Slam+Poetry

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Sunday nights I lie awake— as all teachers do— and wait for sleep to come like the last student in my class to arrive. My grading is done, my lesson plans are in order, and still sleep wanders the hallways like Lower School music. I’m a teacher. This is what I do. Like a builder builds, or a sculptor sculpts, a preacher preaches, and a teacher teaches. This is what we do. We are experts in the art of explanation: I know the difference between questions to answer and questions to ask. That's an excellent question. What do you think? If two boys are fighting, I break it up. But if two girls are fighting, I wait until it’s over and then drag what’s left to the nurse’s office. I’m not your mother, or your father, or your jailer, or your torturer, or your biggest fan in the whole wide world even if sometimes I am all of these things. I know you can do these things I make you do. That’s why I make you do them. I’m a teacher. This is what I do. Once in a restaurant, when the waiter asked me if I wanted anything else, and I said, "No, thank you, just the check, please," and he said, "How about a look at the dessert menu?" I knew I had become a teacher when I said, "What did I just say? Please don’t make me repeat myself!" In the quiet hours of the dawn I write assignment sheets and print them without spell checking them. Because I’m a teacher, and teachers don’t make spelling mistakes. So yes, as a matter of fact, the new dress cod will apply to all members of the 5th, 6th, and 78th grades; and if you need an extension on your 55-paragraph essays examining The Pubic Wars from an hysterical perspective you may have only until January 331st. I trust that won’t be a problem for anyone? I like to lecture on love and speak on responsibility. I hold forth on humility, compassion, eloquence, and honesty. And when my students ask, “Are we going to be responsible for this?” I say, If not you, then who? You think my generation will be responsible? We’re the ones who got you into this mess, now you are our only hope. And when they say, “What we meant was, ‘Will we be tested on this?’” I say Every single day of your lives! Once, I put a pencil on the desk of a student who was digging in her backpack for a pencil. But she didn’t see me do it, so when I walked to the other side of the room and she raised her hand and asked if she could borrow a pencil, I intoned, In the name of Socrates and Jesus, and all the gods of teaching, I declare you already possess everything you will ever need! Shazzam! “You are the weirdest teacher I have ever—” Then she saw the pencil on her desk and screamed. “You’re a miracle worker! How did you do that?” I just gave you what I knew you needed before you had to ask for it. Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker. But I’m a teacher. And that’s what we do.

"Miracle Workers" by Taylor Mali is a poem that he created to metaphorically explain that teachers are miracle workers. I chose this poem as the title caught my eye as I was searching through all of Taylor Mali's work. Once I saw the title "Miracle Workers," I was wondering what he meant by that and was intrigued. Some thoughts that come to my mind are that it is just his job to educate the students so that miracles are created for the students. Another thought that comes to mind is that everything that he teaches they will be "tested" everyday of their lives, which I think means that they will experience something that will need the knowledge that he has given to them, this comes from the phrase, "I like to lecture on love and speak on responsibility. I hold forth on humility, compassion, eloquence, and honesty. And when my students ask, “Are we going to be responsible for this?” I say, If not you, then who? You think my generation will be responsible? We’re the ones who got you into this mess, now you are our only hope. And when they say, “What we meant was, ‘Will we be tested on this?’” I say Every single day of your lives!"

A poetic device he used was repetition, as he keeps repeating the phrase, "I’m a teacher. This is what I do," which I think means that all teachers including himself are supposed to create opportunities for miracles for the students. Another phrase that really catches my eye is, "Like a builder builds, or a sculptor sculpts, a preacher preaches, and a teacher teaches." This one really interests me as he is saying that everyone who has the knowledge should pass it on to others as they are working to start a bigger miracle than what they have done, such as the builder builds, they build to not only make use of it but they could also be improved later on in the future, as the sculptor sculpts, the sculptor displays the sculpture so that others can imagine something greater, and so on. The teacher in this poem is in a way the same kind of worker as the others, he is trying to share his knowledge to the students so that the students one day can teach others as well in one way or another.

To me, the main theme of the poem "Miracle Workers" is that everyone has a meaning in life and that some people's are to create miracles in some kind of way. There are many forms of creating a miracle, as the teacher did by educating the students so that a miracle may be produced, as he says, "Education is the miracle, I’m just the worker. But I’m a teacher. And that’s what we do."