<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">What I Teach 3rd Graders<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I teach how to shake hands</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> and raise hands</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> and clap hands</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> to appreciate.</div><div class="">How to listen</div><div class="">how to wait</div><div class="">how to hold a pencil</div><div class=""><i class="">(not a gun).</i></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div class="">I teach that every sentence<br class="">has a subject</div><div class=""><i class="">(The man)</i></div><div class="">and a predicate</div><div class=""><i class="">(is shooting children)</i></div><div class="">and some have a prepositional phrase</div><div class=""><i class="">(in their classroom.)</i></div><div class="">I teach them to pause</div><div class="">at a comma, to stop</div><div class="">at a period</div><div class="">and a ? means you are asking</div><div class=""><i class="">(Why? Why? Why?)</i></div><div class=""><i class=""><br class=""></i></div><div class="">I teach them to multiply</div><div class="">legs on dogs</div><div class="">fingers on hands</div><div class=""><i class="">(not shootings in schools)</i>,</div><div class="">and how in subtraction you start</div><div class="">with the bigger number</div><div class="">and when you’re done taking away</div><div class="">you have less.</div><div class=""><i class="">(17 less in Parkdale, 15 less in Columbine, 27 less in Sandy Hook.)</i></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I teach about places</div><div class=""><div class=""><i class="">(unmarred </i></div><div class=""><i class="">by children murdered at school)</i>,</div></div><div class="">the lives of people</div><div class="">who have made a difference</div><div class=""><i class="">(not a massacre)</i>, </div><div class="">how water can be absorbed</div><div class="">or repelled</div><div class=""><i class="">(like blood on linoleum)</i></div><div class="">and that some words, like repel,</div><div class="">mean more than one thing.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">I teach them to walk quietly</div><div class="">in a line when the fire alarm sounds,</div><div class="">to duck and cover</div><div class="">until the earth stops shaking,</div><div class="">and to lay on the floor</div><div class=""><i class="">(like fish in a barrel)</i></div><div class="">if a bad man comes.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">What I don’t tell them</div><div class="">is in that hellish haze</div><div class="">of gunfire and screams</div><div class="">I plan to toss them like ragdolls</div><div class="">behind bookshelves,</div><div class="">stack them like cordwood</div><div class="">behind cubbies,</div><div class="">that my only calculation</div><div class="">will be how many can I save,</div><div class="">how many will I leave to die?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">So when I rescue</div><div class="">a spider from the sink</div><div class="">scoop it into a paper cup</div><div class="">set it down among green leaves, </div><div class="">they breathe as one, relieved,</div><div class="">because I’ve taught them</div><div class="">it’s wrong to kill</div><div class="">small creatures.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Lisa Shulman</div></body></html>