Poem in Your Pocket 2020-Quarantine Edition

Hey. Can I share a poem with you? It's Poem in Your Pocket Day. 
#pocketpoem
#shelterinpoems

First, if you are not familiar with Poem in My Pocket Day, here are the rules:

1. Find a copy of your favorite poem...or at least one that you like...or has touched you recently...or whatever. Digital is fine, but it's more human if you print a copy or transcribe it by hand.

2. Carry it around in your pocket (at the ready) all day. You shouldn't have to search for it on your phone every time you pull it out.

3. Share your chosen poem with people throughout the day.

4. Relish the poetry of this world!

My selection this year came as I was contemplating my career move. I left the public school classroom to teach at the university level. Since then I have had several former students reconnect with me via social media. And so...this:

"Teacher Dreams"

Some nights
students return to me
like salmon to their spawning bed.
They shake my hand
and sit across from me
and tell me what they have done
what they will soon be doing.
I remember all their names
and just where each one sat
in my classroom.
Still, when they tell me
what they learned,
it's not what I remember teaching.

--Cecil W. Morris

(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joe-DiMaggio)

This "teacher dream" conversation, as Mr. Morris phrases it, in my experience, is more of a reality than a dream. I have taught countless lessons to thousands of students over my twenty years in education, and I firmly believe that what I put into my lessons and what students receive is different. If I am prepared, each one of them will take what he or she needs as an individual for that day. That is why, as the great Joe DiMaggio said, "There is always some kid who maybe seeing me for the first [and I'll add last] time. I owe him my best."

(Oversimplified) Constructivist theory dictates that students will construct their own meaning from their personal experiences and social interactions. They will connect the new material presented to them to their own life experiences and learn and grow.

Sometimes, a student might be presented with adverbial clause exercises, reflective journal prompts, or even Shakespearean sonnets. And although she may not understand iambic pentameter or scratch out more than two lines about what she did over summer vacation, she still learns that she matters, she is safe, and she has ideas worth sharing. That is what teaching is all about--making a difference, building relationships, helping students learn for themselves.

I have had this conversation with many students at many levels. It is all worth it.

Check my Instagram @joeaveragewriter and Facebook pages soon for the video version of today's poem!