Students are coming

Here is another rhyme I was inspired to write by one of Lynn Rosen’s comments on my previous Facebook post “A Rhyme of an Obsolete Teacher”. In that comment, Lynn, a fervent activist and prolific poet, wrote:

“Am I ready for history,

math and writing and computer literacy,

the noise, the joys oh what ecstasy,

So Arbi I promise I promise I do

your students will appear and provide a happier you.whoo hoo”

Below is my lyrical response to her comment above.

Students are coming

Sure, anon students will come

And in crowds they will come

And all teachers shall succumb

For them I shall beat a drum

Till my hands go numb

And awaken the deaf and numb

And why not even the dumb

For boys, the wildest songs I will strum

And with girls I will chew bubble-gum

And teach my lessons with much aplomb

In hope to make school less glum

That way longer I hope to remain young

Before all my kids away they run!

Oh.. was that the bell the janitor has rung?

If so, I myself have to run

To have my guitar newly restrung

And for them, the sweetest of songs will be sung

Till wide open all doors, to them, will be flung

So, be assured you’re always most welcome

A Rhyme of an Obsolete Teacher

This is a rhyme I had much fun writing while waiting for students to show up in the classroom. The school year officially starts September 15^th in Morocco. But I have never been lucky enough to meet my students on neither the first nor the second/third day of school ever since I became a teacher. I just don’t know why students always wish holidays were longer than they already are!

A Rhyme of an Obsolete Teacher

Where have all the kids gone?

September is moving headlong

Yet no students have come along

To the place I believe they belong

Can you imagine a school without a throng?

Why do you ask moron?

Cause I do give a doggone?

Without them, lonely would feel my baton

Desks and even walls anon

Would miss the magic of their crayon

True, as soon as I talk they begin to yawn

But I badly need them to blow my horn

You may think crazy this teacher has gone

And probably far too forlorn

Have I turned too obsolete to con

The students to whom I hate to say “begone!”

Or is it I am no more, to them, an icon?

Some kids I sadly noticed see me even as a con

Though truly my care of them lasts from dawn to dawn

Too obsolete, no doubt, I have gone

Shall I quit or teaching keep on?

Truth be told, I’ve had enough of this “head-on”!

Hey, wait a second you moron!

What you said must quickly be withdrawn

And no need your students be fawned upon

Neither will you need to look hither and yon

Open an account on Facebook headlong

That way, you may perhaps their brains turn on

With “likes” and “comments” posted on their Walls off and on

For your board and chalk, they think, are too bygone

Your dusty words they could no longer take on

Your textbooks and even you and your sweetest song

To a museum they think should belong

So quickly get yourself a tweak if you want to belong

Or students to your classes won’t come along