Poetry Corner — Poems about teaching and learning

Contact Leslie

Okay, okay you caught me! I have to confess that sometimes I am a closet poet. My Poetry Corner includes links to some humble offerings about teaching and learning. All of the linked poems had emotional triggers, either through first hand experiences or through the stories of others. Due to these well-rooted emotional connections they are selections focused on topics on which I am passionate — the unfairness of unequal funding; the importance of teachers being learners; the immense power of teachers in the lives of children; the importance of daydreaming in developing creativity; the effects of violence on children, etc.

*Beyond personal use, please do not reprint these for distribution or publication without explicit permission from me or my legal representatives. Thanks. scroll and quill

Another link for poetry on related topics, check out the The Poetry Foundation for its wonderful array of poems about teachers and teaching.

Namaste,

L.W.

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Poems by Leslie

  • Dressings –  One of the harsh realities of being educated in the US is that schools receive unequal funding. This poem addresses what that feels like from a child’s viewpoint. 

I thought my schooling should be seamless

And made of rich brocade. . . .

  • My Soul’s Own Voice  – A poem about the power of teachers to support children as they endeavor to find what moves them and speaks to their souls.

The old woman artist, mother of my mother, sat still

beside a window in her studio. . . .

  • The Unitary Child – In the West often we tend to look at the parts of things and not the whole. This offering is a reminder of the wholeness of children and their preciousness.

I am a unitary child

Not made of separate parts. . . .

  • Lessons of Another Kind – Teachers must also be willing learners. This poem is a reminder that teachers still have a great deal to learn and sometimes students are great teachers. 

I came to teach,

To see what I could find . . .

  • The Swirls – In schools we negate daydreaming as a useless pastime and definite sign of ill-attention. But what if what is going on in students’ daydreams is much more productive, imaginative and wonderful than what we are offering up as knowledge or education?

The swirls of my dreamlife

destabilize the politics of the schoolyard . . .

  •  Into the Bend of Interwoven Time – A Parable – It does not often occur to adults, especially teachers, that some children have a deep, internal wisdom that far exceeds their own. How often do we concretely and with detail relate the things we are teaching to students’ futures?

There was once a child who spoke and wondered of his tomorrows –

And beyond.

Incessantly he asked questions about the future –

  • One Finds Children . . . – Unfortunately some adults can contaminate the innocence of children. This poem recognizes those who survive those attempts at corruption.

Singing in the darkness

One finds children by the sweetness of their voices.

There are many paths that lead us as we muddle through the throng.

There are many roads to follow to avoid the one that’s wrong.

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Poems by Others

  • The Reductive Sum Of One – by Gary Zarda – A poem about seeing students through the lenses of the Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences

In my view

there are many rather than one. . . .

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If any of the offerings from my Poetry Corner – Poems about teaching and learning have spoken to you, or made you think about schools children, teachers, or learning in new ways, please pass them on.