Teacher Appreciation, Roethke & "Dolor"

The first week of April was "National Pooper Scooper Week" and this week is "School Employee Appreciation Week." Were we in the school building rather than teaching from home, today would be "Teacher Appreciation Day" and one during which our students would be given a public service reminder to students during morning announcement's the "thank a teacher for their hard work." These are extraordinary times though, and I, instead, find myself distance "teaching" and reflecting not only on what I need to do better to demonstrate a worthiness for such appreciation, but also considering those teachers for whom I am grateful. Well, that and poetry (among other diversions).

During the second semester of my freshman year in college I became ill. As a result two good things happened for me: first, I was "awarded" my own room free of charge, and, secondly, I was given an extension for some of my coursework. I welcomed this opportunity as it gave me an opportunity to work with a professor that would eventually become my mentor. The course was "Introduction to World Literature," and like most who consider becoming teachers as undergraduates, I was introduced to text and ideas I had to share with the world because of their power and significance to me. This was, of course, before the idyllic Dead Poets Society fantasy met the cold reality of large class sizes, standardized assessments, and "career readiness." But that summer was one that sealed my fate, though the eventual journey to "traditional" high school classroom teaching was a circuitous one, that gave me time to work with a teacher on some wonderful pieces that I might otherwise never engaged.

I drove out to my English professor's home during the first week of summer break, notebook in hand, to pick up the assignments necessary to make up what had been missed during my convalescence. He lived on a defunct farm with his wife, son, and numerous cats. The house smelled like the old colonial buildings peopled by American Colonial re-enactors: of freshly churned butter and simple baked goods along with a woody-chippy mix of fresh cut wood. It was beautiful. Aware of my interest in pursuing a career in education. the professor gave me a dog-eared introduction to poetry anthology from his bookshelf. I only realized the implications of the first poem we worked with together on what would become my career. Thirty years later, the theme of "Dolor" by Theodore Roethke still resonates.

"Dolor" by Theodore Roethke.

Roethke's poem paints a troubling (but fair) image of public education both, describing much of my own experience as both a student recipient and teacher deliverer. The tone established through the use of diction such as "sadness," "Desolation," "loneliness," "unalterable," "Ritual" and others,however, need not necessarily be seen as overtly negative. "Dolor" also serves as a reminder how important it is as for teachers to consciously attempt to reduce "inexorable sadness" that can result from the dispassionate "ritual of of multigraph, paperclip and comma" some (many?) activities can unwittingly produce. The ability to do this is made even more difficult when tasks and feedback are being provided via opaque digital typography on white screens over the Internet. But, therein lies the true challenge of teaching in the public education system. Teacher Appreciation Day is a wonderful opportunity to remember those teachers, coaches, mentors who have who have chosen to "sift through the long afternoons of tedium" move beyond required content to color the cheeks of those "duplicate grey standard faces" entrusted to them.