The Celtic peoples…insisted that only the poets could be teachers. Why? I think it is because knowledge that is not passed through the heart is dangerous: it may lack wisdom; it may be a power trip; it may squelch life out of the learners. What if our educational systems were to insist that teachers be poets and storytellers and artists? What transformations would follow? —Mathew Fox
In my own struggle to sustain my hope and aspirations, I feel like I can be overpowered by the political noise in our schools, in our field, in our country and world that distances me from the core of life with children— from what it is just to be a human being in life every day.
If I think of myself as a poet and storyteller in a school, what strength and courage might that add to my work and capacity to persevere in my determination to bring good to students?
I could hold a poem in my mind as I walk into the building. I could hear a song. I could think of a story, a photo, a painting that reminds me there is beauty in our lives and helps me look up and see the beauty and heart in each child and teacher. To be a poet means to keep your heart open.
If we don’t stop them, children are naturally poets and artists. Through whatever testing, mandates, challenges, no one can require that we stop seeing the wonder of our students.