Illustrations by L. Susan Brandt Annette L. Breaux 101 Poems For Teachers Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Illustrations by L. Susan Brandt
Annette L. Breaux
101Poems For Teachers
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
EYE ON EDUCATION
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Copyright © 2010 Eye On Education, Inc.
All rights reserved.
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book,
write: Eye On Education, Permissions Dept., Suite 106, 6 Depot Way West,
Larchmont, NY 10538.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Breaux, Annette L.
101 poems for teachers / Annette L. Breaux ; illustrations by L. Susan
Brandt.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1-59667-146-1
1. Teaching--Poetry. 2. Education--Poetry. I. Title.
PS3602.R43A615 2010
811’.6--dc22
2009045649
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Illustrated by L. Susan Brandt
Production services provided by Rick Soldin, www.book-comp.com
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Also available from Annette Breaux
50 Ways to Improve Student Behavior:
Simple Solutions to Complex Challenges
Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
Study Guide
50 Ways to Improve Student Behavior
Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
Seven Simple Secrets:
What the Best Teachers Know and Do!
Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
Study Guide
Seven Simple Secrets
Annette Breaux and Todd Whitaker
101 Answers for New Teachers and Their Mentors:
Effective Teaching Tips for Daily Classroom Use
Annette Breaux
REAL Teachers, REAL Challenges, REAL Solutions:
25 Ways to Handle the Challenges of the Classroom Effectively
Annette Breaux and Elizabeth Breaux
10 Days to Maximum Teaching Success
Audio CD Series
Annette Breaux
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
For Mama
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 5
Contents
11 A Simple “Hi”
13 Just Kids, Indeed!
15 My Teacher of Many Years Ago
17 I’ll Do it Tomorrow
19 We Get to Choose
21 Who’s in Charge?
23 Gossip, Gossip, Gossip
25 A Very Clever Teacher
27 Mrs. WarnYa
29 The Most Important Profession
31 Make it Real
33 I Do Not Like to Go to School!
35 Don’t Let Us Know
37 Take it Teacher, Take it!
39 Behind the Mask
41 A Challenge is Enticing
43 Lost Within a Shout
44 Who One Is, Not What One Does
45 Refraining from Complaining
47 "Can" the Lists
49 I Bleed Professionalism
51 I’m a Successful Student Now!
53 I Used to be a Screamer
55 Oh, Woe is Me
57 I Teach
59 Enthusiasm is Contagious
61 There Are No Words
63 Wear the Title “Teacher” Proudly
65 Will I Ever Take a Risk Again?
67 The Colors of My Personality
69 I Wish My Teacher Knew Me
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
6 101 Poems for Teachers
71 The Happiest Teacher
73 If She Can Do It, Why Can’t You?
75 I’ve Been a Good Teacher Today
77 Your Silent Voice
79 Manipulation Jubilation
81 Who’s My Teacher’s Favorite?
83 I Can’t Wait
85 My Reward Lies In It
87 “Just a Teacher”
89 A Mind of Its Own
91 A Miserable Career
93 I Choose to Take the Right Path
95 Teacher, Are You Magic?
97 Round Robin Reading
99 Rotten to the Core
101 Adore You or Abhor You?
103 What’s Best for My Students
105 To Smile or Not to Smile
106 My Favorite Teacher-istic
107 Teach Away
109 Pushing My Buttons
111 Believe In Me
113 A Look in the Mirror
115 Be Careful of Your Actions
117 A Little Praise
119 Whether My Students Pass or Fail
121 A Hero Lies in Wait
123 I Get the Worst Kids Every Year
127 Keep Me Busy
129 Attention, Please!
131 Call Someone!
133 I’m Not My Older Brother
135 Smarter Than Ever
137 Too Many Questions
139 A Student Always
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 7
141 Because of Us
143 Self-Control
145 Point of View
147 Tell Me I Can Do It
149 I Wonder if She Ever Knew. . .
151 Just Kids at Heart
153 Be Nice
155 An Ounce of Inspiration
157 Thank You
159 Recipe for Behavior
161 My Teacher, the Victim
163 Instantly Famous
164 Her Best Feature
165 Listen to Me
167 Your Attitude Speaks Volumes
169 Too Rare, By Far
171 If I Could Teach My Students
173 Because of You
175 The Rewards of Planning
177 The Life of a Kid
179 Teach Me Hard and Love Me Well
181 I’ll Never Ever Forget You
183 Faculty Meeting
185 A Golden Noise
187 Help Me to Be What I Can Be
189 Worth the Risk
191 Your Principal’s Comin’
193 Believing is Seeing!
195 We Know Just Who You Are
197 I’d Like to Tell My Teacher
199 Bad No More
201 Fear of the Unknown
203 If You’re Going to Teach
205 Teachers, Tend Your Gardens
207 Am I Really Worthy?
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
8 101 Poems for Teachers
About the AuthorAnnette Breaux is one of the most entertaining and infor-
mative authors and speakers in education today. She leaves
her audiences with practical techniques to implement in their
classrooms immediately. Administrators agree that they see
results from teachers the next day.
A former classroom teacher, curriculum coordinator, and
teacher induction coordinator, she is also the author of Loui-
siana FIRST, a statewide induction program for new teachers.
Annette has coauthored a book with Dr. Harry Wong on new
teacher induction.
Her other writings include: 101 Answers for New Teachers
and Their Mentors; REAL Teachers, REAL Challenges, REAL
Solutions; The Poetry of Annette Breaux: Tips and Poems for
Teachers and Students; 10 Days to Maximum Teaching Success;
Seven Simple Secrets: What the BEST Teachers Know and Do;
and 50 Ways to Improve Student Behavior: Simple Solutions to
Complex Challenges.
Teachers who have read Annette’s writings or heard Annette
speak agree that they come away with user-friendly informa-
tion, heartfelt inspiration, and a much-needed reminder that
theirs is the most noble of all professions—teaching.
About the IllustratorL. Susan Brandt is a freelance illustrator who lives in Dallas,
Texas and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Her passion
is her artwork. Her mediums include pencil, pen-and-ink,
pastels, and watercolors. For more on Susan’s artwork, visit her
website at www.lsusanbrandt.com.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 9
This book is filled with poetry for teachers young and mature
As you go through it, page by page, you’ll find yourself, I’m sure
I hope you laugh, I hope you cry, I hope that you remember
That of the very most important profession, you’re a member
For sometimes we forget how influential we can be
That touching lives puts us among the highest pedigree
So dare to read all hundred and one, you’re sure to laugh and
have some fun
But when you’re through, I hope that you
Are VERY proud of what you do!
Annette Breaux
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
10 101 Poems for Teachers
�Take time to say “Hi” to all your students every day—
for some, it just may be the only kindness to come their way.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 11
A Simple “Hi”
Each day when I entered her classroom, she smiled and
said hello
Just what that gesture meant to me, she truly could not know
She did not know that she and only she made me feel wanted
That HER smile got me through a time in life when I felt
daunted
That life at home was way too tough for any kid to take
That her classroom was my refuge, that my happiness was fake
That for her I put my best foot forward, even when times
were rough
That my smile was a façade to hide my pain, for I was tough
But even though she never knew, it meant so much to me
That there was one place in my life where someone wanted me
Wanted me to be there, wanted me to learn
Wanted to help me realize there were good things I could earn
For beyond the books and content, I learned that year that I
Was someone who, to someone, was worth a simple “Hi.”
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
12 101 Poems for Teachers
�Children are children, and they will play the part.
Just be careful not to take their actions to heart.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 13
Just Kids, Indeed!
My teacher said to act my age, but the truth is that I was
I was actually acting just the same as any kid my age does
So I’m not sure what she meant by that
I’m not an adult, I’m a kid—that’s a fact
But should I actually tell her so?
‘Cause someone needs to let her know
That kids will act like kids, it’s true
Even when adults don’t want us to
So all adults, please listen, take heed
We’re not out to get you—we’re just kids, indeed!
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
14 101 Poems for Teachers
�If you teach a student one day, you live in his heart forever. . .
The bond between a teacher and a student will never sever.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 15
My Teacher of Many Years Ago
My teacher of many years ago still influences me today
The things that she instilled in me have never gone away
In fact, they are a part of every fiber of my being
The blood that courses through me and the eyes through
which I’m seeing
The love that I am giving, the decisions that I’m making
The things that I’ve accomplished and the ones I’m
undertaking
For once someone influences you, they live inside your heart
And so of all I am today, my teacher is a part.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
16 101 Poems for Teachers
�Live on top of your workload. Please, please do.
It is better than having your workload living on top of you!
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 17
I’ll Do it Tomorrow
I didn’t feel like doing it, so I put it off for a day
And the next day came and I put off more; too much was
coming my way
I used up tons of paper with my list of “things to do”
And every day my list of things just grew and grew and grew
It overtook my kitchen, then it overtook my house
It overtook my children and it overtook my spouse
If only I had done the things that needed to be done
It would have been much easier to do things one by one
But now I’m overwhelmed with all the things I have to do
How will I survive this? I do not have a clue!
And sitting atop these things to do are feelings of guilt
and sorrow
So I’m turning over a new leaf. Yep, I’ll do it tomorrow!
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
18 101 Poems for Teachers
�Our attitudes shape our visions, and in our
classrooms they set the tone. It’s up to us whether
students in our classrooms cheer or moan.
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
Annette L. Breaux 19
We Get to Choose
O ne saw a glass half empty
The other, a glass half full
What? It was the same glass?
What stunt were they trying to pull?
No stunt was pulled at all, you see
Our attitudes shape our vision
We all get to choose for ourselves
Whether life’s an adventure or a collision!
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com
20 101 Poems for Teachers
�Good teachers act professionally and teach enthusiastically.
They set clear rules and procedures, and their
students respond fantastically!
Reproduced with permission from Breaux and Brandt. 101 Poems for Teachers. Copyright 2010 Eye On Education, Inc. Larchmont, NY. All rights reserved. www.eyeoneducation.com