A little magic gives us the proper lenses with which to see the world and ourselves. The pixie dust, sparkles, and twinkle of a wand make things visible we would have never seen with our every day, unmagical eyes.
Teaching during this time, we can learn a lot from a young girl, living in tough times. Teaching like Cinderella helps us to have a little hope, want a little more, and be brave enough to enjoy the experience.
Having a Little Hope
“To wear dreams on one’s feet, is to begin to give reality to one’s dreams.”
Roger Vivier
I used to have a beautiful pair of silver sequined heels. Living on a dirt road in Colorado doesn’t make for the best care of silver sequin shoes, but having them just proved I was prepared. Imagine how happy my godmother would be to find that she had just a little less work to do. Yep, I’m that girl.
You know the kind of girl I’m talking about. She’s the kind of girl who has little mice for friends, she sings as she does her endless, meaningless chores, and when the birds wake her in the morning, she gazes out at the beautiful castle in the sky with a hint of hope.
Cinderella had hope, and that, my friends, is why so many of us love this classic and why it’s been reimagined so many times and in so many ways.
Wanting a Little More
In Disney’s Godmothered, we get to see a twist of this same story in the modern world, where everyone has given up on happily ever after, or maybe even wanting more for themselves.
We also learn a valuable lesson about change. When I saw the godmother’s classroom, where all the godmothers in training go to learn, I immediately recognized it as the typical school setting. Teacher at the front, students in desks, ready to learn. What you just can’t miss in this version is that all the students are gray-haired and probably nearing a hundred.
They are also a bit bored out of their minds.
I get it. We want the comfort of our kids learning the way we learned. We believe it works and we are the proof.
Thank goodness a bumbling young fairy is brave enough to try something new.
And what we learn from her story is that we should listen more and talk less. While we are in the midst of change, and we are trying lots of new things, don’t forget to listen to your kids.
I hope we will find through all of this that what we really need in education has been there all along. It’s inside our students. Listen to them. Help them develop what is already there and our jobs become a lot more focused and a lot less overwhelming.
Having a Little Experience
We have to remember that Cinderella never wanted to go to the ball to marry the prince, it just happened. What she really wanted was to go to the ball to have the experience. She wanted to know what it felt like to be in the castle, to wear a nice dress, to even feel a little beautiful.
When her fairy godmother arrived, she ended up with a whole lot more, but the best gift she was given was the shoes.
The other gift her godmother gave her was a little confidence. It must have taken a lot of bravery for her to climb all those stairs to see inside the lives of the people who lived so differently.
The best part is that all of the tools the godmother gave were just an illusion. The true magic was inside the girl. She was already enough and more, and thank goodness the storytellers at Disney knew how to help us see her before she became a princess.
