Corinne Morton taught her 6th Grade Science classes in Ithaca, NY (USA) about the plight of elephants in the wild and captivity. Ms. Morton writes:
I did a big unit on elles in science for all 90 of my students and still weave in elles whenever I can, inducing my poetry reading class unit. That is where they wrote the elle poems… They have a lot of knowledge about elles now and of the many sanctuaries. I talk about why elles shouldn’t be in zoos and circuses, tourism, illegal forestry logging, street entertainment, etc., it was an extensive unit, powerful, wonderful. The kids are amazing and very passionate about the plight of elephants on this earth! The children will change the world!!
Inspired by The Eyes of Thailand trailer, three students wrote poems about Thai elephants. Below is the first poem:
It Will Come Soon, Hope
by Morgan Bell age 11 Ithaca, NY Boynton Middle School
Called Suste by her Mahout Master
Some stop in moment to take charity
She’s getting yelled at and urged on faster
Kindness in her world is a rarity
One single tear rolls down her wrinkled face
Covered with colors from head to toe
She dances for the waiting eye with grace
Oh No! A wrong step waiting for her foe
Scars from her mistake start to bother
She closes her eyes as he does the job
She wonders if there’s a soul who loves her
Left there about to break into a sob
She told herself not to look down and mope
But to look up, smile, it will soon come…hope!
Please tune in next week for the second poem…
-Windy Borman
Producer, Director and Writer, The Eyes of Thailand
