Although I haven’t written poetry for a while, it is always amazing to me the relationship we have with words (or at least it’s my inner nerd that tells me everyone has one of those kinds of relationships.)
Often when I consider education the images and emotions it provokes within me at challenging times, putting a landscape of ideas together in a different way helps me to tackle, name and start to move through challenges.
This realization is often the one that helps with students while trying to access what they know and can do. Naturally, many of us communicate what we know and can do differently and perhaps if we offer students other opportunities, they too will connect with their leanring in different ways.
So here is a poem I wrote about education I’d like to share:
Creeping quietly
below the surface
lurks and simmers
that which once reigned supreme
Born to all,
alive and vibrant
delicate and magical
we walked this
each as children
inherently armed with awe-
a sense of wanting to know
why and how
a desire to understand
and explore..
With age came formal schooling -
a place that was supposed to free
the spirit more -
provide answers
but instead,
the wicked irony of learning
within a system
violently suppressed
beneath the shroud
the very thing we covet most
As years eroded the beauty
of each day,
the light filled eyes
grew dim
and stayed that way
for
a
L O N G
time
Until now -
there is a rumble
in the distance
a growing, festering
acknowledgement of need
an awakening
of life and reinvestment
to connecting back
with the child
who naturally knew
curiosity.
Learning is that opportunity.
Outside the boundaries of the walls
the colors appear more vibrant
the answers more plentiful
no fear
no worries
just questions
with infinite answers
Life,
alive with passion
desirable aha moments
to be had
privately or publicly shared
investing in the betterment
of all
Education must seek
to reconnect the learner
with its inner child
unafraid of wrong
believing they can
encouraging promise
rejoicing in trying
success in...
As we each emerge
within the powerful
grasps of “I can”
We seek our collective truth
independently harnessed
to our desire to learn
How do you seek the curiosity from within and how do you get your students or colleagues to do the same? Please share