Penamoli

Illustrated by Teynmoli Subramaniam using Canva AI To,  2Y, 2024–2025 with love. For the class who made every day an adventure— and taught me as much as I taught you. Go and grow, my wonders.  (First draft written in July, 2025) Deep in the heart of Fernwood Forest, under the rustling leaves and tall oak trees, a busy badger was putting the finishing touches on her colorful display board. Tiny starry lights twinkled softly, like little sparks in her dark, shiny eyes. She let out a happy sigh that curled through the warm underground air. After an hour of mounting the pictures and trimming the edges, she leaned back against the warm wall, stroking her fur—a mix of deep inky grey and soft silver white, like the sky at dusk. It swished softly under her paw as she moved like the hush of leaves on a still autumn night -warm and worn with wisdom. A rectangular pair of glasses perched on her nose- occasionally slipping to the tip - as she surveyed her glowing classroom burrow, a cos...

  How Learning Has Changed in an Inclusive World Every day in my classroom, I am reminded of one simple truth: No two minds think the same way. Some children learn by listening, some by seeing, some by doing—and some by simply feeling their way through the world in ways even adults sometimes struggle to understand. When I look around my classroom, I see children with different strengths, challenges, hopes, fears, and ways of making sense of things. And I often find myself wondering: What is happening in the mind of each child? For one child, a sound may feel too loud. For another, a single instruction may feel like a puzzle. For another, a storybook may open a doorway into imagination. For another, a simple routine may bring comfort and safety. Their minds are not “better” or “worse”—they are simply different, each with its own rhythm, needs, and brilliance. Learning Has Changed — And So Must We Classrooms today are not the same as the ones many of us grew up in. Learning is no lon...