A sense of determination “to return” is something I witness everyday in teachers. Teachers must demonstrate endurance in meeting the everyday challenges in education today, challenges large (responsible for educating children for our collective future) and challenges small (bulletin boards, lunch duty, formative assessments, summative assessments, group work, Parent/Teacher Conference Night, and more).
The attitude of teachers to return every day to the doors of their classrooms determined to meet the challenges of each day is what I hope to have captured in the following poem:
“I Shall Return”: The Teacher’s Version
I Shall Return
…to the school parking lot
to snag the last available space
that is farthest from the building
(and it’s pouring)
I Shall Return
…to the back door of the school
balancing the bag of stickers and markers and card stock,
with the bulletin board corrugated cardboard,
and a box of energy bars (sans nuts),
in my paper stuffed satchel-
(“Is that my phone is ringing???”)
-with my keys at the bottom.
I Shall Return
….to the classroom
just in time to set up the desks for ???
(select the one that best applies:)
A. Socratic seminar
B. morning meeting
C. Daily 5
D. computers on carts
I Shall Return
….to the copier,
it’s jammed,
it’s hot,
and out of ink.
I Shall Return
…to the dimly lit book room
and dig through the pile
of dusty boxes filled with dog-earred copies
and abandoned textbooks
desperately seeking 27 paperbacks OF
–Ramona the Pest OR
–A Wrinkle in Time OR
– Of Mice and Men
No matter the grade level…still 3 books short.
I Shall Return
….to the (hard copy/online) grade book
and mark the tardies
and mark the absences
and mark the group work
(and note, “No quiz grade for Mark?”)
I Shall Return
…to the parking lot
lugging the satchel of papers
that have travelled,
ungraded,
from school,
to home,
back to school where
I do what I love.
And so,
I Shall Return
©Colette Marie Bennett, 2015
Submitted with great respect for both General MacArthur and educators everywhere on the March 20th anniversary.
Hope this was ok, Catherine!
To see the other #PoetryFriday posts check out her blog: Poetry Friday is Here!
Used Books in Class 
This is wonderful, Colette! I especially love being 3 copies short, no matter what. Thank you for taking the time to craft this tribute to the hard work we love.
You are in the trenches, and certainly a General would appreciate a teacher’s dedication, honor, long hours, steadfastness, and, dare I say, insanity? I couldn’t do it. I would be exhausted!! I really relate to that: is that my phone, keys on the bottom feeling. Great poem!
So. Very. Perfect.
You wrote it for Catherine, but I’ll thank you on behalf of all the rest of us.
Those papers lugged back and forth…if I don’t get busy on the three sets I brought home for spring break and haven’t touched yet, I will reenact that portion of your poem! (I often do…)
Thanks.
I have had papers travel cross-country.
Once again, you found time to comment. So. Very. Perfectly.
Now that is a wonderful idea making use of “On this Day in History” as inspiration. Lovely poem and great theme! 🙂