Metamorphosis

I have never been in a classroom that was aesthetically pleasing. They are ugly, uninviting, utilitarian, concrete boxes. Yesterday I spent some time in my daughter's third grade classroom. Her teacher had succeeded in transforming the room into something reasonably attractive. One corner, what I presume was the reading corner, since it was carpeted and had no furniture but a single chair, has been framed by shades of green and blue tissue paper streamers hanging from ceiling to floor. Large leaves have been cut from similarly colored tissue paper and hung from the ceiling and taped to the windows. Exotic stuffed animals are hanging about, monkeys, snakes, and the like. It has been made to resemble a rainforest. And it has made all the difference between a drab, uninviting classroom and one that welcomes you. It is amazing how this simple change in outward appearance metamorphoses the room and I can only hope, and strongly suspect, that it makes the children who spend their days there, my own daughter included, feel better about being there.