Terimiyia’s Favorite Time of Day
I spent a few hours in my classroom today cleaning and packing up.
In some ways, the experience felt normal, the same end-of-year routine that I have been doing for years– except that it is April and our governor officially declared that students will not be returning to school buildings for the remainder of the school year.
Being in my classroom again put me in mind of my students, particularly one student, Terimiyia.
The week before our school closed, my students presented their own poetry, and Terimiyia wrote and read her poem, entitled, “Favorite Time of Day,” about her experience in my class.
I’m smiling even now, thinking about it, just like I smiled when Terimiyia first read it to me and her classmates.
I asked Terimiyia if she would give me permission to publish her poem on my blog. She was visibly pleased by my request, which she readily granted.
Then, the next week, our school closed due to COVID-19 concerns, and I could not bring myself to publish a poem about a student’s love of my classroom that is now closed, a thought that still grips my heart.
But it is a fine poem, and I gave Terimiyia my word.
And so, I am pleased to present “Favorite Time of Day,” by my student, Terimiyia:
Favorite Time of Day
Anticipation from 8:28 to 1:48
going through these times trying to stay awake
class to class bell to bell
thoughts through my mind trying not to fail
walking down the hall to my last class of the day
Then I hear her voice say
“Are you with me Terimiyia because you’re in
Schneider’s world today,” As I walk in class
I glance with chuckles, for I know that
Schneider’s world brings laughter and love in buckets
To Terimiyia and my Class of 2020 students:
Here’s wishing you the best from Schneider’s world. 🙂
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Can’t think of a better tribute to a special teacher.
Lovely. And surely bittersweet for both of you. Be safe and well.
In these stressful times, teachers still bring comfort to their students – and students to their teachers. Small acts of love.
Thank you for sharing. It’s so good to read something positive like this when considering what a mess we have all been going through in the last two months or so. I hope through the years this sweet and smart girl will continue writing and will share with you so you can see her grow past this school year. My 12th grade English teacher, Mrs. Nell Brown, undoubtedly was the teacher who had the greatest impact on my education and hardly a week goes by even today, over 50 years later, that I don’t mention her name or think of something she taught me. And if you asked everyone else who took her college prep classes, they would likely say the very same thing. A really good teacher is beyond measure. Betty Peters, Dothan AL