Who Sings?

"The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom." 

 Today, I had the opportunity to view the classroom in a completely different way. I was the observer in my classroom, as my student teacher took her first stab at teaching a lesson from start to finish.  We are currently working on a poetry unit, and she chose to teach two poems by Walt Whitman.  I'm not a huge Whitman fan (I know, shame on me!) but anyone who has the guts to try to teach it to 9th graders deserves some props. 

As I listened to some of my students' responses in regards to America, identity, and who sings, I could not help but laugh, cringe, sigh, and smile. All at the same time.  I thought about Angelou's poem "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" and how so many of my students are caged.

They are caged by:

their anger...at the world, their life, and everything that doesn't make sense

their ignorance...the civil war happened in the 1900's? There was a WW III? Only presidents can be assassinated?

their fear..."they want to send me back!" death, different races, big words, the end of the world.

their stereotypes...and the stereotypes others have of them

their innocence

their hardships and burdens

their apathy

their hatred for school and a system they think is working against them

their struggle to figure out who they are as 14 and 15 year olds

Just making that list makes my head hurt, because it makes me realize what we're up against.  Educators have a difficult job, perhaps more difficult than ever before.  Yet, there are those of us who are willing to listen to our students' stories, their songs, their anger, their ridiculousness (which will be followed by a consequence, because choices DO have consequences), their hopes, their fears, and uncertainty about life and their place in it.

I don't always have the answer, hell, maybe I never do; but I keep showing up every day. I don't give up, even when I want to. Even when I question if what I'm doing is worth it. Even when sometimes I feel like I care more than some of them do. I do it because I know deep down they want to be free and maybe, just maybe, the Lord will give me the tools they need to break free.