I teach 8-10-year-olds, so humor plays a part in my career everyday. Really. But if I have to choose time...
When I was a classroom teacher, I used Reading and Writing Workshops to teach ELA. There was a boy who struggled to read independently for any length of time. My co-teacher and I tried all kinds of books at his reading level, and he claimed to not like any of them. Then, one day, he came to school with a Kindle. We admired it and he said it was his, from his parents. Suddenly he blossomed into a student who could read and remain on task for many minutes at a time. We were so thrilled that he was hooked on reading by his Kindle.
About 3 weeks later, we met with his mom for a conference. During the meeting with his mom, we bragged up his interest in reading and told her how wonderful it was that they had given him a Kindle. You could have heard a pin drop.
"Kindle? What Kindle?"
Turns out it wasn't his. And we never had a clue.
When I was a classroom teacher, I used Reading and Writing Workshops to teach ELA. There was a boy who struggled to read independently for any length of time. My co-teacher and I tried all kinds of books at his reading level, and he claimed to not like any of them. Then, one day, he came to school with a Kindle. We admired it and he said it was his, from his parents. Suddenly he blossomed into a student who could read and remain on task for many minutes at a time. We were so thrilled that he was hooked on reading by his Kindle.
About 3 weeks later, we met with his mom for a conference. During the meeting with his mom, we bragged up his interest in reading and told her how wonderful it was that they had given him a Kindle. You could have heard a pin drop.
"Kindle? What Kindle?"
Turns out it wasn't his. And we never had a clue.