Day 238- Phil*
I made up a game to play with my classes that I was all kinds of proud of today. It was kind of like a human version of mouse trap, with each student triggering the next one into action all around the room. Every single student in every single class participated, and they all survived. I got them to read poetry and shout out rules and look things up in books and figure out where everything was in the room. What's more, they were attentive, the volume level was low, and they actually enjoyed themselves. Yesterday, I promised each of them at least thirty seconds of fun in Comm. Arts this year, and many of them shared with me that they got their thirty seconds in today. To this I replied, "Wow, you got your thirty seconds already? I may be able to deliver you double the fun then! Let's try for a minute." I sure do hope I can come through on this promise.
The best part-- well, the second best part because this post is titled "Phil" after all-- was that they totally got it. When I asked them why we had played the game, they talked about following directions and learning and working together and participating and all of the things I had hoped for but didn't think they would actually deliver back to me. I got my gift, and it was even tied up with a bow.
Phil was the bow. I thought the game would make my day, and it did, but Phil was even more delightful. This kid has enough personality and spunk to fill ("Phil"?) five kids. He is my 100% guarantee that I will not have a boring day this year. He is a Dennis the Menace type boy with a twinkle in his eye and a string of witty remarks waiting in line to come out. With this type of kid, I feel as if a teacher could go either way. I could definitely see how someone might be a bit annoyed by his constant posing, face making, and joke cracking for attention. However, I'm too amused to be annoyed. Instead, he is like the class mascot, and we reference him occasionally as if he is another resource in the classroom. He loves this, of course. His real name (no, it's not Phil... did you notice the *) makes his whole schtick even more comical. I do hope his parents come to Open House next week because I'd loved to see where this guy comes from. I hope when he is on SNL someday that he will remember our class and get us some tickets.
Thank you, Phil*, you made my day.
The best part-- well, the second best part because this post is titled "Phil" after all-- was that they totally got it. When I asked them why we had played the game, they talked about following directions and learning and working together and participating and all of the things I had hoped for but didn't think they would actually deliver back to me. I got my gift, and it was even tied up with a bow.
Phil was the bow. I thought the game would make my day, and it did, but Phil was even more delightful. This kid has enough personality and spunk to fill ("Phil"?) five kids. He is my 100% guarantee that I will not have a boring day this year. He is a Dennis the Menace type boy with a twinkle in his eye and a string of witty remarks waiting in line to come out. With this type of kid, I feel as if a teacher could go either way. I could definitely see how someone might be a bit annoyed by his constant posing, face making, and joke cracking for attention. However, I'm too amused to be annoyed. Instead, he is like the class mascot, and we reference him occasionally as if he is another resource in the classroom. He loves this, of course. His real name (no, it's not Phil... did you notice the *) makes his whole schtick even more comical. I do hope his parents come to Open House next week because I'd loved to see where this guy comes from. I hope when he is on SNL someday that he will remember our class and get us some tickets.
Thank you, Phil*, you made my day.
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