Stop in the Name of Fun

What a great day! I slept in until 5:45 am this morning and then made the pleasant morning walk over to the cafeteria. I dined with my friend Padee, another teacher at my school this summer, and then got on the “party bus” (our driver plays Top 40s everyday).
My lesson at school was fantastic (determined by observer feedback and self-reflection). My objective for the day was: SWBAT (that’s Students Will Be Able To, for all those non-education types) restate difficult text for increased comprehension. First, I taught them a song with motions that they absolutely loved.

Stop! Read It Over
(to the tune of Stop in the Name of Love)

Stop! In the name of hard words
Make sure you understand.
Read it o-o-over.

Then I passed out little stop signs I had printed out and glued on Popsicle sticks. They held up the sign when they didn’t understand something and I would go back and read it again. I told the class that it was important that everyone understand so we could reach our big goal (80% on end of summer assessments) and so no one complained when I read the same sentence four times. It was fantastic!

After the kids left school, they called us all into a room for a meeting. Our school director said something about us having to add a lesson in for next week (more work) and then revealed a sign that said, “You all have the afternoon off!” The room erupted in applause. I was totally confused. We all grabbed our things and headed to the bus.

Needless to say, the few hours off have made a huge impact on collective morale. I spent part of the afternoon watching the showing of Napoleon Dynamite, taking a short nap and working on lesson plans. I will be teaching all day next Monday so tonight I have to complete five scripted lesson plans to turn in tomorrow. Still, we do have to remember to “stop in the name of fun” every once in a while.