Lines I Wish I Would Have Written

As more and more of my students' first attempts at poetry are coming in, I have come across some pretty incredible lines.

So here goes the list of lines I wish I would have written myself:

"They will make a new number
To describe how I feel about you."

"The big question is
Why we're stuck taming a wild
River."

"I was fed by drought"

"I sold a road" (I just feel like you could do so much with that line)

"You're my housewife fixing our twisted time" (This line just won't get out of my head)

And what would one of these posts be without a few funny lines thrown in just for fun?

"You fluffy rainbow that fills your soul...
Hello rainbow you're cute
And disrespectful" 
(This is what happens when I tell them to start combining random words together to form a poem)

"Fashion designers
Make a lot of money
Just for making
Clothes."
(I don't know why I think this one's so funny, but I do)

And what's a post without someone mentioning Justin Bieber? [Since I can't go more than one class period without his name being brought up]:

"It's sad that every day a man loses his manhood
Because they got a British tan.
See that limo? That's Justin Bieber
Coming to sing Baby...
Now he can sing his sparkled music
Again."

Teen Angst

As part of our poetry unit, I've been asking the students to make a "found poem," which is where you pull random words and phrases from various books and magazines and then rearrange them to create a poem (like magnetic poetry).

Some of the poems are surprisingly profound, even though I don't think the students necessarily intended them to be that way.

And some are just funny.

Like this:

I love you
I love you
I do
But I just don't like
Those very old shoes.
I bought you some new ones
You threw them away
I don't know if I want you to be my boyfriend.
Just...
Take me to Justin Bieber's concert
And we'll be okay.
If you don't do what I tell you
We really are gonna become
Frenemies.
Love you.


Sometimes I just die. Bless their hearts.

Memorable Student Lines

My four classes just all finished up writing the final drafts of their personal narratives. Here are some of my favorite lines from their stories:

"My dad is kind of short, so that's where I think his anger comes from."

"[The ice cream] felt like a frozen tangy snowman was dancing on my tongue."

"In Mexico there are a lot of short people like my dad." (And that's the last line of the story).

"If I was the mountain I would be a nice smelling green thingy." (I still have no idea what he's talking about at this point in the story, but I still laugh every time I think of it)

[Explaining about this superstitious ritual he does in basketball to try and have better luck]:
"It does not give you 12% luck. It maybe gives you--12% luck to make it in, just 12% to miss it." (I'd best talk to his math teacher...)

"I look down and the snow is as white as a nerd's face."

"The drive was as long and boring as a SpongeBob movie."

[After I told a student he needed to add a character description]:
"My aunt looks like she has hair, mouth, ears, eyes."

"Height-wise, Parker is a garden gnome."

Man, I love these kids. I wish I could include a line from every story, because trust me, they all have good lines. Teaching 7th graders is way too much fun!

How Old Do You Think I Am?

Yesterday I was teaching my 3rd hour about the importance of being specific in their character descriptions. I first had them draw a picture of the following character:

"Jean has short hair and a pretty smile."

Then I showed them a picture of Jean, who was an old, wrinkled African-American woman.

The kids were stunned--half of them had thought Jean was a boy, and all of them assumed that Jean was around their own age.

So then I gave them a very detailed description of my husband and had them draw a picture of him. When they were finished drawing, I showed them a picture of Matt, then we talked about why their second picture was closer to the real person than the first picture.

At which point, a girl in the back of the room yells out, "WHOA! Your husband looks WAYYY younger than you. Like WAY younger."

Hmmm...

Parent Teacher Conferences

Even though parent teacher conferences were last week, I still can't get them out of my head.

Guess what thought they solidified in my head?

That kids generally grow up just like their parents.

I was excited when I saw the parents of many of the kids I've been, well, struggling with come in to visit with me. You want to know what happened 9 times out of 10? After my chat with the parents, I felt the same frustration I felt with the kids. But I at least felt a whole lot more empathetic.

For example, one particular student of mine who had been the cause of 82.6% of my frustration my first couple weeks came in with his mom and stepdad. I was eager to get some strategies from the parents of ways that I could better help their son, who had decided that he no longer thought it was important to listen to absolutely anything I had to say.

Here's what really happened:

His stepdad was noticeably drunk and tried hitting on me in front of his wife.

When I tried to explain the problem to the mom after she came out of the bathroom, she immediately teared up and cried that he was never like this at home and that she thought that all of his school problems had been fixed months ago. She said that she had no idea that he'd been missing school so much (he was missing 2-3 times a week) because she leaves for work before he leaves for school.

By the end, I understood a whole lot more about why the kid acts like he does. And I felt bad for him, and for his parents.

I don't know when schools started becoming the place where morals and values and basic decency are taught, but it definitely looks like it's bending that way.

But on a more positive note, I was grateful to parents who came not because their kid needed it, but because they wanted to show their support and get to know me. I loved it when parents asked me for suggestions on books for picky readers, or how to get their teenager to write more. I loved hearing how one of the dads that came in was reading his daughter Faulkner every night before bed. And I, in all my vanity, just loved it when the parents were actually AWARE that their kid even HAD a student teacher. (Although the blame for that rests more on the kids than the parents, of course).

So although the conferences left me feeling tired, inadequate, and frustrated, I still had hope that there can be a solution for it all.

I just wish I knew it already.