Saturday, November 10, 2007

things i have learned i am not above...

* Having children graph the temperature of the classroom. There is nothing that gets attention like a beautiful kid-made graph showing the room is way too hot to learn.

* When the children complain to me about it being too hot or too cold in the classroom I tell them to write letters to the office because there is nothing I can do. (This is true, I had already tried. Kids' handwriting just has more power)

*showing up uninvited at a kid's birthday party because the mom refused to come to school and meet me. I just wanted to start the positive parent/teacher relationship... and see how the kid lived.

*Playing with a parent's baby during kiss and ride so that they can't drive off without answering my questions.

*Asking kids to be quiet because they might get in me in trouble. There is nothing like being a co-conspirator with your teacher to make you behave.

*Starting contentious IEP meetings by giving the parent a picture of their child having fun in the classroom.

* Taking pictures on field trips of a kid with their parent so I can give mom the picture at the contentious IEP meeting.

*Serving hot chocolate on days with a 2 hour delay. Hand a hyper, snowy kid a cup of hot chocolate when he walks in the door, whisper this morning we're just going to sip hot coco and read and suddenly the chaos of a 2 hour delay becomes your quietest moment of the year.

*Telling the class that when we walk in the hallway we're going to pretend we are hiking in the woods looking for animals, just like Squanto (SOL 1.something). I teach them the "Squanto-walk"... heel to toe, hands behind you so you can hear the animals in the forest.

Does this make me creative or just unethical?

4 comments:

Jenny said...

This makes you brilliant!

Tree said...

I agree. Love the hot chocolate idea and will be using it.

organized chaos said...

One of my first graders from last year wrote me an email yesterday to tell me her favorite thing about winter is hot coco reading parties. Of all the things to remember :)
Invite me over when you do it! Without a classroom I will be hot chocolate-less!

Eleanor Morrison said...

what's a two hour delay? it may be too late for my brain to work properly, but I didn't get that part... just curious

oh, and my favorite is playing with the baby. so manipulative! and fabulous!