Things were crazy last week since it was the end of the first semester. I still have to submit my grades this week because the system wasn't working correctly on friday. Amongst the stress, tests, and grading there were plenty of entertaining moments.
One of my favorite history teachers sent me a quick e-mail that made me smile. "We took a quiz today that had a word bank and I told the kids to spell correctly seeing as how the answers were there for them and I got this as a response: 'Lousezeana Territory'".
Am I a bad teacher if I give extra points when my students write something that makes me laugh? The prompt was to write as if they were a chicken trying to cross a busy highway. We had been working on using more descriptive verbs. One student wrote: "I cross the road because I needed my chiken wings. It was like a big adventure because the road was big. I dash, scrambles and zoom in a hurry not to get squished. Will I was running I droped my wallet and a truck split it in half. I just keeped going. I got my chiken wings, but I left my hot sause be hind."
One of my other favorites around the holidays that I forgot to share was a letter to Santa. My students and I discussed the Macy's campaign that involved people writing letters to Santa. This was a great opportunity for them to practice their writing and help Macy's donate money to the Make A Wish Foundation. It took a little convincing to get middle school students to write to Santa but they finally agreed that they could give it a try in order to help really sick children. Most were average Santa letters at best but one stood out from the rest. "I'm just writing this because my teacher told me that if I do Macy's will donate one dollar to help sick kids. Those kids deserve a nice Christmas so you should give them whatever they want. Maybe you could help them feel better too. I know you don't exist so I am not going to ask for anything for me. I want my parents to get me an iPod though. Thanks."
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