In the class room
the fan makes the loudest noise
second to the crinkle of paper
turning, shuffling.
Shifting bodies.
deep breaths,
inhaling fortitude,
exhaling a last,
desperate hope.
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Day 14 of NaPoWriMo. Not following the prompt, which is about examining one’s name. Patrick Lane has already written the only Bird poem I’d want to write!
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I don’t endorse any of the WordPress added ads, unless they’re for Fluevog shoes.
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Apparently
if you write in verse
on the provincial exam personal composition
you receive a zero,
no matter how cogent your argument
or relevant your allegory.
It’s worse that writing drivel, that doesn’t address the question!
How incredibly
perverse.
Video with my narration is in the previous post, but here’s the written version:
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Measuring
Shawn L. Bird
This is me.
The standardized test says,
“She’s a C.”
But no standardized test
can measure my capacity.
The provincial exam or S A T
does not evaluate my reality.
A test does not see
my creativity
my audacity
my tenacity
my congeniality
No test can reveal
my totality.
They say
a standardized test demands gravity,
but I say,
it is a depravity
to define our youth with such rationality!
This is me.
No standardized test can measure
who I will be.
Here’s a video poem I made for a presentation on issues in standardized testing for my Faculty of Education Master’s class on assessment at University of British Columbia (Okanagan campus) (aka UBC-O).
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Shawn L. Bird 