Quit My Day Job!

My students are working on a poetry unit. It is difficult because they have to put themselves out there and at this age they aren't as willing to do that as one might think. We write all different types and forms of poems including everyone's favorite - limericks! Every year I write an ode to my students, they usually get a kick out of it and this year was no exception. One group of students decided I should quit teaching and become a poet - apparently there's more money in it :-) I don't know know about that but I did have a teacher once who said that he would never ask us to do anything he wouldn't be willing to do and I try very hard to practice that with my students so here is part of my poetry project:

Ode to My Students

Oh how smart you are-
If only you could see
The potential locked inside

I push you to your limits
Hoping to one day unlock
The vault that lies within

You talk, laugh, and pass notes
Trying your best to drown me out
But my voice will not go away

You're tired of hearing sit down, quiet down
You're well aware life's not fair
And yet it doesn't seem to sink in...

I continue to teach because I believe
In you, my students
That one day the combination
We will find
To open up your minds!