😊
Years ago I was a student teacher
In a London East End girl's grammar school
My job was teaching them basic grammar
Spelling, writing and fun poetry rules
Each day's challenge caused me stress
Each day's lesson plan a mess
What subject could I get them to write on
Something they knew, which wouldn't take long?
All my schoolday's thoughts were wrong
Teachers worry all the night
Pupils have an easy time
The subject set, all you do is write
Into the lesson, what to do?
Truly I didn't have a clue
But this is one thing that I knew
Everyone thinks I'd rather be you
I saw blank and worried faces
How I wished we could change places
Teaching, responsibility
I bet that they all envied me
Family - they might not have a sister
Family - they might not have a brother
So I set an easy task which all could do
Write us a short poem on, 'My mother'
Most of them found this subject easy
Sample rhymes, they smiled, it was exciting
Twenty-nine out of thirty happy girls
Busily started muttering, writing
But one girl in the back, statue-stiff sat
Her face blank, motionless, just a slight frown
She ignored her sheet of lined white paper
No title, no word had been written down?
!
I raced back to ask my supervisor
'She won't write at all, what ought I to do?'
🔇
The English head said, 'Leave her alone, dear,
In the break, I'll explain it all to you.'
But in the break, the teacher was busy
Looking back, I wish I'd left her alone
I insisted, 'Please - you must tell me why!'
Frankly, friends, I'd much rather not have known
'Last night that teenage girl went to her home
In the hall the mother was lying dead
We're sure the no good lover had stabbed her
The girl put her little brother to bed
'In the morning she dressed him for his school
She walked him to his school, which was quite near
She came and asked to see the headmistress
But couldn't find the words to speak when here
She gave us the doorkey, we went to see
No answer, knock, enter, what happened was clear
She and her brother will stay at their schools
We hope that she'll finish her final year
'We have a social worker on the case
She'll spend the day finding them a new home
But, as for writing about mother
Until she's ready, best - leave her alone ...'
The bell rang, I was off to my next class
Why do I still think about time long past
You have to wait until you reach the stage
When images make words flow to the page
Maybe, reader (listener,) I shouldn't upset you
With this memory dredged from my far past
Yet, it still troubles me, I must over write
Hide thoughts which otherwise linger and last
***
Why should we upset readers or list'ners
About a sad story of a stranger
There's no point in us being serious
Unless we are warning of real danger
Comic poetry's flippant and silly
The lesson is happy, the lesson is clear
Humour pushes sad thoughts away
I want you to be happy, my dear
My name's easy, Angela Lansbury
I do hope that you'll kindly remember me
I like attention, but being happy
So, mostly I write comic poetry
It's not serious, and it's not all sad
It should make you laugh, end up feeling glad
So that after a drumming while
We all see lots of dancing, swaying smiles
I want you, my new friends, to be happy
And smile whenever you think about me
That's why I strive all day, and half the night
To read and write, light, comic poetry.
-ends-
Copyright 2023 April Friday 14th
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https://comicpoemsbynutter.blogspot.com/2023/04/student-teacher.html
Helpful Hint
What if you don't have a spellchecker and grammar checker in a blog, but you do have one in another medium, such as Powerpoint or Word? You compose your text in the place with the spell checker and grammar checker. Correct your draft. Then copy the corrected text into its final location.
If you want to read your poetry on Zoom or perform it live, put the poems onto slides which can be projected. That helps people who cannot speak English as a first language. The backup of written text is also useful if there are problems with projection such as the microphone or Zoom.
What's more it is professional. And entertaining, if you can illustrate with comical illustrations, or pretty borders. Or even animation.
My favourite type - mocrophone
