They Listen, They Heard
When I was young, dolls were my students
My homework, their lessons
They listened, they heard
When everyone else ignored me
When I was in my teens
My teachers were complacent or attentive
They sang songs in Geometry, Spoke of inspiration and hope
Yet some, remained self-absorbed and dismissive
I knew then what a good teacher was
I paid attention
When I needed feedback and compassion
They were there, they listened, they heard
Home-life, social life, choices and disadvantage
Follow and trip, relentlessly
But classroom life can be shaped, nurtured, protected
Good teachers do not ignore, they listen
Nothing matters more than future life
Setting hope in a child, showing them their strengths
Providing them a scaffold to overcome their struggles
Making sure their voice is heard, that we listen
Teachers instinctively, emotionally, spiritually
Feel this in their core
Amidst the volume, the sheer number of voices,
They find the one in most need of attention
Its a gift
You Can Hold It
Coffee necessary, or tea, depending on desire
Water bottle desk corner
Classroom temperature ranging
from iceberg to volcano
Thermostat under someone else's purview
Sip, gulp
Maneuvering through desks and tables
Communicating, voice strained
Sip, gulp
Thirty minutes until class change
I can hold it
Pace and paddle
Distract and focus on anything
But having to pee
Snark and Snicker
In school, as students, we are taught to snicker and giggle
Teachers make mistakes, some earn the chortle
We learn as students to love certain teachers
To fear others
We have moods and days where outside pulls us away
Responsibility blurs and we never clear our line of sight
They know, they anticipate your preoccupation
They occupy it with agitation and interruption
We are taught curriculum, lesson planning
SEL, ESL, SPED strategies
We are given opportunities to visit and teach unimpeded
Dip our feet in the education pool
But those classrooms were prepped, warned
We enter with some trepidation, but we have back up
We enter our own, first classrooms and
Everything we were taught is irrelevant
The entire foundation of learning, of community
Is relationships
This opportunity is not preemptive, it is conditional on
First day encounters
Behavior management can not be found in a book
You can do everything right
Some students still won't like you
Students are fickle
Snark and snicker
Even on the best of days
They rear their ugly din and disturb
But, we have to let them dissipate
For if we engage, we lose
This battle can't be won
The Whites of their Eyes
Even on a day where we are tired and frustrated
Most teachers want to be in there classrooms
There are smiling faces
Yes, there can be bad behavior
But, overall we like to be immersed with our students
Learning, laughing, interacting
What is going to happen when we return
Staggered days, percentages of capacity
Masks, gloves
Every seat six feet away from one another
Impossible
Will we prefer the risk?
The whites of their eyes
The giggles and glee
Adventures and creativity
This is what we long for
Not computer screens and erroneous assignments
When will a classroom feel like a classroom
Students feel like students
Teachers feel like educators
Parents feel like parents
It depends on our next step
Wear Comfortable Shoes
Every school wardrobe is different
Some professional- no jeans or t-shirts
While others are semi-professional, err on the side of comfort
No sweats or shorts, but no heels required
Our dress is part of our character
Some wear bow ties, colorful socks
Others various sneakers and playful rims for sight
Themed jewelry and superhero lanyards
These eccentricities are us
Students notice
For gifts we receive more of the like
Reminder that what goes unsaid
Is just as important as what is
Persona, personality, attitude, temperament
They are all heard, loud and clear
No matter what
Wear comfortable shoes
Get into your personal costume, but feel authentic
Be you
Every detail is logged, every word put into a data file that combined
Completes their image of you
Virus
I have one job
Single minded, yet mindless
Replicate
Propagate
Duplicate
Survival impeded by immunity
I plead the 5th
White Blood Cell
I predict invasion
Rally the troops
Defend my home
Fungus
Bacteria or
Virus
Our fight, endless
For if we lose, everything stops
No comments:
Post a Comment