"This is Just to Say"

I am very partial to the poetry of William Carlos Williams. Particularly the poem "This is Just to Say." Last week, I was working on a poetry writing unit with my three Creative Writing Students and I asked them to find three poems each: 1 that "sang" to them, 1 that they just liked and 1 that they really hated. For each of those poems, they were to write a 1/2 to 1 page (double spaced) response and address certain questions I provided or respond freely. Then, we all sat at a table together, read our poems and talked about like, dislike, hate, love...

I was by far one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. One of my students wrote about his love for the poem "I am the People, the Mob" by Carl Sandburg. I don't have what he wrote in front of me, but it literally brought me to tears. I had NEVER thought about the poem in the way that he made me think about it.

Well, back to Williams...as it turns out one of my students dislikes his poetry for the exact reasons I love it: the choppy lines, the super short poems, the simple settings and singular focus etc. And the student asked me why I liked poetry that "wasn't really like a poem." Wasn't that a great opportunity to discuss what makes a poem a poem? This is the joy of my teaching experience. I adore the opportunity to share what I love, be impressed by the thoughts of my brilliant students and open their minds to new ideas. I'm teaching and learning and thinking and doing and living all in one. Education is not just well designed lesson plans and well organized classrooms--it's about engaging students and sharing the passion for language and learning.

Somedays, I love my life.

The time flies and the exhaustion sets in...

I cannot believe that it is March 23. I cannot believe that I still have so much to do with my students. I cannot believe that some of them, particularly seniors, do not realize that time is running out.

I have 21 seniors this semester. The first rough draft of their research papers were due last friday and 12 of them didn't turn it in. Not only did they not turn the rough draft in, they didn't tell me why it wasn't done or even speak to me about it until I approached them.

I am left feeling very frustrated. Didn't we go over the process? Didn't I guide them to find good sources and learn to take notes and write an outline and blah blah blah...? Haven't I worked one on one with most of them to answer difficult questions, learn more about their topics and read articles/books/journals with them? What haven't I done? Oh yeah...I didn't write the paper for them. LOL How silly of me not to have realized that I would need to do that. (sarcasm)

I have to say though, that the papers I did get turned in weren't bad. Attempts were made at integrating quotations and incorporating sources like we had worked on. MLA citations were hit or miss, but they could show me that they were trying. Some students even came to the realization on their own that the voice of their paper wasn't correct. So, I guess there are some moments when it looks like there's really a teacher, teaching.

This process is exhausting for me. I become deeply invested in each of my students and I simply do not have enough time.