Yesterday 71 degrees
Balmy autumn day.
Today 31 degrees
Early blizzard continues.
poetry
Student Poem–Passwords
One of my students wrote a poem to which many of us can relate–how to keep track of and remember all the passwords we have created.
Passwords
so many of them.
swirling around in my head.
Computers,
phone,
Instagram,
and many others,
break my brain.
I forget,
is it 1234,
or WASD?
or is it,
?#ABC?
Matthew Steffens
Autumn Flowers
Purple and gold
carpet emerald grass
from recent rains
Note: I live on a canyon rim near Amarillo, Texas. One story as to now Amarillo acquired its name is from the fact that in the both the spring and fall, the countryside is carpeted with yellow flowers.
Teacher Tales
Sometimes a teacher’s work seems to never end and, honestly, it keeps me from posting here as often as I might like. At the same time, it provides me with endless joy and entertainment. The last couple of days brought lots of laughter.
I teach 8th – junior English and Spanish 1 and 2. This past Friday, Spanish 1 class became the site for lots of laughter. We were practicing translating sentences from English to Spanish. To date they have learned to say what they like, sentences about the weather, write about time, and to use the two “to be” verbs used in Spanish among other things. Somehow in the process of describing a person using a variety of adjectives they have been taught, one of the students blurted out, ” I think old people are ugly.” I said, “So you think I am ugly?” This caused a minor uproar with laughter and indignation. In an attempt to make the situation better, he continued, “No, I mean people over 60.” I repeated, “So you think I am ugly?” By this time everyone was laughing, including me, protesting his attitude. He started to try to wriggle out of that one when I pointed out that it might be better if he kept quiet. He started to say something about wrinkles but that got shut down by the other students.
Just before all this, his younger brother came into the classroom. He is the student who wrote a page-long poem about my hair last year. He said to his brother, “What is wrong with you? She is beautiful.” Then walked out of the room.
By this time everyone was laughing and talking except the student who made the original remark about old people and a few were shouting at him about his awful attitude. By the way, in case you do not know, the word for ugly in Spanish is feo or fea, depending on whether you are describing a male or female.
This weekend I read 50 or so book reports. One of them included this statement in response to the question, “What did you learn from this book?” “I learned it is sometimes fun to be bad.” The student was referring to the book, “Tom Sawyer.”
I have no clue how to respond to that remark.
Freedom
“Freedom is nothing but the distance between the hunter and its prey.”
Ocean Vuong
My Hair–a Student Poem
Recently, my students read a poem where the eggs in a carton expressed terror at being removed by human hands and a Pablo Neruda poem about his socks–hand made, blue wool with a golden thread running through them. Their assignment was to also write a 20 line poem about something ordinary which they love or appreciate. One student wrote about my hair.
Student Poem–One Last Pond Poem
Ponds and dogs seem to be the most popular of the assignment topics.
The Pond
The frogs croak
quietly in the night
waiting for food
to come by.
The water shimmers
in the moonlight
like a lighthouse
on the ocean.
When you think of
the pond,
think of the beautiful
creatures that live
in it.
Author: Ali Matthews
More Student Poems–Two More Dogs
With my students, it seems dogs are a rather poplar subject when assigned a poem to write about a pet.
Hondo
Hondo is special,
in his own unique way.
He loves his home,
but never seems to stay.
His best friend is Scrappy,
and together they roam.
They chase wild bunnies
far, far from home.
Yes, Hondo is special,
in his own unique way.
A pain in the butt,
And in my heart he will stay.
Author: Taylor Shugart
Cricket
Cricket, a dog of 13.
She was a tiny little one,
Getting older.
She was losing control,
Now in diapers, and
moving slowly.
She begins to fade.
Cricket is gone.
After school, tears fall,
my best friend was in the pasture.
Author: Skylee Isham
Student Poems: Dogs
The instructions: write a poem about a pet or wild animal you love. Most of the students wrote about their dogs. Six more students requested I publish their dog poems. Here are three:
Kimba
my name is Kimba
I am really fun
but be very careful I like cinnamon buns
I run and I play
I sleep everyday
I ride in the car
but not very far
I really hate cats
They remind me of rats
I need to lose weight
So I can relate
back to when I was tiny
I thought I was so mighty
Author: Kayla Stephens
Sadie Mae
Sadie Mae is the best
Whatever she does, she makes a mess
She loves to play with all
especially her favorite ball
Sophie is her best friend
but their energy never ends
In the open pastures she runs wild
which gives her a big smile
In the middle of the bed she sprawls
sometimes you will see her crawl
Author: Jake Kenedy
Baps
My name is Baps. Milana
loves me I sleep on her
head so she can’t see
When Milana gets up I
have to get off When I
roll over I fall off
Milano needs me so does
Finley But beware of the
bird because he is my enemy
Be very careful we don’t get along
don’t put us together or he will
be gone.
Author: Milana Evers
Student Poetry: Bunny and Pond
Another student submitted a pond poem today:
The Pond
cold, still water
moss covering the surface
catfish swimming around the banks
frogs croaking like an old car horn
This is my pond.
Author: Harris Albracht
The following poem makes me laugh every time I read it:
Roger the Rabbit was an interesting rabbit
who had a eating habit
orange sour skittles were his favorite
He always savored it
He was white with black spots
And he slept lots
Rodger lived in a tree hosue
He was quiet as a mouse
Rodger is gone now
Thanks to the owl
He will be missed
But I am not very pissed
R.I.P. Rodger the Rabbit
Author: Jess Merrell
