My students are so good! I read the story of Pyramus and Thisbe to my Saturday fifth grade at the end of class, as a treat, and before I had read three sentences Patrick said, "Oh, that's the story that's like Julio — I mean Romeo and Juliet."

Justin, a fourth-grader, is one of my weakest students; but he makes an effort, and is so eager to please that he finishes my sentences for me. Once I was working with him, and I said, "Justin, the way you're holding your pen is..." Justin: "Unacceptable!" a kind of joyful self-flagellation. "Well, it's just not helping you..."