PRESENTATION OUTLINE
Among twenty talking children
The only stationary thing
Was the eye of the teacher
I was of three minds
Like a meeting
In which there are three teachers.
The teacher moved fluidly between scattered desks.
It was all part of her act.
A teacher and a child
Are one.
A teacher and a child and a parent
Are one.
I do not know which to acknowledge,
The beauty of quiet receptiveness
Or the swirl of growing meaning
The child talking,
Or just after.
Blinds fill the long window
With horizontal shafts of light.
The shadow of the teacher
Crossed it to and fro.
The mood,
Traced in the shadow
Of an incomprehensible origin.
O, critics of a flagging school system
Why do you imagine different, more perfect children?
Do you not see those we have now,
As they move about the classrooms
Of the schools we have today?
I know fluent, fluid understanding
And smart, thoughtful questioning,
But I know too
That the children are involved
In what I know.
When the children ran out of sight
It marked the border
Of that which we already thought was correct.
At the sight of children
Chasing a soccer ball on wet asphalt
Even the most idealistic
Would laugh deeply.
She sat at her desk, content with the day's lesson.
Suddenly, a sharp thought assailed her,
In that she mistook
The quiet of the day
For children learning.
The classroom is moving.
The children must be learning.
It was morning all day.
It was windy,
And the rain was about to fall.
The teacher stood outside her door
Watching them scamper away.
