I plugged an old external hard drive into my laptop and came across this old poem I wrote:


A Game of Catch

A gray sky explosion

Of pieces of light

Builds a ladder through the clouds.

Windshield wipers will the ladder to break

And splinter into drops

To throw in a game of catch.

A Day In The Life of A Non-Married High School English Teacher

6AM: Get up, shower, dress, eat, drive to work

7:45AM: Check emails, get home room cards ready, stand in the hall and greet students

8AM-11AM: Take and report home room attendance, and teach three classes of 25-36+ students the lesson you finished laboring over last night. Watch students, care for students, clarify for students, discipline a student or two, assist students, listen to students, be a role model for students, answer student questions, etc.

12-1PM: Eat lunch and maybe grade some papers if you aren't called to fill in for another teacher who is absent.

1-3:10PM: Follow the same procedure you did from 8-11AM, but do it with more fatigue, with students who are now fully awake and have too much energy, with more enthusiasm, and with much more attention and patience.

3:10-6PM: Stay after school, tired from the long day, and with complete mental fatigue grade class work, prepare for tomorrow, tidy up the room, make phone calls home to parents, check attendance lists to report students who have cut your class, do paperwork for IEP's or for ESL teachers, do paperwork for the principal or main office, consult with colleagues, etc.

6PM: Go to the gym to destress.

8PM: Eat dinner and spend time with family

9PM: Shower

9:30PM: Finish lesson plans for tomorrow, and do any research for materials needed to be taught

10PM (or later): Bed

Repeat this process Monday-Friday with some minor variation.

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Imagine if I had a son or daughter I need to care for on top of all of that!

Disillusioned Friendship

Once, there was a time

When I didn't know what friendship was

Or what it meant to be a friend

I believed that people are inherently good

That all treat all with a steadfast permanence of character

Governed by the laws of the golden rule

I believed that being a friend meant

Give all and take nothing;

Let others take and take

I learned, unfortunately, once,

That when people are allowed to take and take,

Eventually the abundant well of my will dries and cracks

Leaving me crawling, dry mouthed and shriveled

To die in someone's greedy hot thirst

That relentlessly takes and takes.

Before I Die I Want To...

http://jbknowles.livejournal.com/475287.html

I'm a day behind on my writing for Teachers Write! Yesterday's writing prompt was to finish the following statement for myself and my main character: "Before I die I want to..."


Before I Die I Want To

Dig my toes into the pink sands of Bermuda
Travel to Italy and hold a conversation with an Italian using hand gestures only
Tell everybody close "I love you"
Adopt as many animals as possible
Teach at least one person something new every day
Inspire others to treat humanity with humanity
Change a child's life for the better
Go to Germany to find someone related to me
Write many books
Own a lucrative mobile kitchen
Pay a paparrazi to follow me as I Monroe-walk past movie stars' houses dressed to the nines
Meet a movie star
Sing to a crowd of 1,000+
Read as many books as possible
Hold a baby in my arms
Have many stories to tell my grandchildren
Grow up
Get a doctorate degree
Camp on the beach
Say "I do"
Laugh as many times as possible
Become an Internet celebrity
Never waste a moment
Be okay with dying
Feel peace.


My MC:
"What would I want to do before I die? I think what I want to do before I die is reach my highest potential physically, mentally, and professionally. I want Mom to live free from the shackles of vocational servitude. I want to carry that burden for her as she has done for me all these years. Before I die, I want my mom to be so proud of me."


-DR