get a big chunk of the book read before we start talking about it, so I use this time to do projects and writing in class.

Enter Three Words to the World

Antonio Viva (antonioviva at Twitter and at WAMash) tweeted a YouTube link to his class video – Three Words to the World. His creative writing class did an inspiring job, and I thought that this fit in perfectly between Douglass and Obama. Beyond “I Want Change” and “Yes, we can/ Si, se puede,” what three words did my students want to share with the world?

Armed with Flip video cameras, they went out to tell the world. Sophie, with the help of her group, created and recorded the environmental sculpture of wood chips on the sidewalk that reads: Little Moments Matter.

And then they walked away.

Genius

Leaving the words on the cement was a stroke of genius; lots of head scratching, questions, and of course – photographs! The principal stopped to read it, people printed out the photograph, and my class was SO excited. What a lesson in communication for them.

“Say what you need to say.” – John Mayer

Here’s the video. It’s a first draft because they will want to see other soundtracks – they will change the tone and how it reads, so I don’t now where it will end up.