Sunday, October 11, 2009

Checking Papers

"I believe the children are are future,
teach them well and let them lead the way...
Show them all the beauty they posess inside,
Give them a sense of pride..."
~WH


When I was but a small fry,
I constantly "played school."

And I really loved it.
In an obsessed and fixated kind of way.

I played and played and played.
For hours upon hours upon hours.

I remember using black markers and typing paper
to create worksheets
and substituting my Highlights magazines
as faux workbooks.

I had lists of pretend classrooms,
full of students,
with neatly designed seating charts.

Most of all,
I loved to grade papers.

I'd take those carefully designed worksheets,
complete them with a pencil
and then carefully check over them,
with the utmost of care.

I'd make comments
and smiley faces
and stars.

Sometimes I'd fill the paper with red check marks
and minus signs.

I even went as far as to scrawl,
"See Me" on the top of a few.

It was so fun then.
Grading papers.

It was my little world,
in my little school room.

Times have changed.
Now, as the papers pile up,
I begin to panic.

"How will I ever get all of these checked?"
"Why did I assign two essay questions?"
"I have such a busy weekend and I desperately need some down time..."

It's all worth it though.
When the struggler shows signs of improvement.

Or, when the tough guy
writes a note
on the bottom of his test
that says,
"Thanks Mrs. W.
U make this EZ and fun."

First I am angry.
He's writing in "text talk."

But that quickly fades
and a huge smile creeps into my heart.

We're getting there.
Slowly but surely,
I'll win this kid over.

And he will learn.
And succeed.
And be successful.

2 comments:

Maria said...

Outstanding work! Beautiful insight in the author's purpose. Wonderful use of metaphor. Good sentence structure.

Just some little phrases I thought you could use :)

You are the best. Hope your day was OK.

Maria said...

Oh, I also can see a wee little Cathy K. playing school and lining up her dolls to "teach them their letters and how to add and subtract."or better yet, teaching her dog or cat how to read!!

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