Monday, April 19, 2010

NaPoWriMo: #19: Light Bulb Moment

We sat in Mr. Russell’s
9th grade English class
and talked about the Beatles.

He sat behind his desk
and let us. We chit chatted
for all 45 minutes

of class while he sat there
in his frayed suit and thin hair
wishing for a cigarette.

If I was a teacher, I thought,
I’d engage the kids,
insist on quiet, make them

behave. Instead, he let
us do whatever we wanted.
I knew it was wrong,

and knew what to do about it.
That’s the moment
when I became a teacher.

8 comments:

Rallentanda said...

I hope Mr Russell is reading this.
At least in your day they were discussing the Beatles...now they would be dismantling the building
brick by brick.

evelyn.n.alfred said...

Right, right. Brick by brick. Mr. Russell wouldn't have been able to ignore the kids if he wanted to in these times.

one more believer said...

tho the beatles were unmistakeably important i like the idea of that moment being the moment for you... come closer

Robin said...

I guess you could say he turned out to be just the teacher you needed. :-)

Dan said...

I had a teacher who spent the entire class flipping through MLS books...

The bad ones stick with us too, don't they?

J. D. Mackenzie said...

Linda, thank you for this nice memory. Didn't we all have at least one bad one? Glad you were inspired to become a teacher!

Anonymous said...

I like how your moment came at an ordinary, dull moment in time.

http://thelaughinghousewife.wordpress.com

Gemma Wiseman said...

It's amazing how vivid turning points in life can always be, no matter how much time has passed since that time. Interesting write!

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