All ears listening to Flipped.
You are amazing!
Can I borrow a pencil?
Reading the Beautiful Poem Under This Sky.
You can do it!
May I go to the bathroom?
Writing short response for Phoenix Farm.
Add another detail.
Can I go to the nurse?
Intense conversation after Surviving Hitler.
You all make such great contributions.
May I come during study hall for extra help?
Sharing our “Guess the title” poems.
Wow! I’m surprised by poets.
Do we have homework?
So, I tried a little poem in verse. I attempted to capture the non-stop teaching/learning action that occurs during the eighty-minute ELA class period. Honestly, when the class period is over, I am exhausted. I imagine what an actor feels like after a ninety-minute performance – I feel like this five afternoons a week.
The first line in the stanza is the action of the students. The second line in the stanza is my attempt to help with strategies and encouragement. The final lines in the stanza are the questions that many of the students ask (sometimes in the middle of my lessons and mini-lessons:). *For whatever reason, I can’t get it to work with stanza spaces, so the first line is lines 4, 7, 10, and 13. The second line is 5, 8, 11, and 14. The third line is 6, 9, 12, 15.
Fueled by Inspiration and Ideas 
You definitely captured the way MS teachers have to fit it all in in a given amount of minutes. I’d say you achieved your goal. Well-done poem in verse.
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Nice! (I finally figured out the formatting…happy to share!)
I love the energy in this and I can feel the frenetic energy that I know fills your classroom.
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Cool poem! It definitely captures the vibe of middle school ELA!
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Nice. I began to suspect you were capturing the live conversations and I got your teacher voice. But it was nice that you put an explanation of the construction at the end because it made me reread. I liked the stanza ending, “May I come in at study hall for extra help?” Thanks!
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I love the style of this poem!
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Thank you! I was writing it throughout the class period. This was exactly what was happening today (and it seems like every other single day:).
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I agree that our teaching is like an act in a play. Sometimes in the morning when I’m talking with my team and I hear the kids coming down the hallway I say, “Showtime.” It is indeed exhausting and it’s even more exhausting when you throw in an unexpected observation or there’s a surprise interruption like a fire drill.
I love how you wrote this piece. The way it kept transitioning back and forth between you and your students made me smile.
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