Monster Day

During Spring Break I found the best lesson to do with Jarod today! The lesson is centered on the book Go Away, Big Green Monster! I found the idea on this blog http://4thgradefrolics.blogspot.com/2013/10/monster-fun-descriptive-writing.html (also the 4th Grade Frolics blogger read The Book Whisperer too, so more bonus points for her in my book). The 4^th Grade Frolics blogger and another teacher came up with their monster activities for the students around Halloween time. I thought their idea was the cutest ever and was definitely appropriate for Jarod. The first monster activity my tutoring partner and I did with Jarod, was I read the book to him. And as I read the book, Jarod had to draw the monster the author described. After Jarod compared his drawing to the author’s and then we discussed what better details the author could have used. Then Jarod, my tutoring partner, and I drew our own monster and wrote a description. We all traded our descriptions with one another and had to draw the monster described. It was funny to see how well all three of us described our monster and what they looked like compared to the original artist’s drawing. Jarod was laughing and enjoying himself in this activity. Our next activity was monster themed again. Jarod and the tutors rolled a die to see which monster body part we got to draw. After we had a complete monster, Jarod was given the homework assignment to write about “his monster under his bed”. What a great lesson, and I am so grateful for teachers who are willing to share their ideas with others!

Seeing how one teacher blogger was so eager and willing to share her ideas with others made me want to be the same way when I am a teacher. I want to collaborate with other teachers and find exciting ways to incorporate what we are teaching in an interactive manner. I also want to share any good ideas I have with other teachers too. I believe teaching is an individual matter but it is also about working together with colleagues and supporting them. It is in the best interest of other students to work well with other teachers. I do not want to see any other teacher fail or flounder because I was selfish and did not share my success ideas with him or her. Also, I want a strong network of teachers so if I ever need assistance I have teachers I can go to and ask for help. I think this is very important and a good quality to possess as a future teacher.