Teachers’ Day: Poems to Express Gratitude to Our Teachers

1. "What Teachers Make" by Taylor Mali

He says the problem with teachers is

What’s a kid going to learn

from someone who decided his best option in life

was to become a teacher?

He reminds the other dinner guests that it’s true

what they say about teachers:

Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his

and resist the temptation to remind the dinner guests

that it’s also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we’re eating, after all, and this is polite conversation.

I mean, you’re a teacher, Taylor.

Be honest. What do you make?

And I wish he hadn’t done that— asked me to be honest--

because, you see, I have this policy about honesty and ass-­‐kicking:

if you ask for it, then I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.

I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional Medal of Honor

and an A-­‐ feel like a slap in the face.

How dare you waste my time

with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall

in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.

No, you may not ask a question.

Why won’t I let you go to the bathroom?

Because you’re bored.

And you don’t really have to go to the bathroom, do you?

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:

Hi. This is Mr. Mali. I hope I haven’t called at a bad time,

I just wanted to talk to you about something your son said today.

To the biggest bully in the grade, he said,

“Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don’t you?

It’s no big deal.”

And that was noblest act of courage I have ever seen.

I make parents see their children for who they are

and what they can be.

You want to know what I make? I make kids wonder,

I make them question.

I make them criticize.

I make them apologize and mean it.

I make them write.

I make them read, read, read.

I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful

over and over and over again until they will never misspell

either one of those words again.

I make them show all their work in math

and hide it on their final drafts in English.

I make them understand that if you’ve got this,

then you follow this,

and if someone ever tries to judge you

by what you make, you give them this.

Here, let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:

Teachers make a goddamn difference! Now what about you?

2. “A Teacher for All Seasons" by Joanna Fuchs

A teacher is like Spring,
Who nurtures new green sprouts,
Encourages and leads them,
Whenever they have doubts. 

A teacher is like Summer,
Whose sunny temperament
Makes studying a pleasure,
Preventing discontent. 

 A teacher is like Fall,
With methods crisp and clear,
Lessons of bright colors
And a happy atmosphere. 

A teacher is like Winter,
While it’s snowing hard outside,
Keeping students comfortable,
As a warm and helpful guide. 

Teacher, you do all these things,
With a pleasant attitude;
You’re a teacher for all seasons,
And you have my gratitude! 

3. “Teachers” by Kevin William Huff

Teachers
Paint their minds
and guide their thoughts
Share their achievements
and advise their faults

Inspire a Love
of knowledge and truth
As you light the path
Which leads our youth

For our future brightens
with each lesson you teach
Each smile you lengthen
Each goal you help reach

For the dawn of each poet
each philosopher and king
Begins with a Teacher
And the wisdom they bring. 

4. “Raising Their Hands” by Julia Lisella

Sometimes I dream about my students, the pink of their palms

red and raw.

One student, seven feet tall, his long back

hunched over the desk,

his arm out and above him

he could be waving

or stopping a train.

Another student wears eyeliner for the stage.

She bends from the ribs

her body forming a tiny "c,"

her hand up sudden as a whitecap.

Some days they frighten me.

Put your hands down, I tell them. Shout. Explode. Scream it.

Instead they look at me and smile

the way they would at foreigners who don't speak

the language.

That's how they've trained me.

Now I wait until I see a scatter of fingers

and then I choose —

Yes, your palm, your hand,

your arched spine,

you with your idea,

Speak.

5. “Lessons of Another Kind” by Leslie Owen Wilson

I came to teach,

To see what I could find

Inside my students’ deeper selves.

I came to try and open minds

Before they were seamed shut.

I came to channel passages,

Hoping to connect hearts to heads

And hands.

I came to entreat,

To coax ennobled thoughts,

Ideals, and love of self and others.

I thought that this must come from inside out

Into the essence of their beings,

Into relationships,

As connections to words and deeds,

And pedagogic styles.

I came to probe,

And sometimes poke,

To make them think,

And laugh

At small and narrowed views.

For I wanted them to see,

With their own eyes,

Beyond the limitations of closed perceptions

Into the beauty and the pain of others’ views.

I came to teach,

But learned instead

That they had just as much

To say to me.

Their lessons were often raw,

Sometimes unformed and yet complex.

I came to give and yet was given.

For through their gifts I saw anew

That I must learn to guard against complacency, conclusions,

And the allure of too soon ends.

I came to grow,

Unknowingly

To shed my false, new scholar’s skin

And metamorphose

Into to something new

And strange –

Something far beyond the shadows of my old instructive self.

I came to teach but was changed in other ways,

And now remember that life is still a two way street.

These were lessons

I needed to commit to memory, again.

Perhaps it is enough to say, I came to teach but learned instead.

6. "If I could teach you, teacher" by Joanna Fuchs

If I could teach you, teacher,

I'd teach you how much more
you have accomplished
than you think you have.
I'd show you the seeds
you planted years ago
that are now coming into bloom.
I'd reveal to you the young minds
that have expanded under your care,
the hearts that are serving others
because they had you as a role model.
If I could teach you, teacher,
I'd show you the positive effect
you have had on me and my life.
Your homework is
to know your value to the world,
to acknowledge it, to believe it.
Thank you, teacher.