Teaching the Unteachable
So a few weeks back, my son came to me with a daunting task. He had been on the Student Council at his school, and he wanted me to write a poem about "honesty" that he could present to the 5th and 6th grades at an assembly. At first, I thought, oh, no problem. Then I started using my brain.
How do you teach kids about honesty when they already know about honesty? Anything I write could and would be preachy, didactic and prosaic to these kids. If they don't know that being honest is important by now, how in the world could I possibly illustrate it for them?
That's when it hit me: I needed to illustrate it for them. My son was reading the poem, so I decided the poem ought to reflect the voice of a twelve-year old kid. I wrote the poem, and it was a smashing success with the students and the teachers alike. Although one student said it wasn't a poem (it doesn't rhyme). I informed her that postmodern poetry doesn't have to rhyme and she looked at me as though i had a pizza on my head. Ah, well.
My son performed the poem with aplomb and I was very proud of him. The video I took didn't quite capture it because there was too much noise, so I am going to post the poem here. Try to picture an animated twelve-year old reading it, if you can. :)
the ripple effect
"being honest is important."
blah, blah, blah.
you hear it all the time
right?
well i say it's a bunch of crap.
go ahead and lie if you want to.
it's not like it's a big deal.
i mean, i don't do it.
but i knew one kid who did.
his name was jake
and he lied all the time.
seriously.
all the time.
but it was cool because
everyone knew he lied—
it's not like anyone is
ever really good at it.
so anyway, back to jake.
when he told a story
we only half-believed it.
i mean what's the big deal?
it was jake, and the dude lied.
when he'd tell the teacher
something, she'd roll her eyes
and tell him to sit down,
only this one time he really was sick
and he puked in class.
but whatever.
and then there was that time that
jake got beat up in the boy's bathroom
because he asked out
another guy's girlfriend.
i mean,
we felt sort of bad for him,
because his face was all messed up.
yeah, he said he didn't do it,
and he seemed so sincere, you know?
but whatever, it was jake, and jake lied.
but hey, i liked jake.
we all did.
i mean he was really funny and cool
and was nice to everybody…
now that i think about it,
he was a pretty good friend.
by the time we were in ninth grade
jake had to transfer schools
because he said his dad got a new job.
(yeah, sure, jake)
and i was kind of bummed he had to go.
his last day at school
jake was talking to me,
and it was this weird conversation.
i still don't know what to make of it.
see, he was all broken up about stuff,
you know, about leaving.
his eyes were kind of red and
you could tell he was all emotional and stuff.
anyway, it was just him and me talking
and he told me they had to move
to west virginia or something
which i highly doubt, but whatever.
anyway he told me i was his best friend,
and…
the thing is?
i really wanted to believe him that time
you know?
because he was sort of my best friend, too.
then he told me something
and i didn't know what to think.
he told me that he'd only really lied once.
once.
i just stared at him like,
whatever, dude, you're the guy who lies.
but, i mean, he really looked at me,
you know?
like right-in-the-eyes looked at me
and he said it again, he said
i only ever lied one time
and from then on,
i was "jake, the guy who lies."
and it was weird
because he was all choked up.
and i really wanted to believe him,
i really did.
he just seemed so intense and sincere.
but how could i believe him, really?
because it was, like, jake.
i mean…
right?
© jacarter-winward
