Changing the Subject

In a pinch, I teach poetry.

Given all that's been going on, I hadn't spent much time on planning. Faced with a long stretch of time and not a lot of preparation, I pulled out William Carlos Williams' famous poem 'This Is Just to Say.'

This Is Just to Say

I have eaten
the plums
that were in
the icebox

and which
you were probably
saving
for breakfast

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold


by William Carlos Williams

I prefaced the poem with the story behind it...it started as a note to his wife, and when he found it later, he realized it was in perfect meter. The personal story always hooks the kids. Then I asked:

What makes these words a poem?
Do you think William C. Williams was really sorry?
Have you ever done anything that made you feel like you needed to say ‘forgive me,’ but you were secretly glad you did?

Then I had the kids write their own 'apology' poems. (This is a lesson idea I stole from someone else long ago.) Here are a few.

Paper Cut
I am sorry, paper
for cutting you really really fast

That's why you are probably in pieces right now

I was cutting fast
and drowned you in glue

I know you're really angry
but it was just for fun

Sorry

--Marquette

"My Cellphone"

This is just to say
I'm sorry for losing you for a week
in my dad's car
you might have been so lonely
just sitting there waiting for someone to find you
you were just sitting under
the dark black scary car seat
anyway
i apologize

--William

"To the Paper"

I always took pencils.
I scribbled all on you.
I balled you up and threw you
right in the trash.

I know you always wanted to stay alive
but I have to put you in the garbage
that is just how it is.

Don't blame me if you don't stay white.
But I am sorry
for using you

-Alexus

"That Old Door"

the door that i slam
when i'm mad at my teaher
and the paint comes off

this is just to say
i slammed you
and you fell down

-Rajanique

And my favorite...based on a true story.

"Sorry, Car."

Sorry I drove you
and crashed you
into another car.
To me you looked so fun.
I thought it would be very easy.
I didn't really mean to scratch you
and leave a big dent in the front.

But you shouldn't blame me.
Blame my sisters and cousins.
Could you find a way to forgive us
Deep in your engine?

Back in the 21st century!

Have internet access at home again! So will be posting more regularly. For real, this time.

All moved into a beautiful 4-bedroom house with the aforementioned Fabulous Other Fifth Grade Teacher with a PhD, btw.

Like clockwork

Hormones hit on March 1 in the fifth grade. Every year. From sea to shining sea. On Valentine's Day, there's nothing. No coded "will he know what this means?" messages sent in the little tiny V-day cards, no "who likes who" lists going around the room supposedly unnoticed. Two weeks later, though, it's all Boy-Girl Issues, all the time.

Signs of this Mass Onset of Puberty have included one boy shaving his "mustache." He had an ashy upper lip for a week, which is the first time any of us ever noticed there was something going on in that particular region of his face. Also, the class diva "started" and made sure to let me, and everyone in the class know in one way or another by the end of the day. I mean, how many times can you really drop a tampon in one day? Seriously.

The social issues can sometimes feel like a distraction, but I try to remember that the gender stuff is just as important a part of the kids' development as the mind-stretching I intend. I try to stay conscious of just how cute, how normal, how inescapable all this "kid stuff" is. And it's interesting to see how subtly things have changed since I discovered my body, and boys, as interesting topics. We used to use little paper 'fortune tellers' or paper-and-pencil games to invent "couples" out of our class roster. The girls in my class have discovered an online tool that does all the name-matching for them. (Adults, of course, design and market the site--another example of the commodification of childhood.)

Managing all this rush of human development in a positive direction takes a lot of energy, patience, and knowledge. And time! Yet another argument for giving experienced teachers freedom and control over the pace and focus of their curriculum and class time. An argument against 'departmentalizing' elementary classrooms. Does counseling an eleven-year-old on how to tell the difference between needing to change your tampon from needing to pee fall under science, social studies, or language arts? Math, maybe--it's a timing issue, after all.