The teacher who was loaning me a movie to show my students told me yesterday she wasn't finished with it...:(
I had to come up with a new lesson plan this morning. After WEEKS of cold, dreary, gray, snowy, wet weather, and three DAYS of testing, the sun was shining and was supposed to be in the 50s - a heat wave. I really didn't want to be at school, or if I had to be, I wanted to be outside or at the very least, playing at something. Not surprisingly, the kids felt exactly as I did!
Three of my students came in early, asked what we were doing today (of course, they thought it was the movie because that was what I had told them). I told them my new plan. They didn't like it, so they decided to create their own plan for my consideration. I liked it! So I gave every class a choice of my plan or their plan. Quite a few picked my plan, but more picked the girls' plan: a group project of creating a picture book about Apartheid, a really great review of our study of South Africa. The creators of the lesson plan were just as happy as I was! Turned out to be a very pleasant day.
Notwithstanding the mandate to "teach to the test" you managed to allow creativity and imagination into your classroom...don't let other teachers know or they'll want to do the same--heresy! :-)
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