Not a Writer

Greg was having a very hard time coming up with idea for our new writing unit, poetry. He sat there and sat there, peddling away on his peddles (the seat he had chosen for the day). “I’ve got nothing,” he kept saying.

I had taught Greg’s older sister several years ago, so I dug deep and remembered a poem she had written way back when and shared with Greg that experience. It was a poem to the tune of “Mary had a Little Lamb.” He still looked at me confused. So (because of blogging) I dug into my own writing notebook and found a poem I had written to the same tune to share with him.

By this point a handful of students were intrigued to see what my notebook held and had stopped writing to listen…

Elena was a swimming star

swimming star

swimming star…

“Wow! I like it,” Greg said when I finished. “But I’ve still got no ideas.”

Without skipping a beat, Greg’s bff yells, “I know! You’re poem can go like this…

Greeeg doesn’t write

doesn’t write

doesn’t write

Greeeg doesn’t write

so he’s got no ideas.”

I busted out laughing. I couldn’t help it. Maybe not the most appropriate reaction but it was genuine. Many students looked at me confused at why I was laughing so hard (they had missed the poem).

I looked up to see Greg’s reaction. Luckily, it was the same as mine. He liked his bff’s creativity. “Hmmmm…. I like it. But I have to create it… not you!”

And the next day he produced not one but two poems to the same tune.