Writing this book was, in part, a necessity. After years of working in all kinds of classrooms—public and private, primary and secondary, large and small, well-equipped and others with just enough—I realized that what had the greatest impact on me were not the curriculum or the pedagogical theories, but the storiesThe real ones. The small ones. The ones that happen every day in every corner of the classroom and often go unnoticed.

Because there's no single way to teach, nor a single way to learn. Each school has its own logic, yes. But even more profoundly,each classroom is a different universeThe desks, the chairs, the blackboards (chalk or fiberboard, some even improvised) change. The gazes, the silences, the atmosphere change. The connections, the challenges, the ways of inhabiting that space we call "classroom" change. And, of course, the students change. Each with their own story, their fears, their strengths, their context.