New World for Joseph

There have been only a handful of people in Joseph's life gifted with the ability to connect with Joseph in a very meaningful way.  One of them is his current Head Classroom Teacher, Tiara.

She told me a story recently about Joseph and I asked her to write it down for me so that I may add it to his story here.
It is amazing.  Hope you enjoy.

Joseph’s Thoughts on His Future:

Joseph really enjoys the song “Clint Eastwood” by the Gorrillaz.  He calls this song “Future is Coming.” Upon listening to this song one day in the classroom, I decided to use the lyrics as a prompt to talk to Joseph.  I used a white board to write questions to Joseph, leaving blanks for his responses.  Joseph was not prompted to respond, but did so independently.  He did not chose to write, so I scribed the responses for him.  The white board read as follows.  Joseph’s answers are in green.

Your Future is Coming On (From the song we had just listened to):

In the future, I will be ___a friend___.

In the future, I will work at _____discipline_____.

In the future, I will live at _______hard_______. (Joseph stated “hard life” here but prompted me to erase life as I wrote it)

(After a few moments of silence and some staring away from me and the board)

I am thinking about ___new world___.

You Can't Rush Art

I must remember to teach Joseph how to transfer a picture onto canvas board.  Maybe a new slide book.  During this painting,  I turned a photo from online art into a paint by number. I visited KidsPeace and had him paint a color at a time, slowly creating from light to dark.  He and I bantered as he painted.  At one point I  offered  him a "Script" of "You Can't Rush Art".  It stuck.  Although I do not think he uses this much with people other than me, he and I share our little one liner as our private communication.