I'm Staying Home From School Today
I'm staying home from school today.
I'd rather be in bed
pretending that I have a pain
that's pounding in my head.
I'll say I have a stomach ache.
I'll claim I've got the flu.
I'll shiver like I'm cold
and hold my breath until I'm blue.
I'll fake a cough. I'll fake a sneeze.
I'll say my throat is sore.
If necessary I can throw
a tantrum on the floor.
I'm sure I'll get away with it.
Of that, there's little doubt.
But, even so, I really hope
my students don't find out.
--Kenn Nesbitt
http://www.poetry4kids.com/poem-318.html
I chose this poem because as future teachers we can all relate. When I first started reading the poem, I began to laugh knowing that I have played sick many of times just so I would not have to go to school. I just knew the poem was about a kid who did not want to go to school that day. Turns out at the end it was the teacher. Students aren’t the only ones who need a break from school sometimes. The rhyming in the poem really makes the poem flow smoothly. The imagery in this poem is amazing. The details about how the teacher is feeling allows the reader to imagine how he or she is really feeling. Kenn Nesbitt would be a great poet to introduce to children because all of his poems are fun, exciting, and easy to understand. He has his own page of hundreds of poems under different subjects.