I'm not who I was even just two years ago and I wish my students would see me growing along side them rather than peg me as some seemingly all-knowing hypocrite. When their agenda turns to pointing out my mistakes and when they act as if this observation has made them one up, I try to gently and patiently remind them we aren't playing that game. I am human. I bleed. I also shop at Jewel on occasion and try to enjoy a tasty cup of broccoli cheddar soup from their local Panera. I try to remember how I felt in 8th grade when I saw my teachers out of the context of their classrooms. Was it weird? Did I respond awkwardly? How about when I thought of something my teacher hadn't. Did I feel overly proud? Was I rushed with a sense of elitism?

So maybe their reactions aren't their fault. Maybe I'm operating in a system that perpetuates them. We stand; they sit. We talk; they listen. So my question is, can my philosophy hold up against the system? Will my peaceful reminders ever sink in?

It's a difficult task, this education business. 1.) To get the students on board with a perspective that they aren't used to and 2.) to actually learn something.

Wishing it were different is step one to willing it that way...now I just have to figure out step two...





*This is an assignment I give my students every year. A "Found Poem." They are asked to cut out interesting/poetic words randomly from magazines and newspapers. Afterward they are asked to arrange them meaningfully in a poem that should shape-shift before their eyes. Meaning exists within words and within our experiences with them. I want them to feel the power of the craft as they create something out of what they might consider "nothing." This is the first one I ever made...two years ago...and now I sit with these words, their meaning not quite foreign yet not at all familiar. I'm in the process of making my 2010 version. I'll keep you posted.