Encouragement for my daughter: TEACHING WITH FIRE

This week I reread the 2003 poetry collection, Teaching with Fire: Poetry that Sustains the Courage to Teach. It is actually the second time I've reread it. The first time I read it was in 2007. I was a new high school librarian. I'd been a teacher for 25 years but now I was in a new role within the school -- librarian. I read Teaching with Fire looking for inspiring poems I could share with teachers to encourage them for those hard days. I found a lot in it to not only encourage others, but also myself.

The second time I read through the collection was in 2016. At that time I was wondering if I should retire or not. My role as librarian had changed quite a lot in ten years and I was questioning if my time had come to call it quits. I don't actually remember if any poems spoke to me about retirement or not, but once again I found professional encouragement in many of the poems and in the short essays teachers wrote about why this or that poem spoke to them as teachers.

Now in 2025, a retired teacher librarian, I reread Teaching with With Fire, again. (Clearly I like it a lot.) This time I selected it to fulfill a StoryGraph challenge to read books from all 58 of the subject genres. This book fulfilled the "education" genre so I picked it because I didn't want to read a book about teaching methodology. From the very first page in the 'Authors' Notes' by the editors: Sam Intrator and Megan Scribner, I kept thinking about my daughter, Rita, and how many of the poems said things I wanted to say to her about her teaching career. All this was made more urgent when a week ago she called us to ask our opinion on a placement move. Last school year she had moved from a position in the middle school, where she taught math for eight or nine years, to the elementary level teaching 4th grade. She was all excited about another school year with 4th graders when the school district HR director contacted her last week asking if she would consider a move back to the middle school. With her seniority, it was Rita's call, but if she didn't do it, the next person down the line would be forced to make the move. Rita was very conflicted but ultimately decided to switch back to the middle school. 

She had already spent some time getting her elementary classroom set up and now this move so late in the summer. When I reread Marge Piercy's "To be of use" I felt so proud of my daughter's willingness to work hard for the greater cause:

"The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without daillying in the shallows...

"I love people who harness themselves, like an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like a water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again" (5).

In the excellent poem/prayer by Marian Wright Edelman, "I Care and I'm Willing to Serve,"  a similar theme is struck: to be of use for the greater good.

"Use me as Thou wilt to save Thy Children today and tomorrow, and to build a nation and a world to where no child is left behind, and every child is loved and every child is safe" (21).

Quite a few of the poems and/or the teacher's essays talk about recognizing children's talents and their imagination and not squashing them to make children all fit into the same mold. Jeff Moss's "On the Other Side of the Door" could be a message for both students and for their teachers. Perhaps a perfect place to hang this poem would be on the classroom door: 

"On the other side of the door

I can be a different me,

As smart and as brave and as funny or strong

As a person could want to be" (37).

Billy Collins reminds us that kids grow up awfully fast and we should let them be children for as long as possible in this fun, yet poignant poem, "On Turning Ten."

"It seems only yesterday I used to believe that there was nothing under my skin but light" (55).

Teaching is hard, hard work. It is often made harder work by a society which expects teachers to be perfect and never have off-days and to teach lessons which never flop. The expectations put on teachers is so daunting many give up under the pressure. When I read this phrase by Mary Oliver in "Wild Geese," I want to instill this message into my daughter's heart -- she is good enough and there is no such thing as perfect. She just needs to keep her head up and keep her eyes on the prize, to be patient and gentle with herself.

"You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting" (75). 

In "Education" today teachers are asked to do so much. Sometimes it feels like there isn't even time to breathe. In her essay, middle school Science teacher Maggie Anderson talks about how the poem "Fire" speaks to her about the need for space in the day. When building a fire it is important to have space between the logs, breathing space. If logs are packed too tight, the flames may go out. Reflecting on teacher burnout Maggie said, "After much soul-searching, I realized I was piling on too many logs too tightly and the flame inside me was beginning to wane -- even smolder at times. I was desperate for some space. Children need space as well ..." (88) We all do. We need space and time to help us process and learn.

Rita, dear. I hope you help your students to Dream. Imagine. Play. Explore. This poem, "Warning to Children" by Robert Graves, reminds me why:

"Children, if you dare to think

Of the greatness, rareness, muchness

Fewness of this precious only

Endless world in which you say

You live, you think of things like this..." (149)

Plus that poem is just so much fun to read! Another super fun poem, not to be missed is "A Contribution of Statistics" by Wislawa Szymborska on page 141. As a math teacher you will appreciate it, I'm sure.

Finally I will leave you with this thought: When all is said and done what remains is the love. In "Making Contact" poet Virginia Satir reminds us that kids can only learn from teachers if they know a teacher cares about them.

"The greatest gift

I can give

is

to see, hear, understand,

and to touch another person" (133).

Here's to a new school year! You got this, Rita!

-Anne (Mom)

My rating of the book: 5 stars.