Teachers Should Have To "fight For The Right To Have Fun" In Class

By Author: Amandda
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One winter-blahs student favorite is to pass around a sheet of paper and each student writes his or her favorite line of a song. Then the students use their cell phones to play a clip of their song. This cell-phone activity meshes into a poetry lesson, maybe a Whitmanesque "Song of Myself lesson. Another favorite skill builder that builds standards is to provide opportunities for participation in classroom competitions where outside judges are brought in as referees. I take any opportunity I can to allow students to welcome visitors to the classroom. Literally, a student welcomes the expert speaker whose area of expertise is in an area that connects to the lesson. Another student favorite is when we publish students' work outside the Omega Replica Watches classroom. For example, I send copies of student research projects or literary analysis papers to retired teachers or administrators who may be interested in the subject matter. Another fun publishing idea is to bind a class set of essays or poems and secure it to the location with a string, maybe at the local bank or ...
... offices around the neighborhood. Whether or not students get any feedback, they preen themselves at the thought that their writing is on public view. When it requires moving beyond the four classroom walls, fun takes coordination on the part of teacher, students, and parents.

The best fun, according to an informal survey of my 2008-09 students, occurs when I connect literacy lessons to teen culture. Whether through drawing stick-figure comics of a particular story event to share with the class or drafting a script to produce for the local film festival, students are hungry for fun classroom lessons and activities that will showcase what they are learning or what they have learned. Anytime you are able to connect to safe Internet sites such as 21Classes Classroom 2.0, readmit, or create your own class blog or wiki pages, many students will thank you for your attention to their culture, their world.

My personal favorite fun activity is called Fun Friday. Sometimes, after a grueling week of reading, writing, analysis, and general pain, agony, and despair, I have a Fun Friday. On these days everyone gets to do what he or she wants to do within the parameters of the ELA standards. I announce on Monday that we will be having a Fun Friday this week. After they collect themselves, they begin to make plans for Friday. Some will go to the Media Center to research or read or write. Some will play board games such as Scrabble, Upwords, or Trivial Pursuit. Some work on 500-piece puzzles. Prior to one Fun Friday, I asked everyone to choose a favorite literary quote from his or her writing folder. Then they made 9" X 12" posters that we posted on the walls outside the classroom. The students are amazed that English class connects to their needs and interests and that they are able to monitor the growth of their analytical Omega Seamaster Replica and evaluative literary skills. With The Beastie Boys song in mind, we adapt the refrain for what we know works—for the fun of it: We have to "fight for the right to [have fun]" in our classrooms.

The results after we have had fun in the ELA classroom are manifold. Students get to know each other, and through that knowing, they understand one another's differences and are more respectful of one another. Students trust their inner voices a little more. Although we live within the tension of assessing student expression and building English language arts knowledge in our students, we will have fun in the midst of our hard work and the careful orchestration of our curriculum.