Wing It - Genre Reflection #1
Wing It
Inspired by our class reading of Macbeth
I should have planned my lesson last night.
There would have been a time for such a word:
Tomorrow….and tomorrow; and today
Creeps forth the steady feeling of regret
Of half-baked plans.
And all my yesterdays have been spent
Lighting the way to dead ends,
To confusing instructions,
To misplaced slides,
To spelling mistakes (in an English class?!),
To crystal clear hindsight:
If you don’t know what’s happening, how are they supposed to?
Out, out - that stubborn haze,
Like a walking shadow, that plays at organization
And then is played no more. This is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of improvised bullshit and 6am plans
Signifying…….growth?
What could one learn from messy procrastination?
Well…..to do it better. No no, not to spend time methodically -
To wing it even harder! Spirits, make thick my blood.
Fly closer to the sun, you chicken-feathered Icarus!
The chaos makes you lion-mettled.
Now, no man of woman born can break your stride -
Your method, bear-like, fights the course:
Look not so pale
Best it were done quickly
Buy the golden opinions of others
Screw your courage to the sticking place
And you will not fail.
Cat - I can relate to this genre reflection so much. The dumb mistakes I make sometimes are astounding and unbelievable. “Well…..to do it better. No no, not to spend time methodically - / To wing it even harder! Spirits, make thick my blood. / Fly closer to the sun, you chicken-feathered Icarus! / The chaos makes you lion-mettled.” I love how many literary references and pieces of figurative languages. “Fly closer to the sun, you chicken-feathered Icarus!” is great. I like the reference to the story of Icarus and Daedelus. I think it shows how past failures can lead to future failures. We push harder into the things that don’t work. Great analysis of the condition of sometimes being a lazy teacher.
ReplyDeleteCat,
ReplyDeleteThe poetic form you create to express how you “wing-it” with lessons is fantastic! In the wise words of my poetry professor, your enjambments lead to deeper insights into your lesson planning as a student-teacher. For example, in line 6, you say, “And all my yesterdays have been spent.” Though this line leads to your “dead ends,” it makes me think of our busy days that come from student teaching and other commitments. All our yesterdays are spent on other various responsibilities! It is so relatable! Winging it has never been so poetic. Thank you for sharing your creative talents with us, Cat.
With gratitude,
Kiara Suarez-Sosa
Cat,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, thank you for your honest and emotional reflection in this piece. I know that I personally can heavily relate to the ideas you have written here – oh the typos I have found in my worksheets, PowerPoints, rubrics (ironically, even those where I was evaluating students on that very thing!). But further, I appreciate the realness of this writing – “full of improvised bullshit and 6am plans…” how seen I felt when I read this line. This instantly pulled me into that feeling: the frantic attempt, the hopeless fear, and the internal promises to never put myself in that situation again – yet somehow unintentionally finding my way there.
This was a beautifully written piece, Cat, and it was overwhelmingly relatable. Myself - and my tears - thank you.
Cat,
ReplyDeleteAs mentioned in class, I definitely wanted to look over your poem again to give you more feedback. First, I love how you start this poem with more common language and fun anecdotes tied into your poem, such as "To spelling mistakes (in an English class?!)," but then you change to more abstract and figurative language toward the second half of your poem. It really shows your knowledge of English Language Arts. It also works to give us visual images, and I think it really caters toward those who like poetry for its figurative language, and those who like poetry that they can understand. You really do a wonderful job of catering toward both groups. I also love your use of line separation (which I forget the technical term for). I specifically like the line breaks in sections such as, "Tomorrow….and tomorrow; and today / Creeps forth the steady feeling of regret." Thank you for your beautiful poem!
Dear Cat,
ReplyDeleteThis is such a wonderfully written poem. I truly enjoyed reading this, as I too can relate to the procrastination and "half-baked" lesson plans. Teachers often tell me I should not work at home and that my first hour plan is when I should do the planning of my lessons for the day, that is when I find my "half-baked" lessons happen. However, like I am sure you have done, you revise your plans throughout the day to be absolute perfection! Likewise, I really loved how you talk about having "spelling mistakes (in an English class?!)" because my goodness can I relate to that! Sometimes, I just get to typing and nothing is underlined on my PowerPoint or my Word document so boom, I print it, then I see, OH NO! A SPELLING MISTAKE! And, I think the exact same thing as you, "how can there be spelling mistakes, I am an english teacher!" I loved your work here Cat, I hope to read more in the future!
Sincerely,
Melissa Arnold
Cat,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your reflection! In short--this is genius. We discussed your draft of the poem a couple weeks ago and I hope I told you that enough times! Working and revising our reflections together was a great experience because I had an early look at your work! I enjoyed seeing your skills as a writer and in doing so, I was inspired to do better on my reflection. I connect with your message in your writing about what it is like to be a student-teacher and your fears and anxieties hit home with me.
Thank you,
Codi Larmer