I'm not sure why some days I'm just really great at teaching, and others I wonder what the heck I'm doing in a classroom on this end of things. Today, happily, was one of the former days.
In first period we watched half of Forest Gump (awesome). Second period was my usual "wing it" class with the 2nd graders (Awesome Teacher saved the day by deciding we should make Christmas posters). Third period was the DREADED AWFUL class of the week, which continued to be awful because the Scream-o teacher continued her crazy screaming and nothing got accomplished once again.
But after lunch, it was my turn to have that class on my own... and so I welcomed the challenge. ;)
My way of thinking is so strange.
As they came in the room I wrote their "Penalty Minutes" in a box on the board. They were shocked to see they were up to 15 (don't know why they were shocked - I'm shocked it's so low). I reminded them they only had two weeks of class before the party, so this wasn't so great for them. One clever girl then asked if there was any way they could win minutes back. I thought about it for a second, while I watched kids tell her of course I'd never do that (they can clearly tell I'm not very fond of them), but then I responded, "Well, sure. If I don't have to put ONE minute on the board today, I'll give you five minutes back. But one wasted minute and it's all over."
They were incredulous and quickly agreed to my terms.
I wish the principal would have walked by that class as I was teaching it, because I swear that horror class has never been so well behaved and quiet and hardworking in their whole academic career. For. Real.
So I gave 'em their five minutes and they were so estatic that they couldn't for the life of them line up silentely at the door. So I told them as soon as they could be in silence and stand still for 30 seconds, they could run off to their favorite class - gym. It only took me eight tries to be able to fully count to 30 without interuptions. Brother.
Still, an overall win for me, I'd say. ;) I just had to start approaching the blackboard and they'd all fall absolutely silent. It was truly amazing. Haha!!
After so much success I was ready for anything, which was good, 'cause when I walked into class with my 4th graders, I was told I would be leading the class by reviewing for their test on Tuesday.
Oh goodie, little kids' English marks on the line. Wonderful.
We started with "has got" "have got" and "had got" ... and I was supposed to make sure they knew when to use which when. So I wrote them on the board in a funny triangular way.
"Are we supposed to copy it like THAT?" they all asked, clearly bewildered at a teacher writing something not on the lines.
"Um, yeah, please."
I then proceeded to draw a cute little "she" and a handsome little "he" on the board, along with a cupcake with the word "it" on the wrapper. I put them under the "has got" heading. After I was finished with my work of art, I asked them to copy that, as well.
You have to understand, at this point, I had no idea what I was doing. I was totally BSing EVERYTHING. As it turns out, BSing isn't just useful as a student, but a super great tool to have mastered while acting as a teacher, as well! Who woulda guessed!? ;)
I then drew a sun, under the heading of "had got" and then drew an arrow facing towards the left (or, towards the "past") and explained to them this: "Look outside! TODAY is sunny. This little happy sun right here?" I paused to draw a smiley face in the sun. "Represents TODAY. But oh! There is an ARROW pointing towards the PAST. THIS!?" I paused and drew a huge crazy scribble behind the arrow. "THIS is the PAST!!!" I continued to draw more crazy scribbles on top of my crazy scribble. "Please copy!"
"You want us to draw that scribble?"
"Um, yes, please."
They were clearly having the time of their life. It might not seem like much, but these kids are lectured on which color pen to use for which thing in which notebook and how many squares to skip in their notebook and how to write their letters just so, etc. To tell them to SCRIBBLE in their notebook next to a smiling sun? This was like the most sacreligious thing they'd ever heard of - and they LOVED it. It felt "naughty" to them! Haha... poor 'lil guys.
I proceeded to draw a flow chart on the board (which they copied) stating that FIRST one must decide if something was happening NOW (HAPPY SUNSHINEY DAY TODAY!) or in the PAST (CRAZY AWESOME SCRIBBLE OF PASTNESS). Once they determined that, if they believed it happened NOW, they had to decide... was the thing happening to a "she" or a "he" or an "it"!?! Yes? Use "has got"!! No? Well then go with "have got" and you will be just fine.
Now, believe me - I was EXTREMELY animated about all of this. I was jumping around the room... doing an interpretive dance of a "past squiggle"... pretending to be a radiating ball of happy TODAYish sunshine and twirling round and round. I was all in. They were enraptured.
And so it was time to see if this ridiculousness had paid off. I orally told them seven sentences and had them fill in the gap. When they were done with each gap, I told them to give themselves bunny ears so I could know when to continue. If they were excited about drawing big squiggles in their notebook, you should have seen the pure joy and bliss on their face when they bunny-eared themselves! WHOA! You would thought I'd just told them Santa was coming that very afternoon!!! O_O
When we got through it all, it was time to correct the exercise. They got them all right - except for sentences with the word "ago" in them. They clearly were not grasping that "ago" was a past marker... AT ALL. And so I explained the general gist of the term and then had them write "a g o" in their notebooks, but had the tail on the 'g' turn into a crazy awesome arrow pointing towards the past. Little light bulbs seemed to flash on throughout the classroom. Even the teacher smiled and said, "Wow! That's very clever! I like it!"
BAMF TEACHER *nanananannana* BAMF TEACHER!!! Oh.... YEAH!!!!!
^_^
Bet those kids never had so much fun reviewing for a test before. ;) Man, I'm awesome.
All in all, a most successful day as a teacher - yay!!
XOXO
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