Making the Blog

To understand what occurred in the classroom, you need some background knowledge. Many years ago, I took broken crayons and melted them into multi-colored crayons using my oven. We also have been discussing nouns in the classroom - singular, plural, common and proper, and when to add -es.

Now, you are caught up to speed.

I had pulled out the bag of multi-colored crayons for another teacher to use and the students in our classroom wanted to use them. While we were waiting for everyone to finish a page, I let them color the back of a paper while I met with a student at my desk. And so began a conversation among the students.

"It's a cray-on." (emphasis on the -on) said one outspoken student.
Another student disagreed, "it's crayons."
"Cray-on."
"Crayons."
"Cray-on."
And another student couldn't help but join this conversation. "It's crayons."
The outspoken student responded with, "They're all mixed together, so it's one."
The extra student said, "Yeah, plural." (meaning it should be crayons, not cray-on)

About this time, they (meaning most of the class) noticed me grinning like a Cheshire cat at their conversation and frantically writing. One of the students blurted, "You just made the blog."

The students are becoming aware of me spying on their conversations. I honestly do not spy just to gain funny conversations, but do you realize the magnitude of their conversation? They are processing what we are talking about in our classroom and bringing it into other conversations. To discuss if something was plural or singular was great! I love their conversations because their voice matters in the classroom.

I really do think that teachers often miss the best teaching tool they have in their classrooms...their students. They are filled with wonderful ideas. Today, I made some of the students explain terms and homework assignments to others that weren't listening the first time...not as a punishment for the listening students, but to make the students who weren't listening aware that they can go to their peers as a resource. I am not the only resource in the room.

Can't wait to see what these treasures continue to discuss in the future!