"What Teachers Make"

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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 company.

"I mean, you¹re a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"
And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, 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 get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.

I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you
about something Billy said today.
Billy said,
"Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the 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 got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart)
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make,
you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you,
so you know what I say is true:
I make a goddamn difference!
What about you?

"What Teachers Make"
© 2001 Taylor Mali, All rights reserved.

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"I want to reform education in America from top to bottom. I want to be the individual responsible for making an entire generation of college graduates consider teaching before business or law school. I want to make it easier for smart, successful, and qualified people in their 30s and older to become teachers as well. I want to get America ready for an Education Tax if that's what it's going to take. But most of all, I want to be the spokesman for teaching?s nobility, the poet laureate of passion in the classroom."
-- Taylor Mali

Born well after the year 1900, performance poet Taylor Mali is the most successful poetry slam strategist of all time, having led six of his seven national poetry slam teams to the finals stage and winning the championship itself a record four times before anyone had even tied him at three.

A native of New York City, Mali was one of the original poets to appear on the HBO original series "Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry." He was also the "golden-tongued, Armani clad villain" of Paul Devlin's 1997 documentary film "SlamNation," which chronicled the National Poetry Slam Championship of 1996, the year of Mali's first national team championship.

A vocal advocate of teachers and the nobility of teaching, Mali himself spent nine years in the classroom teaching everything from English and history to math. He has performed and lectured for teachers all over the world. He received a New York Foundation for the Arts Grant in 2001 to develop "Teacher! Teacher!" a one-man show about poetry, teaching, and math which won the jury prize for best one-man show at the 2001 U. S. Comedy Arts Festival.

Recently elected president of Poetry Slam Incorporated, the non-profit organization that oversees all poetry slams in North America, Mali makes his living entirely as a spoken-word and voiceover artist these days, traveling around the country performing and teaching workshops as well as doing commercial voiceover work.

The narrator of several books on tape, including "The Great Fire" (for which he won the Golden Earphones Award for children's narration), Mali is also the author of several books and cds of original poetry and spoken word.
CONVICTION, his first live cd in eight years, was released in September of 2003.


Contact:
email: taylor@taylormali.com
mail: Words Worth Ink
POB 1286 (Cooper Station)
New York, NY 10276-1286

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"Taylor Mali." All rights reserved. © 2005