Language Lessons
Morley, Libbie

>>SPEAKER: Can you give us your name and what your story is about?

>>LIBBIE: My name is Libbie Morley and I'm going to read a poem I wrote about my literacy. I was coming up with a literacy narrative and thinking about learning to really love words and reading I realized how much the effect the liturgy of the Episcopal Church had on me. So this is a poem that I wrote about that experience which turned out to be about teaching too but I didn't realize that at the time. It's called "Language Lessons". Every day at school Mrs. Dodd wore her hair in a bun and her feet in old lady shoes. Her Canadian accent whipped our Kentucky ears. She had workbooks and the workbooks had blanks. There was only one word to put in each blank and Mrs. Dodd knew it. There were commas to add and Mrs. Dodd knew where. We guessed. We were afraid we would get it wrong. On Sunday at church I listened to the rhythmic liturgy crafted years ago. We blessed thee for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life. I joined in myself with the grownups. Give us that due sense of all our mercies that all our hearts may be unfatedly thankful. I looked at the words in the prayer book. Be sure that the lord he is God, it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves. I looked at the semicolon in the prayer book and the comma, everyone read up to the comma and breathed. We all got it right and Mrs. Dodd wasn't even there. So that I've realized after I put it together really says a lot about teaching in addition to my own literacy development. 

>>SPEAKER: Thank you.