Lois+Lummus

**Genre Reflections**
Week One: These are some poems that the students had worked on a few weeks before I came in. I wanted to use some of the styles to express how the first week of TOSS placement has been for me. __ I Know You __ I know you, Sitting in the front, raising your hand on every question I know you, Eagerly staring at the teacher, twitching to be called I know you, Twinkling little eye, trying so hard to be noticed I know you, Calling out the answer before anyone else, not waiting to be called I know you, Trying to be the beloved student that every teacher would love I know you. __ A Haiku for Teachers __ Teaching is an art One that requires patience And love of the mind

__ TEACHER __

**T**o teach is a blessing **E**ach student finding their way **A** piece of the puzzle found

**C**an’t wait to try again
**H**earing student’s ponderings **E**very one of them a treasure **R**eading the world in their eyes

Week Two:

I admit I took this idea from our dear fellow TOSS student Erin. Her letter inspired this piece. Thank You Erin!!

Dear Student that Refuses to Pay Attention,

It has come to my attention that you refuse to pay attention. I can see you use our class time to disassemble your pencil in various ways. We, the teachers, have tried to get you to interact in class. We have moved you to the very front of the room right in front of us. We have taken your precious pencils away. We have even written you up for not doing the in class work that you are assigned, but nothing has worked. We are not getting through to you.

How can we get you to stop tuning us out? What will make you participate in anything that we do? What will it take to get you to turn in any of your homework? How? We are at a lost with you and are getting terribly frustrated. We do not want you to fail, but you are. We only want to help you, but when we ask what you need you look blankly into our eyes and say nothing. Not even a nod to indicate that you heard us. So the question comes to you. What do we do?

Sincerely,

Your very frustrated teacher

Genre #3

What do you do with a class of 31 people, 21 of those are boys, 6 are special education, 3 are on RTI, 8 are in various AC classes, and 1 has cerebral palsy?

I will tell you, you pray before class that you have the patience and sanity to get through the next 55 minutes. You start class by loudly telling the students to sit down, this is not yelling for loudly telling is just one step below yelling. Then get ready to explain things at least 3 times for no student ever stops talking. Once you have about half the class sort of listening you try and tell them what they are doing today and what is for homework tonight. Get ready to explain this at least 5 times. The boys in the back won’t write anything down and one kid is playing with silly putty. Another student is raising his hand to ask what the homework is after you have just told them. This takes at least the first ten minutes of class. Then you try and start them on their first in class activity….OOPS…look at the time. It’s lunch already! Line them up to move them out, girls first, boys second. The last time you lined them up there was a shoving match between the boys. Remind them to be quite, stay in line, and move them to the end of the hall. Yep, after all these years they still can’t get that whole line up and be quite part. Ok…we’re at lunch. Watch them like a hawk for flying objects and flinging food. 30 minutes of lunch then you round them up again for a bathroom break. There are only 10 girls so they get done first. The boys, on the other hand, have decided that a water fight was in order. You walk into the bathroom, YEP a female teacher in the boy’s bathroom, and yell. No bathroom for the boys tomorrow. Back to class for 20 minutes of repeating yourself, you’ve got one worksheet done when you needed to get at least three. After class you take a small trip to the teacher’s bathroom to scream and cry. This was how my first day of teaching went and yet, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.