On Friday, I wrote about a student who wrote used his Writer’s Notebook time to write about how much he hated my class. I was trying, unsuccessfully, to write a villanelle. Well, today, he smiled, so I wrote a villanelle to celebrate.
He smiled a bit, today, in class
The Boy who hates Humanities
The other students cheered en masse
They would not give his turn a pass
And so, his tablemates to please
He smiled a bit, today, in class
They would not hear his mumbling sass
Not those happy personalities
The other students cheered en masse
And so he did it, bold as brass
And uttering no profanities
He smiled a bit, today, in class
Since he didn’t do it to harass
Or assuage onlookers’ vanities
The other students cheered en masse
He smiled and ended the impasse
Of his dark negativities
He smiled a bit, today, in class
The other students cheered en masse
Sometimes a smile is good enough. In this case, I think it’s great, after what you saw on Friday.
I am inspired by the fact that you actually got some writing done as your students were writing. Always a goal, but rarely accomplished on this end. I struggle so much with that…
The villanelle form is so difficult. You’re tackling many challenges in this post!
Celebrate the smile! And you can smile because you were able to create a villanelle!
It’s the stacking up of all the little things that are the big things. Ah that smile…and your great poem!
What a great celebration for the Ides of March.
I was wrapped up thinking about Pi day yesterday, I forgot today was the Ides of March!
Since I have not been on the Slice for a couple of days, I went back to read your post about this student. How wonderful that today, he smiled. That is a first step…and who knows, it might be all you get…but a smile is worth so much. He sounds like he doesn’t like much of anything and just maybe you have cracked into his wall of not liking your class, and he will begin to enjoy it.
A great piece: Well-done in villanelle form and a theme in every teacher-heart. I’m thinking: A mentor text for a poetry lesson with some great vocabulary for an extra challenge.
That villanelle!! Wowza! Take a bow. I am inspired. And congrats on the smile. As Taylor Swift says, “a haters gonna hate”, but you must have some magic to turn that around!
Love how you were able to capture that teachable moment! Great work.
Do the happy dance! Success wrapped up in a smile. Those are the cherish-able moments for which we wait and then celebrate.