Old School
Old School
The fantasy world of pixel splendor
Is interrupted by a storm of forced surrender.
Lightning strikes and TV sets go out
In darkness students startled by a flash of light
A wise teacher says,
"Put your heads down and your thumbs up.
I will choose seven.
Now don't peak!"
Engaged in play the storm passes away
Friends are made and rules are broken
It always happens
I saw Tommy was looking
It's all the same
whether played in the east or the west
It's not about who is best
It's about who is next
Other classes aren't so lucky
Blitzkrieg berserk
Kids run outside dancing in the rain
To Thor God of Thunder they pray
But in vain
Because detention is where they stay
This poem is old school.
This morning classes were going as I expected until around 11 am when the sky darkened like night. There was some lighting and thunder and then the lights were out. I was teaching a group of fifth graders a review lesson at the time. We were supposed to practice a board game to review the vocabulary from the past four chapters.
But twenty eight kids were so excited about the storm and the darkness that I couldn't even explain that we are supposed to be doing a review activity right now. If I did try to force this review lesson they would have missed out on one of the most important learning experiences of their lives.
Maybe you know "Heads up, 7 up"?
I just said, "Put your head down and put your thumbs up." Then I wrote the vocabulary words on A4 sized paper with a black marker. I picked four students by touching their thumb. Those students were then "it". They had to come to the front and choose one student each. Every student who is chosen will stand up and pick the person who touched them by saying the vocabulary word. If they are right they can change places and be part of the students in front. As kids caught onto the game I increased the vocabulary words. Soon there were seven up.
The time went by fast and the lights went back on and it was soon lunch time. Students had a lot of fun and learned that when they don't play by the rules they will not be chosen. Kids never pick someone who is cheating. This is a really important life lesson although I'm not sure it always works out in the end. Some adults pick cheaters for various reasons. It's just the way things go.
These kids learned a valuable lesson not to be afraid of the dark and most important we don't always need to use the 72 inch TV screen in the front of the classroom. Usually old school works better.
Volleyball game afterschool
It has been raining a lot these days and our school doesn't have a gym so we used one of the gyms in another school nearby to a volleyball challenge. I'm not good at volleyball but I like playing and I didn't my finger jammed or anything. So it was a productive afternoon.
"Dad the lights went out."
I came to pick up my kids after school and my oldest son told me, "Dad, dad the lights went out at school." They don't attend the school I teach at so I was curious what happened.
My son told me as soon as the lightning cracks some kids ran out of the classroom to jump in the rain acting out parts of the Thor movie. He said they were all caught and punished. Oh well so much for old school style.
When we got home he insisted cooking dinner for me. He cooked Jappaghetti. He said, "Dad when I get to college you can't cook for me so I gotta learn how to cook."
Here is his noodle masterpiece.
He said it's not as good as mine but he will get better each time.
This is my poem for day 70 in the 100 day poetry competition @d-pend.(Steemschool Discord) I'm not dropping out now. I think 70% is very close to a C. All images here are from my smart phone camera except the bus picture. That's public domain at Pixabay.
Verse of the Day/ Matthew 13:30
“Let both grow together until the harvest.”
Mineopoly Quote:
"What a day...beep... beep..."
Check out my recent posts @mineopoly
Ticket to the Moon
Singing Room
Joe DJ
Eagle Spirit
Shut Down
Poetry Slam
Who Cares?
Some Day
Fish Tales
Steeped Tea Bag
Community
Freedom
Bukhansan National Park
Palindrome Lullabies Audio
Beyond Labels
Good idea/ Bad idea
Thirst Street
QTTA: (QUESTION TO THINK ABOUT)
Is there anything you would like to bring back from old school?
I love you all.
For amazing adventure in English please follow @mineopoly mining the heart.
When there is an incidental event or incident, the good teacher teaches from there what he had planned.
Sometimes a good teacher throws away the plan and even the objective finally submitter to the plans or a greater teacher. Like grain the shoots up in the spring finds itself bowing down in the fall so is our life learning humility. Even my volleyball strategy has changed from chasing after every point to just keeping my ground and avoid injury. Stay healthy and blessed.
Now I see in your comment to my sister that you had a terrible night. At first, I thought it was a heavy rain that ended without any damage. I'm sorry friend.
No worries. New day here:)
Oh, friend @mineopoly, here you have a treasure. You have given us a class of poetry, teaching children and family life. Excellent, teacher!
Thank you @zeleiracordero for your uplifting words. The storm hasn't stopped here but ravaged through the night. I think my basement is flooded but don't want to check. I woke up at 4am to the sounds of crashing thunder, lightning and mosquitoes singing. I hope you have a good day. Thank you for following my posts. We are so close to the end of the 100 day challenge.
You have a minor typo in the following sentence:
It should be one of the instead of on of the.Thank you for your suggestion beloved @grammarnazi. I considered your suggestion but found a better way to edit this. I love you too and your regime and the storm troopers. I know there is hope for you yet.
Do you like the smell of fried spam in the morning?