NEW FROM FINISHING LINE PRESS: Anna and Her Daughters by Marie Gray Wise
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Marie Gray Wise is an emerging poet whose #poetry and short stories have appeared in various journals including I-70 Review, Main Street Rag, U S 1 Worksheets, English Journal, Tipton Poetry Journal, The Paterson Literary Review, Hamilton Stone Review, The Café Review, and Naugatuck River Review. She is a retired English teacher who has lived in South Jersey for most of her life except for an adventure in San Francisco where she found a husband and dragged him East. Besides being dedicated to poetry, she is currently also working on a novel. More of her work can be found at MarieGrayWise.com.
PRAISE FOR Anna and Her Daughters by Marie Gray Wise
In Anna and Her Daughters, Marie Wise provides one “snapshot” after another of the wild, wily, gutsy, sometimes inscrutable women in her family album: the Italian great-grandmother Anna; the grandmother Maria still glittering in her coffin in her “turquoise sequined dress”; the difficult and sometimes complaining mother Julia with her blue eyes and “sharp sparkle”; and Marie Wise’s sister whose head Marie visits as if it were a 3-story apartment. There Wise finds, in her sister’s keeping, the pearl necklace Wise wore when she “went to the prom with Jimmy Hernandez.” Nostalgic, funny, sad, exuberant, poignant, skillful and always honest, Wise gives us not only verbal photos, but the ebullient songs of her Italian ancestors. Her language washes over us—“the voices of [her] grandmother and her family—/their billows of un-sleek, second-hand Italian/their vowels puffing around the room.”
–Lois Marie Harrod, Spat and Fragments from the Biography of Nemesis
In Marie Wise’s linked poems, Anna’s daughter Maria is the matriarch of her Italian-American family, and a dynamo of energy and opinions. Probing her own relationship to Maria, Wise sees how her female relatives lived in a vibrant Italian-American mix of personalities, languages, everyday life and special occasions. The poems are written with honesty, humor, precision, sometimes a move towards the surreal: Maria “flew delicate dress hems through her machine/with the precision of a bombardier”; after a funeral, “the women gather plastic forks into cups/like bouquets from another planet.” Wise’s poems are big-hearted and clear-eyed, telling stories in women’s voices, family voices.
–Maxine Susman, author of My Mother’s Medicine
In this moving tribute to the family, Marie Wise explores the humor, love and heartache of three generations of Italian-American women. From the narrator’s perspective as the youngest generation, Ms. Wise taps into a common struggle for the descendants of immigrants—how does one embrace a new culture and new opportunities without completely rejecting what came before? And in this case, what came before is fromaggiacolloseooggi, Ms. Wise’s wonderfully inventive word describing her grandmother’s native Italian—crowds of vowels/that dance swiftly from their mouths/in words that seem to have no beginning or ending. More than language and words, Ms. Wise is speaking of love—that deep, complex familial love which also has no beginning or ending as proven through the pages of this collection.
–Susan Gerardi Bello, author of Through the Oak Tree
Please share/repost #flpauthor #preorder #AwesomeCoverArt #read #poems #literature #poetry
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MCYT High School Teacher AU
I don’t know if this has already been done but with student teaching on the brain this was invading my subconscious.
Phil: Principal
The most chill admin you’d ever find (He kind of has to be with the staff at the school)
Will let most things slide if you ask nicely
Has a quiet space in his office for students to take a moment to calm down after acting out. He’ll offer them candy and talk through the situation with them.
Started out as a counselor at the school, so he still holds a similar mentality when it come to talking with students and staff.
Always takes the side of his staff. The district is usually in the wrong anyway.
He knows the teachers are the experts, screw whatever requirements the state has, he lets them run their classrooms whichever way is best for the students’ learning
Technoblade: Literature & Composition
One of the most engaging teachers at the school
Most students love him because he’s real and he’ll tell it like it is.
Has a coffee machine in his room. It’s rare that he’s not holding a mug in his hand while he teaches
Has high expectations for his students
Rarely gets angry. Even when he’s upset he still comes across as calm.
Usually stays at the school late making sure to give the best possible feedback on papers and reports. He genuinely wants each kid to learn something from his class.
Tommy: Speech and Debate
It’s only his second year of teaching
The students would run the classroom if not for Tommy basically being a student himself
There’s a strong chance his class will be off topic at any given point. It’s always an adventure walking past his door, you never know what you’ll hear
Somehow still gets high scores on average from his students
Keeps students after class when he notices them struggling with school or life in general to talk with them. The conversations are always beneficial.
Will 100% fall asleep during professional development meetings.
Karl: Biology
Tries to act hip, fails most of the time.
Always has the most energy in his lessons, finds unique ways to teach the concepts other than slides and worksheets.
Usually the first one in the building each morning
Will give students different options for final projects so they can chose the best method of showing their evidence of learning.
Gets lower scores than he should on observations because he doesn’t do well under the pressure. One year Phil didn’t announce when he’d be coming in and watched from the door to give a more accurate review.
Wears a sweatshirt to class more often than he should
Quackity: Spanish
Hands on learning whenever possible
Uses the home ec. room to make authentic Mexican dishes with his students when they cover the food and restaurant unit
Will just forget that the kids don’t speak Spanish fluently and ramble on until someone interrupts him.
Slow grader, you get your scores when you get them.
Known to be a bit chaotic with his teaching style, it works for some kids but he does need to reteach certain sections every now and then
One time a kid feel asleep in his class so he had all the other students leave and they had class outside to freak the kid out (They were right outside the classroom window, he could still see the sleeper, he told Phil)
Skeppy: Algebra
Like’s his job, pretty much your average teacher
Can’t stand freshmen, but tolerates them since that’s half the students he has. He prefers teaching advanced algebra to upper classmen
His lessons are always formatted the same, starting with a lesson on how to do that days math, with the remainder of the period being free work time
Holds math challenges with his class and gives out prizes. It’s usually candy, though one time he gave out cash. He made his kids promise not to say a word about it.
Very good at teaching the same math concepts in different ways to help struggling learners
Always one minute away from being late for first period, but makes it just in time every morning.
Dream: Health/Football and Assistant Basketball Coach
Took the teaching job mainly to coach sports
Still cares about making connections with his students, he uses his class to teach life skills and promote positive social and mental health.
If any of his players are in his class he will pick on them. He has no mercy.
Dreads sex education because no one can be mature about it. He gets revenge by making the students film a “how to say no to sex” video with someone in the class.
His wheeze laugh is iconic. You can hear it from down the hall.
If you meet with him and are honest when you’re struggling, he’ll work with you to pass his class. He isn’t going to ruin your GPA over a project on the negative effects of smoking.
Wilbur: History & Geography/Theater
The teacher who sits on his desk when he lectures
Is very sarcastic with his students, but knows who can take the teasing and makes sure not to make anyone feel uncomfortable.
Prefers class discussion over solo work time, he likes hearing student’s perspectives and ideas.
Turtlenecks
One of the teachers most likely to be the crush of teenage girls.
Not afraid to mark you down for sloppy work. You use a black ink pen and draw precise lines when turning in maps and graphs or you redo it.
Speaks in musical references
George: Physics
The chillest teacher by far
Due dates? Don’t worry, he’ll accept an assignment literally months after it was supposed to be turned in
Makes difficult topics seems simple when he describes them
He doesn’t really care if you have your phone out in class as long as you’re paying attention and learning the material
The students straight up call him George, he doesn’t seem to care
Placing near the top for the most crushed on teacher
King of multiple choice questions
Eret: Economics & Government
Makes any student in his class feel welcome
One of few teachers who can lecture the entire period without students falling asleep. He always has interesting stories
Let’s kids chose where they sit
Freshmen are always caught off guard by his voice when they hear him for the first time
Spends too much of his own money on supplies for his students and classroom (Honestly most teachers have to spend their own money on necessary supplies, he just goes about and beyond.)
There’s always a group of students who eat lunch in his classroom
The Union Rep at their school, will fight tooth and nail for the staff members
Tubbo: Band Director
Super cheerful whenever he’s teaching
He rarely has any free time before or after school because he has so many one-on-one lessons and meetings with students
Likes to have practice outside when the weather is nice
Does his best to make his students feel comfortable and relaxed whenever he does performance based assessments.
He’s also a new teacher, but you honestly wouldn’t be able to tell
He will be in tik toks if you ask him to, and he’s familiar with all the pop culture trends
Let’s the students chose a song to play at the last band concert. Some years have been less chaotic than others, the worst (or best, depending on who you ask) being when the students voted to play Deja Vu from Initial D.
Fundy: Computer Science/Coding
Begins each class with a cheesy computer joke. Every class.
Everyone knows you can’t get anything past him technology wise. He can see that headphone in your ear from across the room.
Isn’t afraid to assign extra work when students are disrupting class
Once took up an entire class period showing his students how he coded different difficulties in Minecraft. He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he plays the game in his spare time.
About half the students in his class aren’t really interested in computers, they just want to have him as a teacher since everyone says he’s cool.
Known to hack school computers to bypass restrictions
Sucker for pizza parties. Has at least one per semester
Sapnap: PE/Basketball Coach
Hella competitive
Abuses his power of having a whistle. Someone should really take it away from him
Gyms shorts every day. Even in the winter. Sometimes he wears sweats, but never jeans.
Doesn’t let anyone sit out of activities
Tries to set up fun tournaments for each activity they do, makes sure to balance the teams so no one has too much of an upper hand.
He’s usually the teacher who mans detention, he tries to make it as positive as it can be though.
Keeps extra sets of gym clothes to give to students who forgot or can’t afford to buy them
Schlatt: Calculus and Stats/Business
You either love him or are terrified of him
One of the only teachers who can have an “aggressive” teaching style and still connect with students
You will learn something from his class, he makes sure of it.
Doesn’t accept late work unless you have a really good reason why you couldn’t turn it in
Wears a tie every day
If another teacher needs a last minute sub during his prep period he’ll cover them. Doesn’t matter what subject, he can wing it
He was the reason the school started offering business studies as an elective due to some vague threats towards the district
Niki: Art/German
Teaching voice is so soft
You can’t tell whether or not she’s giving you constructive criticism because everything she says sounds so positive
Let’s her students lead learning for the most part, she will cover topics that most interest them while still trying to hit the district required standards (luckily teaching electives gives her a bit more freedom with her curriculum)
Her classroom always smells lovely
Will bring in homemade goodies each Friday for the staff room
Holds art galleries at the end of each semester to show off the arts since they often go unappreciated. It has turned out to be a super popular event for students and staff.
Bad: Special Education
This man has endless patience. It’s crazy
Even after the longest days when none of the students are cooperating, he still has a smile on his face
If he hears cursing in the halls he will call you out in front of everyone. Teachers included.
Makes sure to keep a list of all his students favorites so he can surprise them with gifts on their birthdays or around holidays
He works closely with the other teachers to make sure his kids can be as involved in general education as possible.
Always wears something fun, be it a tie, socks, shirt, or even a full outfit. His students love seeing what new wacky garment he’ll be wearing that day.
More Head Cannons
If someone brings food for the staff room Tommy WILL take it. Sometimes he’ll come back for seconds, there will be none left by the end of the day. He’s not as bad as Skeppy though, who will literally pack it up to take home for later.
For the past few months the staff members have been receiving anonymous email chains with photoshopped pictures of each other. Everyone was sure Fundy was behind it, Eret thought he saw him teaching his students how to use the program by editing their favorite teachers into stupid situations (they’ve all been school appropriate of course). Fundy did in fact start it, but now so many other teachers have joined in that it can’t be traced back to one person anymore.
All the teachers love going to sporting events. They’ll join in with the student section to cheer on the teams. If they know there’s a kid who doesn’t have family that will come to watch them they’ll make shirts with that players number to show support for them.
Wilbur, Niki, and Tubbo work together on musicals. Niki does the sets and costuming, Wilbur directs, and Tubbo leads the pit. There are plenty of long nights during tech week that devolve into chaos (especially when Niki isn’t there)
Spirit week is very intense, to say the least. The teachers are assigned a grade to be advisors to, and they get into it. For the duration of the week they practically become rivals with whoever isn’t in their assigned grade. They’ll pull pranks on each other constantly, especially when the students can see. It’s all playful of course, but it gets the kids more excited about spirit week when they can support their teachers and watch the amicable rivalries carry out.
Technoblade once joked that he knew every detail about every classic novel. His students took this as a challenge, and tried to find the most obscure and specific trivia questions they could ask him. He has yet to be stumped.
Dream and Sapnap had a running streak of about four weeks where they made everything into a competition. Who could enter their grades into the computer fastest? How many cups of coffee did they drink that day? Who got to school first that morning? There was a tally board in the staff room and the teachers had a betting pool going. Phil finally ended it when they accidently broke the school’s copier trying to see who could scan the most documents in five minutes. Dream was ahead by three points, Sapnap never lived it down.
In service days are incredibly boring, so the staff tries to make those days a bit more entertaining. They order in pizza or sandwiches for lunch. Since there aren’t any kids in the school they’ll do everything they’re no supposed to, like racing office chairs down the hallways and blasting non-school-appropriate music in their classrooms.
Wilbur accidentally started a black market of sorts when he took all the new whiteboard pens from the supply closest. He used this to his advantage, getting people to do him favors in return for the good supplies. When Dream found out he not-so-jokingly threatened to slowly steal everything from Wilbur’s classroom until he released the pens. The next day the closet was replenished once more
Quackity and Tommy are co-emcees for the school assemblies. They hold class competitions between the grades, including spirit chants and ridiculous games. Think minute to win it style, but way crazier. Everyone gets super into it, the upperclassmen usually win. The two have good chemistry and a fun energy.
George has a unit where students make bottle rockets and launch them outside on the soccer field. And every year Karl brings his class out to watch claiming that “it’s science, I teach science, I’ll have them write a paragraph about what they learned”. Really he just wants to watch rockets go brrr
For Schlatt’s birthday one year, Wilbur and Techno printed off shirts with his face on it for all the staff to wear. Schlatt was super confused when he came into work and all his colleagues were walking around with his face plastered across their chest. He got back at Wilbur for it by putting salt in his coffee for a week straight, but Techno never got his comeuppance. It’s debatable whether Schlatt just didn’t know he was in on it, or if he knew better than to mess with Techno.
Lesson planning and curriculum building is quite the process. Some departments can stay on task better than others. Schlatt and Skeppy get in, plan out the term, and get out. The math department has everything on lock. Social studies are also pretty good at getting pre-planning done. They tend to spend most of their time having discussions that aren’t necessarily related to the tasks at hand though. The English department is a mess. It’s really Tommy who’s a mess, he just projects that onto everyone else. Karl and George work well together to map out science curriculum. Even though teachers who teach electives aren’t required to collaborate with each other, they still get together and bounce ideas off each other and get feedback.
I have plenty more if people want a second part. I also only listed the MCYTs that I’ve watched enough to know their personalities at least a little bit, but if you wanted to see another person I may expand the staff list!
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