One More Thing Before You Go
And One More Thing Before You Go
I cannot fathom the end of the school year. My lesson plans are never enough to give my students what I think that they need. Not for one day but for life.
At the end of a school year I create in my lessons a combination of remembrance, facts, advice, and warnings. I give my students projects that reveal my need to have them see the good in the world, to be self-reflective, to work hard, to believe in themselves, to know they can do it, to seek good information, to read and write poetry often. I attempt to give them what I cannot bear to think they are without: a mind that seeks knowledge and recognizes beauty.
Truth is that I hate to see them go. My lesson plans are full of yearning for just one more lesson, one more truth revealed, one more tool they can use along the way. It’s like I’m standing at the doorway calling out to them, “And one more thing before you go!” Even though they are tapping their toes and rolling their eyes in polite impatience. I am asking for the impossible, “Please stay one minute longer so that I can behold your beautiful faces and freeze this moment in time for my memory. You are so lovely at 13. Never change.”
To them I would say, I remember the day that you wrote an essay and revealed a truth that you thought no one should see. But you shared it and you discovered that in writing it out, the words are a release. You are set free. You live to write another day.
I remember the day that you were listening to music as you wrote on your computer wearing you ear buds and you knew that your friend did not have them so you one of yours. Two students: one ear bud each. Two peas in a pod, sharing music and writing essays together.
I remember the day that you discovered Edgar Allan Poe and why Baltimore chose the Ravens as a name for their football team. That look on your face when you discovered that crazy writer have existed throughout time, knowledge really is power and that writing is necessary and valuable.
The one true thing: words really do have power. Regimes have tumbled and mountains moved all because of the power of the pen. There is nothing as powerful as a passion that is coupled with ambition and heart. What we say, what we write, what we read, what we think, make up who we are in a very profound way. What will you choose to write, read, say and think? How will those words impact your life in the future of change someone else’s life.
When you wrote a poem for your mom, it brought tears, when you wrote a letter of gratitude, it brought appreciation. What will you choose to write, read, say and think in your future? How will your words impact your life in the future of change someone else’s life?
Write from the heart. Make it a routine. And remember to email me to keep in touch. All right! Class dismissed!
