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My teacher said go home and write a page tonight


As the soccer field was drowning in last night’s rain storm, I was drowning in two days worth of grading due to being out for a workshop and handing Sean over to the Army. Nouns and verbs hypnotized me. Workbook pages brought about the hallucinations. I began reading the poems the students wrote in the style of Langston Hughe’s Themefor English B in a daze.

It is easy to go through the motions of grading 8th grade writing assignments. Oftentimes, they are going through the motions writing them. Doing the bare minimum to meet the criteria before handing it in. I pound my head against the wall as I see more poor spelling, bad grammar, and overused words wondering if they will get it when I teach it again for the 583rd time. And, then, a piece of writing grabs my attention.

My teacher said
Go home and write a page tonight.
And let the poem come out of you.
Then it will be true.
I am a fourteen year old boy
And I am colored.
I was born and raised in New York City, Manhatten.
Then I moved to North Carolina, Benson
And went to school up there.
I was a Phantom
When I came to this school.
I played sports like basketball and football.
I am a nice, caring boy and have a good heart.
I like to eat, sleep, drink, and have fun.
I like to play basketball, football, dance, and
Understand life.
For Christmas I would like a bike—
Mongoose Nextel mountain bike.
I guess being a colored person
doesn’t make me NOT like the same things 
other folks like
who are a different race.
Is the page of my poem going to be colored or white?
No, it is going to be both.
The page is going to be white 
and the markings on it will be black.
My teacher is white and I am black,
But we both like the same stuff
And treat each other with respect.
                                 ~M

I feel a glimmer of hope! He gets it! He understands what Langston Hughes was saying. I go back to my grading a little less discouraged. Reading a little closer, looking for another. Wondering what kind of risks they would take in their writing. Curious of the message they would give to me, their teacher, in the poem. After a week of feeling like the world’s worst teacher, I was ready for anything.  Some took a risk with rhyming while focusing on our class -

My teacher said
Go home and write
A page tonight
I sat at my desk
And thought of class
Thought about what I liked best
How as seen as I walk through the day
I can fly off the floor
I’m as free as a boar
I laugh so much I’m sore
That performing a simple equation
Can become an invitation
To a time of fun
That can even be irresistible to any
Your class is bold
You are greater than gold
Can bring warmth to those experiencing greatest cold
At an auction it would be instantly sold
Every lecture
Is a gesture
To a place so high
You could touch the sky
Dear Mrs. Victor
When it comes to fun learning, you truly are a victor.
                         ~M

While others took a risk in a different way and let us, the readers, into her life.

My teacher said
Go home and write
A page tonight
Just get started
And everything comes
To your mind.
I am 13 years old, almost 14.
I wasn’t born here.
I was born in Mexico.
I have a small family.
My life has changed a lot
I lived 12 years in Mexico.
And it is hard to live in another place,
A place that you don’t know,
You don’t know who the people are,
Or how they live.
When you live close to your relatives it’s good,
But when you don’t live close to them,
It’s horrible.
I miss all the other people that are living in Mexico,
I will never forget them.
I miss them, but I find new friends.
Now I’m happy here.
I have found friends, and awesome
Teachers like you, and I want to tell you that
I LOVE MY LIFE!
          ~J

I continued to find gems as I read ~ more than not. My students are taking risks with their writing. They are finding their voices through poetry. The genre they profess to hate the most. There are many more poems to be written and risks to be taken. I am finding myself looking forward to the reading of each and every one of them.

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