Friday, January 25, 2008

Poetry Friday--Note to self

Remember to think twice when you are frustrated. Perhaps you should think of him as a poet rather than a problem.

The Poet
by Tom Wayman

Loses his position on worksheet or page in textbook
May speak much but makes little sense
Cannot give clear verbal instructions
Does not understand what he reads
Does not understand what he hears
Cannot handle “yes-no” questions


(The rest is here. Round up is at Mentor Texts.)

7 comments:

  1. I need to adopt your note to self. Thank you for sharing this poem and your connection to it.

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  2. "Cannot handle yes-no questions"---um, that's me. I admit it...I'm always looking for the "maybe" or the "if only."

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  3. hmm...I had to read this through a few times for it to make sense, being thrown off a bit--surely poets are good at proverbs? But then the lights went on when I realized it was a teacher's view of students--so yes, maybe poet children aren't good at repeating back the rote "meaning" of things, and go off on their own interpretive tangents. And the same with visual aburdities--"what is wrong with this picture" not being universal.

    Thanks for sharing this!

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  4. An interesting look at the teacher's point of view! Thanks for sharing :).

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  5. I had MANY poets when I was teaching. I learned to stop asking Yes/No questions, and I learned a lot more from teaching their way. THanks for this.

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  6. Anonymous5:12 PM

    Oh my. Cannot handle yes-no questions. I'm cracking up. I literally remember writing in the margins of the scantron sheets...

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  7. Oh.My.Stars. I think this means I might be one of those poet people.

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