![]() ![]() I wrote this for the child who may simply forget a pencil. It is my wish that we would have a conversation with the child and parent before jumping to a conclusion that neither cares about education. It’s not the teacher’s fault, but also not the child’s fault. In reality we have children who are punished because their parents or guardians made the decision to buy those things. In presentations the question always comes up, “what about the kids with iPhones and Jordan’s”? My response is that younger children don’t purchase those items for themselves. I wrote this to give a voice to the students whose parents or guardians have not given them school supplies. Lights, food, running water, heating, and air is not present in all homes. Their are children around the world that do not have basic things that we take for granted. I wrote the poem for those children in extreme poverty. Educators are some of the most underpaid people in the world! While reading the poem, you will see the tremendous amount of effort that the student is making. This poem is not written for the children who do not make an effort to positively impact their own education. I have the utmost respect for teachers, administrators, and anyone else who serves in the education arena, who is striving to do their job in the correct way. As a former classroom teacher, I know about the long hours, the challenges of teaching students, the frustrations, and difficulties. This poem is not an attack towards educators. People always ask me, why did I write the poem.įirst I will start out by telling you, what this poem is not. ![]() ![]() “ Around the beginning of each school year, my poem usually goes into heavy circulation and sparks numerous debates. His comments are shared here with permission: Luckily enough, the author of the poem came across the post and chimed in on why he wrote it. A handful of teachers voiced their frustration with the pencil issue. The reason I’m writing this blog post is because I shared it on my facebook page and it got quite a few shares and comments. Recently I came across this poem written by Joshua T. As I sat there and listened to her words I self-reflected… had I ever denied a student a pencil? Luckily I don’t think I had, but I know I had made comments in the past such as, “Again? You just asked for one yesterday!” And it’s especially frustrating when the day before you said, “just keep the pencil so you have one tomorrow.” And they still lose it. The same kid who comes in without a pencil. Often times they would respond “because I don’t have a pencil and my teacher won’t give me one.” She taught us “If your biggest obstacle in the classroom is a pencil, you are in good shape. She said she would often walk into a classroom, see a student sitting there not working, and ask them why. One topic I remember coming up was the issue of students coming to school without paper or pencils. I will be forever grateful for some of the nuggets of wisdom she shared with me. Even though I already had 5 years of teaching experience, I took monthly classes with a professional development specialist whose job it was to help navigate teachers through that first year of teaching (which we all know is the toughest year!) The PD specialist who ran the class and came to observe us was phenomenal. When I switched from teaching middle school to high school, my new district required all new hires to participate in a new teacher program our first year.
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