F Words: My kids are great. If you continue reading this for any length of time, I'm sure you'll be regaled with numerous accounts of my students' antics, quirks, and qualities that make you go "awww." It's usually the kids who make me laugh, but occasionally the tables are turned and they get a pretty good hee-haw out of something their teacher did or said. I love laughing with my students - it creates such a camaraderie. A shared joke, a knowing look, a laugh-out-loud moment - those are things we can store away and share with each other. Grades don't matter, home-life fades away, and schoolyard bullies become nonexistent in the warmth and joy of shared laughter.
My students are working on an ABC book project for their language unit. These kiddos of mine are third graders, so picture something like this: Alice's Alphabet. Each group of four students is given a letter of the alphabet and as a group must create an alliterative rhyming poem to go with their letter. Overall, they're coming up with some very creative writing pieces. One group, however, didn't quite catch the idea at first. At the time of my viewing their poem, it went something like this:
F is for Francis who went to the zoo and ate a hamburger and went to school and had a good day. I briefly reviewed the need for alliteration in their poem and succinctly told them, "You're getting the idea, but you need more F words." Both boys looked at me with widened eyes and mouths agape. Their rapidly growing grins turned into outright laughter and I joined right in!
What would this world be without laughter?
Semantics: On another language note, semantics play a very important role in communication. One of my students has a one-on-one aide to help her during the day. A recent writing piece turned in by this child was far higher than her ability level and made me question the ownership of such a fine piece. I asked my sweet student whether or not they had, indeed, written the piece. This student affirmed that yes, they had written all of it. When I asked the aide, she, too, said that the child had penned the piece. After a few go-arounds of questioning similar to this, I decided to change my tactic.
I finally asked the aide whether she had told my student what to write and, lo and behold, her answer was a sheepish yes. Both student and aide had been truthful in their answers to me for the child had, in fact, written the words with her own hand. What they missed, however, was the deeper implied meaning of what I asked - who created the story. Semantics!
Desert Beauty
Finally, here is a lovely picture to end on. It's taken me three years to find beauty on this island. Though it doesn't come close to the beauty I have known and loved from home, it is there if you look for it. This island has a lot of dirt, a lot of sand, a lot of cement, and very little beauty. Even the beaches (what few there are) pale in comparison to those I know and love from home. But beauty is there.... if you look for it.
My students are working on an ABC book project for their language unit. These kiddos of mine are third graders, so picture something like this: Alice's Alphabet. Each group of four students is given a letter of the alphabet and as a group must create an alliterative rhyming poem to go with their letter. Overall, they're coming up with some very creative writing pieces. One group, however, didn't quite catch the idea at first. At the time of my viewing their poem, it went something like this:
F is for Francis who went to the zoo and ate a hamburger and went to school and had a good day. I briefly reviewed the need for alliteration in their poem and succinctly told them, "You're getting the idea, but you need more F words." Both boys looked at me with widened eyes and mouths agape. Their rapidly growing grins turned into outright laughter and I joined right in!
What would this world be without laughter?
Semantics: On another language note, semantics play a very important role in communication. One of my students has a one-on-one aide to help her during the day. A recent writing piece turned in by this child was far higher than her ability level and made me question the ownership of such a fine piece. I asked my sweet student whether or not they had, indeed, written the piece. This student affirmed that yes, they had written all of it. When I asked the aide, she, too, said that the child had penned the piece. After a few go-arounds of questioning similar to this, I decided to change my tactic.
I finally asked the aide whether she had told my student what to write and, lo and behold, her answer was a sheepish yes. Both student and aide had been truthful in their answers to me for the child had, in fact, written the words with her own hand. What they missed, however, was the deeper implied meaning of what I asked - who created the story. Semantics!
Desert Beauty
Finally, here is a lovely picture to end on. It's taken me three years to find beauty on this island. Though it doesn't come close to the beauty I have known and loved from home, it is there if you look for it. This island has a lot of dirt, a lot of sand, a lot of cement, and very little beauty. Even the beaches (what few there are) pale in comparison to those I know and love from home. But beauty is there.... if you look for it.
