Education Haiku: Three Lines, 17 Syllables (or So), on Learning

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We asked Education Week readers to send us their original haiku about schools, teaching, learning ... anything related to education. The poems included the touching, the troubling, the light, and the dark. Writers of many ages participated. You’ll find some of our favorites below.

Teachers light a flame,

But how long the fire burns

Is out of their hands.

—Stevie Gray, physical education teacher, Glebe Elementary School, Arlington, Va.
What I see as my

Breathtaking erudition

Adolescents don't

—Eva Lee, 7th/8th grade ELA/special education inclusion teacher, Northeast Middle School, Meridian, Miss.

Are words true power?

Can they help children today?

Education can.

—Brian Wagner, English teacher, Abraham Lincoln High School, Philadelphia, Pa.
A school can be home

In the midst of upheaval

Learning, a new path

—Laura Keyes Ellsworth, mother of three, former journalist, moving with her family from Virginia to Vietnam this summer
Once were slide rules and

paper pen and brain alone

hashtag dinosaur

—Monique Presley, marketing and events coordinator, Education Connection, Litchfield, Conn.

Learning from the learned

Knowing that of ancient text

Gaining thought and mind

—Josh Reese, rising 7th grader, Paragon Charter Academy, Jackson, Mich.
Standardized testing:

Bubble sheets, pencils, time’s up!

Who benefited?

—Maria D. Whitsett, consultant, Moak, Casey & Associates, Austin, Texas
Forty pound backpacks

No longer! We have tablets

Now I’m going blind

—Matt Richmond, research analyst, Thomas B. Fordham Institute, Washington, D.C.

Homework done, you say

Blackboard shows otherwise, dear

'Copter blades whirring

—Deena Ackerman, mother of a rising high school student, Arlington, Va.
A crying student

Empty counselor’s office

Who will help him now?

—Heather Marcus, Public Relations Committee Member, Philly School Counselors United, Philadelphia, Pa.
Counting the days while

outside summer sun beckons

just one more worksheet

—Deborah Eve Barolsky, teacher, Arlington, Mass.
“Up” he tells me “Up”

as I record his data

the bubble floats, escapes.

—Maggie Briand, ESOL teacher and staff development teacher, Montgomery County, Md., Public Schools

I teach many things

But one lesson stands out. We all

Get what we pay for

—Andrew Saltz, teacher, The Paul Robeson High School for Human Services, Philadelphia, Pa.
Learning is ruined

Summer is calling my name

I can smell freedom

—Marissa Noland, rising 7th grader, Paragon Charter Academy, Jackson, Mich.