I have spent almost 70 years in a classroom environment either as a student (K-12, college, graduate school), a teacher (middle school, high school, university), or faculty mentor (university).  I have now completed a book of 100 free-verse narrative poems that tell "slices of life" from both sides of the desk--as a student and as a teacher. The first half of the book focuses on my experiences as a K-12 student,  and the second part includes poems about some of my experiences as an educator, ranging from middle school to university.   

Summary statement:

Between ages 5-18, most of our time  is spent at school, a dominant force in our lives, affecting us in both positive and negative ways. Upon high school graduation,  a number of us will continue on with our education for two, four, six, or eight years more.  ROOT CAUSE  is a story  in poems about the author's  resilience  despite often being uprooted  during  her first 18 years,  attending five different public school systems,  experiencing the classroom in various parts of the U.S.  Her narrative poems about  school years in the 1950s and 1960s often reflect societal attitudes of those times  and beyond, how she navigated through the repressive, rigid atmosphere of schools then, and grew into a award-winning educator, retiring at age 74, never forgetting what it feels like to be  a student, no matter at what age.