Choose Fun

Sometimes, we forget as teachers that our older students, those kids looking at the clock and watching the semester countdown towards graduation, are still just kids. We get caught up in the urgency of everything. Getting assignments done, preparing for exam after exam, working around sports schedules, holding space for their exhaustion. A few years ago, I thought of different ways to come up for air. Multimodal work was one part of the answer—an opportunity to flex creative muscles and have fun amid the work (click the picture to open a slideshow).

For some years, the most significant hurdle has been Shakespeare. Students don't gravitate towards it. I still see his themes in modern texts, but the kids often ask that we study Gnomeo and Juliet versus Romeo and Juliet. I am partial to Romeo Must Die, but I don't think it would be approved, lol. A few years ago, we started acting out Shakespeare with sock puppets. Every year, it evolves. This year, the kids' puppets are outstanding. They have taken on the added fun of making puppets of famous people to act out Much Ado about Nothing. We have a puppet of the Pope and Donald Trump; the contrast is not lost on me. We will act out our scenes tomorrow.

Later this week, we are reading poetry, and then we are off for break. Everyone is tired. Some of us are limping over the finish line, but we are still moving and smiling (not just emojis).