If it doesn\u2019t come bursting out of you
\nIn spite of everything
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
Unless it comes unasked
\nOut of your heart
\nOut of your mind
\nOut of your gut
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you have to sit for hours
\nStaring at your computer screen
\nOr hunched over your tablet
\nLooking for a lesson plan
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re doing it for money
\nOr fame, or someone else
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re doing it to meet
\nThe woman of your dreams
\nOr the man of your lonely heart
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you have to sit there
\nWorrying about tomorrow\u2019s lesson
\nOver and over.
\nDon\u2019t do it.
\nIf it\u2019s hard work just thinking
\nAbout doing it
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019re trying to teach like somebody else
\nForget about it.
\nIf all you got is a worksheet and commands
\nRun away.<\/p>\n
If you have to wait for the lesson
\nTo roar out of you
\nThen wait patiently.
\nIf it never does roar out of you
\nDo something else.<\/p>\n
If you first have to read about it,
\nOr learn about it, study it, figure it out
\nDon\u2019t do it.
\nIf you first have to check
\nWith your colleagues or girlfriend
\nOr with your principal
\nOr with anybody at all,
\nYou\u2019re not ready.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t be like so many teachers.
\nDon\u2019t be like so many 1,000s of people
\nWho call themselves teachers
\nWho the government deems teachers.
\nDon\u2019t be dull, and boring, and pretentious.
\nDon\u2019t be consumed with self-love
\nThe classrooms of the world have
\nYawned themselves to sleep over your kind.
\nDon\u2019t add to that.
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
Unless the lesson comes out of your soul
\nLike a rocket
\nUnless not being a teacher
\nWould drive you to madness
\nTo suicide, to murder.
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
Unless the ideas inside you
\nAre burning your gut.
\nUnless you get up always thinking
\nOf the possibilities possible
\nIn your class
\nDon\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n
When it is truly time
\nAnd if you have been chosen
\nTeaching will do it by itself
\nIt will keep on doing it
\nUntil you die
\nOr it dies in you.
\nThere is no other way
\nAnd there never was.<\/p>\n
Don\u2019t try.
\nIt\u2019s the trying that gets in the way.
\nStart. Teach.
\nDo it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If it doesn\u2019t come bursting out of you In spite of everything Don\u2019t do it. Unless it comes unasked Out of your heart Out of your mind Out of your gut Don\u2019t do it. If you have to sit for hours Staring at your computer screen Or hunched over your tablet Looking for a lesson … Continue reading So you want to be a teacher?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[37,29],"class_list":["post-897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-education","tag-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=897"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":898,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/897\/revisions\/898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ddeubel.me\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}