Wednesday, April 27, 2011

insert farting noise here

Ever since I went to Colorado to the reading conference, I have been trying to be very mindful of the boys in my class.  Not just for reading, but also for writing.  

So... for a lesson in writing yesterday on using "voice" in their stories, I had them fold a piece of paper into fourths.  We used some really good "emotional" words like DISGUSTED, TICKLED, GLOOMY, AND BRAVE.  We then talked about what those words mean, and I wanted to make sure I had really descriptive examples so they could think of something from their own lives to fill in each square.  So, for Disgusted, I had to tell them about Jada's ice cream cake/snot incident in Omaha this last weekend.

I described how Jada's allergies are bad right now, and so she had a lot of yuck in her nose.  I told them how we were eating ice cream cake for Trey and Aunt Amanda's birthdays and how Jada had to sneeze.  

Are you getting a good picture in your mind yet of what happened?  

I have to tell you- one of my favorite things this year has been the freedom to use stories from my family and my background that are gross, crude, and everything an 8 year old boy is interested in.  

It's made teaching writing a whole different experience this year.  And I finally feel like writing is one of my best teaching subjects.

Who knew that talking about boogers and bodily functions would be part of my lessons while making connections with kids?  

5 comments:

Amy said...

The boys in my class are really good at making farting noises with their armpits. just wait. :)

Chad and Jody said...

awesome- they might even get a chance to show off that talent during writing time next year. Maybe....

Danielle said...

Abi's new favorite word is "elated". She learned it in a writing lesson and she uses it every chance she gets. She already knew all the good farting words and sounds. Thank you for teaching her "elated".

Beki - TheRustedChain said...

You are awesome.

Mom said...

Don't recall this being part of my 2nd grade curriculum!!!!