A festive Dalton Maples recently celebrated wrapping up his first semester of teaching. Dalton is teaching sixth-grade social studies at Spring Hill Middle School.
“I love it,” he said. “There are hard days, for sure, but overall I leave each day feeling so happy about the career I chose. My favorite things are just all the relationships I’ve built, both with students and my fellow teachers.”
He even shared a poem he wrote about being a first-year teacher–and we’re passing it along for a little first-year inspiration. Check it out:
Roses are red
Violets are blue
Mr. Maples the name
First year teaching is the game
Ready to instruct and be a light
Yet students only care about asking about my height…
Pumped to teach about Egyptian afterlife
Yet students only seem to worry about my lack of wife…
Lesson planning about Ancient Greece and how they used the high court
Yet students “joke” about telling me that I’m short…
Coaching football and how to defend
Yet the students ask why I don’t have a girlfriend…
Realizing that Friday nights usually involve alcohol
God, why are the 8th graders so tall
Mr. Syrup/Mr. Canada are names they call me to be funny
Yet students roast me because I have no honey
Mr. Maples the name
Wouldn’t trade any moment of it is the game
– Dalton Maples