Each one of them had a notebook, and they could write to me. And i called that our ongoing correspondence. We wanted common ground, and we wanted to know that we were safe together. They would write during class, or after class, whenever. Every night i'd go home and write back to each kid. It was purely, what do you want me to know about you? How can i help you? Then we wrote and forth, and they often had questions for me. But one kid wrote to me, what are you? And i said, what do you mean? What am i? I don't understand"
Stephen Haff is the founder of Still Waters in a Storm, a one-room school serving mostly Spanish-speaking immigrant children in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Previously, he taught English at a public school in Bushwick for nearly a decade, before leaving to recover from the effects of extreme psychological stress that led him to re-evaluate how he would return to serve kids as an educator and activist. In his new book, Kid Quixotes (https://amzn.to/34zxPit). Stephen shares a powerful story about the kids and an incredible 5-year project to translate and perform a modern version of Don Quixote. He earned his MFA in Theater Studies at Yale, and has made a living directing plays and writing essays for the Village Voice and other publications.
You can find Stephen Haff at: Website: http://www.stillwatersinastorm.org/
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