The majority of my students are male (actually, all but two of my students are males) and they have a varying dislike for reading and writing. For the past few weeks I've tried every motivation I could think of to get them to perform, to get them invested and practicing skills--nothing. I was met with a lot of resistance and behavior problems.
When I'm outside of class, I always try to seek opportunities to get to know my kids better. Through this endeavor I've learned that almost all of my students LOVE basketball. So, naturally, I thought, "how can I incorporate basketball into my writing lessons?" Enter: trashketball.
This summer Brian brought our students several steps closer to mastery with trashketball. Basically, the kids have in-class problems they must solve--and every problem they solve correctly earns them a chance to shoot a "trashketball"...or a wad of paper into the garbage can. It sounds incredibly lame, but seriously, this may have saved my writing lessons this week. My students finished all of their Daily Oral Language with about 95% accuracy! Which is awesome. It's all because they want to learn the content to play this game. And now that they see they CAN do this work, they're not as reluctant to do free writing or other constructed response type activities. I need to come up with other games that are similar in nature. Not only does this motivate them to actually learn the content, but it helps with the fidgeting and antsy behavior that DRIVES ME UP A WALL.
I really can't begin to tell all of you how much I love what I do. How can you not love what you do when you see these faces every day?
Seriously--you cannot deny their cuteness. Even when they get on my last nerve.
TFA is probably the best decision I've made to date. You never have the same day twice. I've met some incredible people who challenge me to grow in my practice as an educator and push me further than I thought I could be pushed. And the kids. My goodness, they are some of the most creative, intelligent, funny and inspiring people I've ever met. I think I found my true passion in life.
Other reasons I love New Orleans:
--This lovely 70 degree weather we're having in NOVEMBER. I wore flip flops the other day. I've never worn flip flops in November. If the weather's always this gorgeous, I may never move north again.
--These people:
--French words! I still laugh about "boocoo". I have to hold in my giggles every time someone says it around here. I don't know why I think it's so funny, but I'm mildly obsessed. So much so that I made a bulletin board in my classroom dedicated to "boocoo" learning. It's like my brag board--whenever they do well on an assignment, I hang it up so they know I'm proud of their work--and they should be, too. (Also--Ian, Luke and Jeremy: notice my Boston leaves in the upper right corner of the bulletin board. They ask questions about them on a daily basis, hahaha) Here it is:
Anyway, I don't know why I'm in such a gleeful mood tonight. Honestly, I'm exhausted and really looking forward to Thanksgiving break. Granted, most of my break will be working on school stuff, I can't wait to meet my godchild, see good friends, sleep in, play with my puppy, and love on my family. Things are looking up. :)





