Many people in education have most likely heard of, or read the poem, The Star Polisher by Leah Becks. This poem stresses the responsibility of teachers to “polish” and brighten those stars (students) entering school on the first day. 
As I thought about polishing those stars, the young children’s story of The Little Red House with no Doors and no Windows, adopted from a story by Carolina Sherwin Bailey, came to mind. If it is not a familiar story, it is set up as a riddle, describing the little house. The students must guess or try to locate the residence. Only after the teacher slices an apple across the middle, is the star revealed. Stars are a common theme in both of these pieces; one speaks of the outside of the star, and the other addresses the star inside.
For this blog, I am going to focus on the star inside our students. It happens to be the most delicate, the most fragile, and the most permanent of the two. It is all the unspoken encounters, whether subliminal, or conscious, that we all have experienced. These are what begin to shape character, confidence, outlook, and trust.
Polishing the outside of the star, is a noble cause indeed; but polishing the star that is inside? This takes dedication, the true desire to know the student-including strengths and challenges, and it takes extreme effort. Making the effort to connect, building the relationship of trust, improving confidence, and seeing the students for who they really are, will polish that star inside, not only for a moment, but for a lifetime.
