As the School Year Draws to an End Reflection Matters

School is nearing an end and summer is around the bend. So I decided to take a stroll down memory lane to highlight my first year of teaching when long hair and mini-skirts were in vogue. My first experience started in Albany at the Albany High School Annex with senior high, disenfranchised readers. The work was challenging but so rewarding. I started immediately after my Master's Degree was completed and that meant I only had six months to engage students whose lives were filled with social, emotional, and academic difficulties in the art of reading. I hope that this poem helps you reflect upon your early days of teaching and how you have grown as a learner and practitioner. 

Readers Take Flight

Faces of youth,

"Kotter-like" students beyond their years,

Move through the hallways of my mind.

I number each of them in my etch book of time

As I recall first words,

Backstories of solitary lives

Without maps to guide their journeys,

Tribulations, and small triumphs.

In the corners of yesterday, I see their faces

Peering behind books. I savor the memories-

Makeshift first classroom,

Third floor annex-adjacent to cafeteria,

Sweaty smells, crowded seating,

Children in adolescent frames,

Disheveled, tuned out.

Sitting before me, waiting for guidance.

Traveling together on a rocky but steady path

We grew a learner’s haven.

As trust evolved,

Content explored.

Their minds expanded,

Swaddled in words from books

That lined the walls

And cradled the learning.

Then, as quickly as I came into their lives,

I left. June brought the year to an end. 

The string that bound our learning lives unraveled.

I watched each of them take flight.

Into the summer winds, they soared

As floating balloons dancing in the sky.

I sighed, hoping that one day they would become

The readers I groomed them to be.

This poem has been submitted to the Poetry Friday Round-up found at Carols' Corner this week. In the comment section, there will be messages from a variety of writers linking you to their poems. At the top of the blog page, is a quote by Kate DiCamillo that speaks to the issue of reading as a gift. 

"Reading should not be presented to children as a chore or a duty. It should be offered to them as a precious gift."

May your Friday be filled with the pleasure of reading.