To the Teachers

A poem.

Taking a little article detour to drop a poem. In a previous life (read: years ago during grad school), I dabbled in some spoken word and was even lucky enough to win a National Poetry Slam competition one time.

As the world turns more quickly, I find myself pulled again into small, creative bursts as a means to find some sense of stability. Thought I’d share, and in the process give a shoutout to the adults who help give students a sense of normalcy day in and day out, regardless of the shifting sands of their own lives.

Cheers. To the teachers.

To the Teachers
Danny Scuderi

To the teachers who see students as more than just test scores
And craft lessons with the same joyful defiance;
To the ones who look out at a room and see
Unearthed wonder waiting to be awoken
By the doing of 
Art and math and writing and science;
To the ones who meet every “I can’t” with
“I don’t know. Let’s just try it;”
To the ones who wear their mistakes proudly
Because students gain more from you
Modeling a flaw
Than from trying to hide it

You are the doers and believers
And lesson-plan magicians
You move the needle of instruction
With endless imperceptible decisions
You listen to the feedback you solicit,
Go back into those lessons
And incorporate revisions
Because you know that any one of those classes
Could be the key to transforming their eye-rolls
Into their ambition.

We see you. 

We see you find time you don’t have
After days that are too long
After weeks that are even longer.
We see you toe the line between
Just Right and Too Hard
So that when they’re solving those problems
And creating connections
Those bonds become stronger.
We see you hold off on redirection
Because we all get bored,
No one likes to sit still,
And everyone’s thoughts tend to wander.

We see you because 
You see them. 
In a way that no one else can.