Deadlines
Frantic writers
Paper piles
Late work
Term tests
Blurry eyes
Tabulating
Check marks
Sore butt
Report card time.
poem-perverse September 23, 2016
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.
poem- expulsed September 6, 2016
The school was a haven,
if not used for the purpose intended.
Safety is more important than education,
but eventually offering safety,
is less important than throwing you through paper hoops.
Don’t they see you’re on fire?
poem-ending June 18, 2016
The end is so close
that I can reach out and touch
the hands of the clock,
tick-tocking away this last class.
A day more of typing
the degree will be done.
This stage of the journey complete,
where will I go from here?
poem-efficient May 26, 2016
Team play
race around
Think
Think
Money reward
Run faster
If it’s fun
can it really be
learning?
.
.
.
(Yes. Of course) 🙂
poem-attendance issues April 7, 2016
Again
an A
beside your name.
Nine boxes for nine days.
Six A’s.
You, with that great brain,
want A’s
on your transcript
not your attendance record.
What is happening in your world
that keeps you from learning?
Ties shackles to your potential
for excellence? Your health is fine.
Oh, dear girl,
What can we do
to advocate for you?
poem-pick axe March 14, 2016
I am a pick axe.
I grimly focus on the patch of ground
in front of me, and chip, chip, chip away
at the rocks that block my way.
I will wear down this mountain
day by day.
I will find a seam and harvest value.
Today, it may seem too hard to do,
but I will chip, chip, chip away anyway
until I’ve made a hill of this mountain,
and have found the other side..
.
.
.
I’m smack in the middle of my penultimate grad school course. I’m finding it hard to concentrate, what with the recent family deaths and illness and related stress. After a long day at work, I just want to curl up in a warm corner and snooze. This is a required course, so there’s nothing for it but chipping away at readings, chipping away at assignments, chipping away at papers, and then it’ll be over. One month until the last paper is due, and then it’s through! The end is nigh!
poem- Tech Lament February 11, 2016
Once more our tech is down;
Our secretary wears a frown.
Without access to the school network
Her computer has a little quirk:
It’s become a desk decoration
So she delivers colourful oration
On the difference it has made
To get these awesome tech upgrades.
We can not print. We can not copy.
We miss the days when disks were floppy!
We can not file. We can not type.
Improvements? Man, that’s all just hype.
They haven’t improved our telephone
It still works ‘cause they left it alone.
While twiddling our thumbs at least we’re paid
To celebrate these tech upgrades.
This year has been remarkably frustrating for us. Our school district has ‘upgraded’ its technology so everything runs through a network- all our DVD players, copiers, printers, projectors, and computers. This would be fantastic if the network was stable, but it’s not. At least half a day each week, and often two or three days, the network is down and we can’t do *anything.* Students can’t access their work. No one can research. We can’t access our presentations. We can’t show a movie. Our photocopiers run through the network, so we can’t even copy a paper if we have it in our hand. We are BEYOND frustrated with these ‘improvements’ and wish they’d just left us alone. Last year, every thing worked! We have a innovative school doing amazing things, except when the network shuts us down. >>>sigh<<<
poem-overwhelmed February 3, 2016
Stacks of articles, demanding my brain
focus and think logically.
Assignment instructions I just want to avoid.
My students drive me crazy when they show this sentiment.
But then, I’ll actually get the work done
(on time)
despite the procrastination,
which they frequently do not.
So many papers. So tired from report cards and marking stacks of late assignments and prepping for a new semester and February.
So.
Tired.
But the end is in sight.
I can’t give up now.
poem-learning January 4, 2016
Who has told you
that learning must be boring?
Why do you think
you cannot learn from listening to others?
When did you lose
your natural creativity and curiosity?
Where will you go
if you’re not embracing opportunities here?
What hope is there for you
if you are so jaded so young?
In this place,
we believe that skills and abilities are more important
than out of date information.
We believe learning is more meaningful when
students ask their own questions and explore their own curiosity.
We believe you have potential to discover
far beyond yourself,
but you never will, if you don’t open your eyes to the world
beyond your nose.
.
.
God preserve me from kids who are ‘too cool for school’.
Shawn L. Bird 