Ms. Redmond's Blog!: December 2007

Check out www.ronthiele.com/kermode/spectrum.htn for some beautiful professional photographs of spirit bears. These were taken in British Columbia. Tell me which on is your favorite!

Another poem

Ode to the Quiet Wheel

Here’s to the quiet student,
the one who remembers her pencil,
the one who remembers his book.
Here’s to Amanda
who always has a smile,
and to Brandon,
who knows that names can hurt
along with sticks and stones.
Here’s to the students who have their homework,
every day,
who raise their hands,
who risk being wrong and speak their opinion,
when their opinion isn’t popular.
Thank you for your bravery.
Jared, thank you for sticking up for the underdog,
and befriending that new student.
And thanks to Sarah for helping the substitute
that day I was out.

Here’s to the student who comes to school,
every day
hungry for an education, breakfast, or both,
who wants to learn
and listens well,
who respects his friends and teachers,
who respects the janitor sweeping the hall, the bus driver,
the cafeteria worker serving a hot lunch and cold milk,
not because he will get in trouble if he doesn’t,
but because he realizes even at this tender age
that everyone deserves respect and dignity.
Here’s to the students who know that
please and thank you go a long way.

Here’s to Lisa, Nicole and Kate
Kylen and Kaileigh,
Ethan and Josh,
and the ones whose name you do not hear.
You know who you are.
Thank you for not taking the easy way out.

Finally,
here’s to your parents.
Thank you for doing your job,
for instilling the value of an education in your child,
for modeling respect and tolerance.
Thank you for holding up your end of the bargain
when you decided to bring this
beautiful, complex human being
into this beautiful, complex world.
Thank you
for your time,
for your love,
your patience and discipline.

These are gifts your children will open--
for the rest of their lives,
pass on to their children,
their children’s children.

These are the quiet wheels,
the students who all too often go unnoticed --

until now.

Ms. Redmond

A Poem

Freshmen Class List-Fall '99

I have one student who is brilliant in science.
His hands shake. His face turns red when called upon.
I have one student whose hair color changes with the seasons,
wears two rings in her nose, a stud in her tongue,
and clothes two sizes too big.
I have one student who is an overachiever,
another who is perfectly average.
I have one on the Varsity Basketball team,
one so sick she can't attend school,
one afraid to come to school,
and another who has an eating disorder.
I have one student whose mother is threatening to send her back to her dad,
another moving out of the district,
and one who just moved in.
She will stay one month before she moves again.
Her mother's new boyfriend doesn't work out.
I have one student who simply enjoys learning,
one for whom A's are not good enough.
Her nails are bit to the quick.
She trembles a bit.
I have one student diagnosed with ADD,
I have another who sleeps in class.
He doesn't know why he's so tired.
I have one student whose role model is Marilyn Manson.
She will be hospitalized for cutting herself,
transfer to an alternative program,
have a nervous breakdown sometime in April.
I have one student transferring to Tech,
he wants to cook,
another who is expected to be exactly like her sister,
and another whose apathy at fifteen is startling.
I have one student on an IEP with fourteen modifications I try to meet,
another who reads and writes far below grade level.
I worry I am not meeting his needs.
I have one student who does not speak English,
I have one student who is in foster care and has not seen her mother in years.
She says she does not care.
She will run away with her boyfriend in the spring,
return to sell coffee and donuts.
I have one student who is quiet and does her work.
She speaks only when called upon.
I have one student.

Ms. Redmond's Blog!

Friday, December 7, 2007

AWESOME BEAR PHOTOS

Cape Cod

A Blue Heron

Blog Archive

About Me

Another poem

A Poem

PBS Spirit Bear Site

Spirit Bear Youth Coalition

Ben Mikaelsen