Poetry is another way a writer can express him or herself. It is considered the blending of words and sound together in a unique way. And, just as in prose, poetry contains a message.

During poetry immersion, I allowed students an opportunity to explore a number of poetry books. I encouraged them to read several kinds. I challenged to find one they liked and make a written response to it in their poetry notebook.

During the closure of the lesson, one student shared the poem "We wear the mask" by Paul Laurence Dunbar. She went on to comment that the poem reminded her that we are sometimes behind a mask, hiding our true selves from other people. Wow! I thought. This from an 11-year-old.

Later I thought about her comment.

The perception is that public education is bad and the classroom teacher is at fault. So I asked myself, "Is the perception the reality because that is the only 'face' that is seen?"

I asked then: "How do we then see the real face?"

It starts with a visit to the classroom. Many schools, and individual classrooms, have open door policies. Yet very few people actually use them. "I'm too busy." "I'll get to it later." "OK, next week when I'm off." Unfortunately, many never come.

There are great things going on in classrooms all across the Island. I wish people would come and see what's "behind the mask".