Still Waters in a Storm: The One-Room School Where Everyone Listens to Everyone
About this ebook
—Valeria Luiselli, author of Lost Children Archive
The unlikely, inspiring true story of a one-room school where children of undocumented immigrants and their teacher discover their voices and speak truth to power.
Still Waters in a Storm is an after-school program held in a small room in Bushwick, Brooklyn; it is a place for kids to practice reading and writing in English, Spanish, and Latin. For the students, many living in constant fear of deportation, Still Waters is a refuge. For Stephen Haff, a former public-school teacher, it is the sanctuary he built following a breakdown caused by bipolar depression. At Still Waters, all agreed that there would only be one rule: “Everyone listens to everyone.” And this has unlocked spectacular potential.
Since 2016, the students have been collectively translating Don Quixote into English, taking the Spanish tale—a story about a dreamer who never gives up—and adapting it into a bilingual musical. Six-year old Sarah tells of her mother’s journey across the desert from Mexico riding on the back of a tiger. Alex, a very private teenager, sings her coming out song to standing ovations. As the kids perform their work across NYC, they learn that they belong in this country—their voices amplifying to deliver a message of diversity, love, hope, and resilience essential to us all.
How does a simple rule—"Everyone listens to everyone"—transform a small room in Brooklyn into a powerful engine for change?
- A Teacher Memoir Unlike Any Other: Follow author Stephen Haff’s journey from a breakdown caused by bipolar depression to building a sanctuary in Bushwick where he and his students rescue each other.
- Radical Education Reform: Discover the pedagogy of Still Waters, a one-room schoolhouse with a single, transformative rule that unlocks the spectacular potential of every child.
- The Power of Literature: Watch as children of immigrants collectively translate Don Quixote, adapting the classic story into a bilingual musical that affirms their place and power in America.
- An Urgent Immigration Story: Witness the resilience of children living in fear of deportation as they find their voices, speak truth to power, and deliver an essential message of hope.
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About the author
Stephen Haff is the founder of Still Waters in a Storm, a one-room school serving Spanish-speaking immigrant children in Bushwick, Brooklyn. Previously, he taught English at a public school in Bushwick for nearly a decade. He earned his MFA in Theater Studies at Yale, and has made a living directing plays and writing essays for the Village Voice and other publications. Stephen lives in Queens with his wife, children’s book author Tina Schneider, and their three children.
