Friday, March 08, 2013

Sequester the Tester - a school poem/a play poem

Sequester the Tester
by
Greg Pincus

We’re locked in our classroom all day for a test
Answering questions for hours with no rest.
You want us to learn? Well, this isn’t the way.
Sequester the tester and just let us play!

I wrote this poem almost a year ago during last year's March Madness (the fantastic event masterminded by Ed DeCaria). During the Madness, some poor poet had to write a poem in 36 hours using the word "sequester"... and I decided it was such a great word, I'd give it a try, too, just cuz.

Flash forward to a year later, and "sequester" is suddenly in the news (AND it's standardized testing time all over the place, too). So, I've decided to dust off this little ditty. (And, yes... I'm doing the Madness again! More on that soooooon.)

And hey... it's Poetry Friday, so you can see what else is going on around the Kidlitosphere by heading over to the weekly roundup at Heidi's Juicy Little Universe.

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6 comments:

Robyn Hood Black said...

Timely, so timely! Thanks for digging out this one, Greg. Good luck in the tournie - I'm sleeping with a thesaurus under my pillow....

Matt Forrest Esenwine said...

As my 1st-round MMPoetry adversary said, this is indeed very timely! I think most kids would love to sequester the tester. And best wishes for this year's competiton, too!

Bridget Magee said...

Wonderful poem! Timely also because many schools are heading into standardized testing - one of my daughters took her's last week and my other is taking her's in about 2 weeks. Thanks for the smile during our "sequestered" times. =)

Cathy said...

Love it! Looking forward to following your journey in The Madness.

Cathy

Mary Lee said...

As the unwilling tester, I'd like to sequester the politicians who think a single test on a single day is an accurate measure of student learning.

Heidi Mordhorst said...

Oh there is just so much to sequester at this time of year! Nice one, Greg, and looking forward to 30 Days, 30 Poets again this year.