Remember this post about our virtual comic workshop with Jarrett Krosoczka? After the workshop, Jarrett read my blog post about how many students created comics as a result of the workshop. He and I chatted via twitter and email about the event and how inspiring it was to my students (and students around the world who watched).
One of the neat stories from within our school related to this workshop involves Marquavious, a 5th grader. He is a huge Lunch Lady fan and has read all of the books multiple times. When I announced that teachers could send students to the library to view the virtual comic workshop, his teacher immediately signed him up. Marquavious took it a step further, though. He found other 5th graders who were also interested in comics, graphic novels, and lunch lady and worked with his teacher to arrange for all of them to attend the workshop during lunch. 
Now that I know about just how much Jarrett Krosoczka (and lunch lady) mean to Marquavious, I often share with him tweets and blog posts that I read from Jarrett.
Another amazing thing happened as a result of my blog post and the work students did during the virtual workshop. Jarrett Krosoczka mailed us some of the original artwork that he created during the workshop, and he autographed it to our school!
Today, that artwork arrived in the mail. As soon as I opened it, I went to get Marquavious. He was beaming when he saw the art. I let him take a look, and of course, took his picture with the pieces. I told him we would frame them and hang them up in the library. He asked if he could help me when I was ready to hang them up, and I of course said yes.
Making connections and opportunities like this for individual students is a huge part of the participatory culture of our library. I push myself to look closer for these kinds of opportunities. They are hard to catch, but when I notice them, they result in powerful learning and contributions that truly matter to the members of our library.
Expect the Miraculous 