My Response

So I had the opportunity to attend a writing workshop with the wonderful and talented Sheree Fitch  a couple of weeks ago.  Hence the flood of writing you're so lucky to have stumbled upon, mwah ha ha...

One of the great things she shared with us was her poem First Day of School.  It's just lovely, and written from the perspective of a parent who knows what is important, and how difficult it can be to preserve in a classroom.  She challenged us to write a response, as teachers, with that different perspective of what happens in the classroom.

So I did.

Here is Sheree's poem, followed by mine.

First Day of School

Here, take my child.
He has a fistful of crayons,
Is ready to begin
To enter the halls that smell of chalk dust and lemon oil.
He wants to colour a picture.
Help him to see that the colour he chooses,
The pictures he makes, are beautiful…..
Before you ask him to paint the Sistine Chapel.

Here, take my child.
She knows one and one makes two.
I want her to learn to add,
Without being subtracted from.
I want her to multiply her abilities,
But not if it divides her against herself.

Here, take my child.
He has a book he wants to read.
Let him read it first,
Tell you why he likes it,
Before you ask him to read a book
You think he should read…..
To be up to “the level”.

Here, take my child.
She has written a poem:
“dandy lions are golden buttons in the grass”
Smell those dandelions, see the image,
Before you tell her dandelions are weeds or
Dandelions is not spelled correctly.

Here, take my child
but... TAKE CARE.

Sheree Fitch

I’ll take him from here
Full of hope and crayons and trepidation
Into the classroom I have done my absolute best
To fill with colour, and fun, and hope, and love.
I’ll try to find out about him
From him
And not from the files and assessments.

I’ll take her from here
And nurture her knowledge
Of lions and Lego
And drawing and math
Try not to crowd it out
With required algorithms and processes
To meet expectations.

I’ll take him from here
And listen to his stories
Before I ask him to write them all down
With proper punctuation
Finger spacing and letter formation
and appropriately detailed drawings.

I’ll take her from here.
I’ll care for her
More than anyone not in this job will understand
I’ll think of her when she’s here
And when I’m not
And long after we’ve both moved on.
I’ll teach her
And we will learn together.

I’ll take him from here.