by Sophia Kouzouli

Monday morning... Another week ahead!

Just as Mrs T. enters the classroom, she sees most of the children half asleep. There are, of course, the ones who have already started talking about their adventurous weekend. Yet, most of the students are quiet and grumpy. Mrs T. feels the same.

She smiles and greets the kids. She says a few words about things that happened during the weekend which she saw on the news, and this triggers a discussion in the class. Most of the kids start waking up. Now, some are eager to talk about their weekend and others are waiting to listen to the exciting stories.

She suddenly realizes that there are a couple of students who are silent with no expression on their face. It is as if they are not listening, as if they are not there. The sky is a cloudy and moody just like their pretty little faces.

Mrs T. starts talking about what they are going to do. She puts up some pictures on the board  to help them guess and then a video starts to play -they are already watching a relevant story and discussing about it. And suddenly the sun appears to glow. The sun rays shine on the faces of the two children and the frown is gone. They are smiling and start to take part in the lesson. Few minutes before the bell rings, they even want to share their news.

“How strange!” one would say. “The sky is still cloudy, yet their faces have a sun light”. Mrs T. knows. It is the sun light that only comes out with kids talking in a classroom, sharing ideas, exchanging smiles, notes or even little handmade gifts and communicating. It is the sunlight that comes to their faces when, in quiet summer afternoons, they remember what they all did in class and what they achieved.

Mrs T. smiles but the kids cannot see it.

It is Monday morning and another week is ahead. How nice!