I should really start closing the door when I teach

I was teaching similes and metaphors to my fifth graders this morning. It was a rather difficult concept for them to grasp because of vocabulary and overall language issues. But I tried my darndest. I had a wonderful PowerPoint presentation complete with response cards that the students held up to identify which sentence was a simile, and which was a metaphor.

I was feeling pretty proud of myself and my kick-butt lesson.

And then we got to the end. The last slide said to get with a partner and come up with as many metaphors and similes about chocolate as they could. When the timer beeped, I checked their papers and it was pretty disastrous.

Exhibit A: "The chocolate is melty as a cow"

Exhibit B: "The chocolate is so good I like it and I also like chips and cookies and pizza and hamburgers...."

You see what I was dealing with here. I overestimated their readiness for this kind of activity.

So I quickly backtracked and explained in detail how to create a similes and metaphors. First, we made a list that described chocolate. We came up with: yummy, hard, brown, smooth, melty. Then we took the words one by one and thought of something else that was also smooth (for example) that we could compare it to. Then we made a simile: "This chocolate is as smooth as a feather".

Then we got to "brown".

"Okay", I told my kiddos, "think of something brown". All of my students looked around the room. Then I said: "Okay, now let's fill in the blank: 'This chocolate is as brown as....."

Silence.

Then my whitest kid turns to my blackest kid and (very innocently and triumphantly) points at him and says "YOU!"

13 comments:

Randy et Jan said...

Oh good. I thought the word, "poop" was sure to follow!!! Kids. Hope no one was offended! Mom

Unknown said...

That's got me thinking about stand up comedy for some reason. Thanks for sharing. Maybe you could do a follow up lesson in which they could perform a "similie stand-up" event. But then you'd really have to shut your door!

Bethany said...

That is too funny! I love kids!

Elissa Newton said...

I love how open kids are. They don't have all the hang ups we adults do.

Nancy Hniedziejko (Nancy Ehrlich) said...

I haven't opened the door in my classroom for 29 years... really. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

Cute story! My mom taught for many years...sometimes she'd come home in frustration and tears...and other times with joy and pleasure. Being a teacher is "awesome" as my little one would say.

I'm a new follower of yours. Hope to see you at my blog, too.

North of 25A said...

You should feel proud of yourself! You sound like a great teacher.
Happy SITS Saturday,
Best,
Colleen

Kasey said...

Out of the mouth of babes! Happy SITS Saturday Sharefest!

Alissa said...

SO CUTE! Kids are adorable. I can not wait until my daughter is that age

Jenn @ Delicious Ambiguity said...

Great blog you have here. I have so many funny stories from teaching! Aren't kids great?! Anyways, just stopping b to share the love and say hello back. I am hosting Yummy Mummy Week right now. Come by to enter to win some amazing loot!

KNB said...

What a great story! I, too, thought "poop" was sure to follow. But this is definitely a "leave gthe door open" moment as it shows that you are an excellent teacher and don't you want everyone to know that?

Stopping by from SITS

http://mommamaybemad.blogspot.com/2010/05/where-i-am-not.html

Sian said...

This made me chuckle. I'm another one who was expecting 'poop'. You've got some great stories here. Thanks for stopping by mine, I responded to your comment there. Overall, Twitter seems like a good thing to start up if a little addictive!!

Sherri said...

I hate to say it, but I also thought it would be "poop"! I work at an elementary school, that's why my head goes there...sorry!

I just love the innocence that shows when kids say things like that....no harm intended, no racial undertones, just stating an observation. I just love them.

I am enjoying your blog, came over as a recommendation from A Beautiful Mess!

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