Mary Lacen Kinkel

Oh, The Places You'll Go!

By Mary Lacen Kinkel and Jennifer Eubank

Mentor Text: Oh, The Places You'll Go by Dr. Seuss

 

 

 

Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Grad School!

You’re off and away!

 

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

You’re on your own. And you know what you know.

And YOU are the graduate who’ll decide where to go.

 

You’ll look up and down syllabi. Look ‘em over with care.

About some you will say, “My accomplishments I must share.”

With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, you’re too smart to assign any old worksheet.

 

After our first summer semester, we learned all sorts of things.

We became preventing reading difficulties, middle school, and content literacy kings.

 

One semester down, and two to go.

Who knew the fall semester would make us say oh no.

 

Course work gets heavy, as it frequently does, remember how easy undergrad was?

 

And then assignments start growing, don’t worry. Don’t stew.

Just go right along,

You’ll start growing, too.

 

OH!

THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

 

You’ll be well on your way up!

You’ll be seeing great sights!

You’re tutoring kiddos will soar to incredible heights.

 

ELL, Word Study, and research made us want to YELP!
But our newly gained knowledge has been such a help.

 

You won’t fall behind, because you’ll have other friends in need.

Your PALs are here for you to help you succeed.

Wherever you go, you’ll be best of the best.

We all know RLL is better than the rest.

 

We’re sorry to say but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups and Hang-ups will happen to you.

 

You will get all hung up in the late night work.

And you’ll feel like you have a permanent smirk.

 

But your smirk will begin to fade away.

As frequent connections in class are made every day.

 

Because graduate students with such a smirk are not much fun.

And un-smirking yourself is not easily done.

 

You will come to a place where the light starts to shine.

And we’ll spend our Wednesdays in the pasta bar line.

Here we discuss the future to come.

Do you dare to apply? Do you cry to your mum?

Do you dare to look back from the places we’ve come?

 

You’re spring semester is here! woohoo and hooray!

You’re one step closer to graduation day.

 

With tutoring this time you’re not sure you’ll fly high!

Middle school is a whole other world for these guys!

But you’re ready because you understand why.

 

Oh, the places you’ll go! There’s reflecting to be done!

There are assessments to be scored. You’ll sure analyze a ton.

And the things you can do now as a leader and writer will make teaching things all the more brighter.

Prepared! You’ll be as prepared as prepared can be, with your professors watching you grow and succeed.

 

For example, you’ll shine at VSRA.

Then the stress of presenting will all go away.

 

The participants will love you as you share what you know.

You will have a bunch of great pictures, thanks to Dr. Snow.

 

All together!

Whether you like it or not,

Group Canvas discussions we’ll do quite a lot.

 

In your course work this spring, there’s a very good chance

-- you completed things that scared you at first glance.

Observations and demo lessons made us nervous no doubt, but we now realize what coaching is truly about.

 

As May approaches and graduation is near,
You no longer have anything left to fear.

Our teaching portfolios are finally complete,

They are organized, colorful, and ever so sweet.

 

Now is the time to find your dream career,

So you can hang with your PALs and have a great cheer!

 

There are so many applications that you have to fill out,

You may even start to feel very unhappy and pout.

 

The road to get hired is a long one indeed
But don’t fret graduates, you’re destined to succeed!

98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.

 

Before we finish it’s important that we give thanks to you all.
We’ve stuck it out through an entire year-long haul.

 

To Dr. Braun, Dr. Blanchette, and Dr. Snow,

thank you so much for helping us grow.

 

To our fellow RLL graduate friends,

thank you for helping us reach the journey’s end.

 

As we leave Longwood, we’ll step with care and great tact
And remember the Life’s a Great Balancing Act.

 

So…

Be your name Eli or Leighann or Kellay

Or Gretchen or Snow or even Blanchea.

You’re off to Great Places!

Today is your day!

Your classroom is waiting.

So…get on your way!