I Knew You Were Trouble

I knew you were trouble
The first day that I saw your grin
It was charming--it pulled me in
I didn't know you had a double
Someone that I would come to know in the end

 I knew you were trouble
But I didn't seem to care
I had you and my happiness was there
But I didn't know you had a double
Someone that I would come to know in the end

 I knew you were trouble
The day you broke my heart in two--
You made it seem like I was nothing to you
Cruel and heartless was the double
The someone in the end wasn't you


 

Flying From the Nest

"I don't know if I can do this."
Marina sat in front of her computer with her two parents behind her. The screen was lit up to show her email. Her cursor hesitantly hovered over the refresh button.
"It's ok, honey." She felt her mother's hand stroke the back of her head. "At least one school accepted you."
"Besides," her father quipped up, trying to ease his daughter's ease without knowing that he was about to make it all the worse, "we all know you're going to end up at Union."
The early acceptance to Union College had come in the mail about a month earlier. Her parents were ecstatic. Union was a family tradition. And it was quite literally a hop, skip, and a jump down the street from where she currently lived. She would be living at home if she did attend. It would be the ultimate college experience within the comfort zone of the small New York town that she had grown up in.
The clock on her computer switched to 4:01pm. She hit refresh.
Marina glanced nervously at her parents as three emails appeared within her inbox. One from Southern New York University, one from Western New England University, and one from University of California, Los Angeles. Her parents knew of two of the schools she had applied for. The third came as a surprise.
She quickly clicked the first email before the third school could register within their minds.
ACCEPTED.
She felt a hand squeeze her shoulder from where her mother was standing. Neither of her parents said anything. Marina went to open the second email.
ACCEPTED.
Marina paused. Still nothing from her parents. She felt a pit form in her stomach, knowing that she had in some way disappointed them as she opened the third email.
ACCEPTED.
A small smile broke out on her lips before it melted away. She glanced over her shoulder at her parents.
Before this, her parents had thought that Marina had only applied to schools within three hours of home. They had no idea that their only daughter wanted to fly all the way across the country for the next four years.
"It's what I want."
Marina was sick of the New York area. She wanted new experiences. She wanted to explore. She wanted to discover who she was. But on her own.
Her mother nodded, still looking at the computer screen.
"We'll talk about it."
Marina didn't see what there was to talk about, but she nodded as well. She already knew where she was heading.
Marina was ready to fly away from the nest.

Tennessee

Appearance of a city girl
But the country is in her veins
Images of Rocky Top swirl
And her ache of being there, pains

900 miles away
In a world focused on--now
That girl dreams about the day
The day she says ciao
And she is home

A home where she has yet to live
But the feelings she has there are enough
Until then she is deprived
And she has to put up with city stuff

Surrounded by the smokey mountains
Where she's not bothered in nature
The small ache not satisfied--wanting
Waiting for the day her labor
Brings her to her home


 

Pitch Picker

The young blonde girl glanced at her peer across from her as they both waited out in the dimly lit hall of the business department.

"Do you have your pitch ready?"

The other student glanced up from his note cards to take in the other student. He had never spoken a word to her, for she sat in the back row in the lecture hall while he sat in the front, but he automatically took her conversation as a way to get rid of her nerves.

"I'd hope so. I've been preparing it ever since it was assigned."

The girl's eyes quickly lit up and the student took it that he had been right about the girl's nerves. He watched as she cocked her head to the side, her high ponytail swishing to the side.

"Yeah, me too. I'm really looking to be at the top of the class so I can get a place in the internship with the professor but I don't know if my pitch is really worthy of it." The girl nervously spun the ring that sat on her pointer finger. "What's your business idea?"

The boy placed down his cards. "I'm presenting a business idea related to traveling."

"Oooo I love to travel. What's it have to do with?"

"I want to develop a company that advertises the use of pods throughout the world. Each one will be placed in a desirable spot. But you need a membership to use them. It's kind of like AirBnB but you need a membership to use them." The boy felt pride swell in his chest. He knew his idea was worth listening to. "I'm hoping to create a close community of travelers."

The girl nodded as she scrunched up her nose in thought. "So it's nothing to extravagant? Just a place so travelers have a place to stay?"

"Exactly."

"What are the requirements of the membership? Does it cover the stay?"

"Not exactly." The boy quickly picked up his cards again before beginning to shuffle through them before coming to the card he was looking for. "Membership into the community helps cover stays but cleaning fees and other fees are still applicable."

The girl nodded again. "Sounds really cool. You put a lot of thought into it."

The boy grinned. "I did. What's your idea?"

A quick flash of panic flashed over the girl's face, but it was hardly recognized by the male student as his head whipped around at the sound of a door opening.

"Kimberly, we're ready for you."

The blonde girl jumped up before heading over to the open door. She sent a quick wink to the boy she was conversing with before disappearing through the doorway, the closing of the door echoing down the empty passageway.

The boy shook his head before going back to his cards. He stared at the cards, a nervousness starting to form in the pit of his stomach. What if his idea wasn't as good as he thought? Had he not prepared enough information to back up his business plans?

It must have been about five minutes later before he heard the opening of the door once again.

"Nick, you're up."

Nick stood up and did a little dance as if to shake off his nerves before heading to the doorway. Once he entered the room, he looked at his professor that sat behind a table accompanied by two other professors that were a part of the business department. They all stared at him expectantly.

"Whenever you're ready."

Nick's hands shook as he quickly glanced down at his cards before looking back up.

Remember eye contact.

"Yes, good afternoon. Today I'm going to present to you a business idea that will help travelers everywhere always have a safe, but interesting place to stay."

"Another travel pitch? The girl before you just pitched a wonderful idea that has to do with pods. Her take on the traveling community was very interesting. What's the public to gain from this business?"

Nick felt a burning sensation in his face as panic and anger filled his system. That snake had stolen his business proposition. He stared at the judges with disbelief written on his face.

The judges looked back, completely unaware of the panic Nick was feeling in that moment. The professor of the class impatiently clicked his pen as the silence continued throughout the hall.

"Well, Nick? Care to continue?"

Sharing is Caring

I think one of the most difficult things is for a child to feel safe in today's society. And I don't mean physically safe; although that is another topic for another day. I mean safe to share themselves genuinely with the world.
In a society surrounded by social media and other forms of media that tell kids how they SHOULD be or the way they SHOULD behave, it's hard for them to feel comfortable within their own skin. This is why it is important for us as teachers to create a safe, comfortable, and inclusive environment for the students within our own classroom. The classroom is the center of discussion, and if kids do not feel this way within it, discussion will not happen.
In Matthew R. Kay's Not Light, But Fire, he claims "the conversational safe space is established with three discussion guidelines: Listen patiently, listen actively, and police your voice"(Kay, 17). I think incorporating these three guidelines is the first step in creating an environment where your students are comfortable sharing their thoughts and opinions.
In an English classroom, the sharing of ideas is very important because most of the time what is being talked about is based upon theory and not facts. Bouncing ideas off one another is how a group can ultimately get down to the fine line of what the author means. However, bouncing these ideas needs to be in an organized fashion so that students are able to say what they want to say while also giving other students the chance to do so in the process.
I remember back in high school, my teachers used to do Socratic seminars to discuss books. However, it was a free for all. They would split the seminar up into two days where half the class would discuss the first day and the other half would discuss the second day which would mean there would be 12-15 kids looking to get their two cents in all at once. If you did not speak at least four times, your grade would be affected. Kids would cut each other off left and right just to get their voice heard. This caused many not to speak at all because of the fear of being cut off. Also because they believed that their view didn't matter.
By establishing within the first few days of school that what a student says matters, it creates a more open aired environment. In Angela Stockman's and Ellen Feig Gray's Hacking School Culture, they claim, "Experience has taught us that students' success and teachers' job satisfaction are necessarily dependent upon an atmosphere of emotional safety and positive social relationships"(Stockman, 8). This is why I think Kay's later idea of putting time aside to talk about students' personal lives is such a good idea. It builds a community within the classroom. It brings students closer together and it gives the teacher an idea of who their students are.
Making your students feel validated and accepted within the space they reside in is the first step in creating a classroom where discussion flows naturally.