anyway, the green eggs and ham gig is something i have done with my kindergarten kids the past coupla years, but i have never done it with my own kids. i sometimes forget that i have an almost five year old living in my house that will be a kindergartner this year. (*throws up in mouth and swallows while shedding a tear*) i also often forget that she would enjoy most of the stuff i am doing in my classroom as well. so when school was cancelled yesterday, i thought, "the hell with this, i'm still going to make green eggs and ham for my own kids!" (take that, winter.) i whipped them up and carrie looked like i was serving her straight poison, she didn't want anything to do with it. if she could put three words together she would've said, "oh hell no." however, ella thought the whole thing was incredibly awesome and when i gave her the plate to eat she made the face of a legit cartoon character. (like the cat in the hat himself.) we recently read the story, so she was all about repeating parts (oral language skills) that she remembered (recalling information) and then said, "i don't know what took him so LONG to try the green eggs and ham (retelling information), because it's SO GOOD!!" (relating it to her own world) here is the picture i snapped when i handed her the plate.
so you are probably all like, "what's with all the parentheses in the last sentence?" well here goes: i feel that teachers and education in general have been under fire lately. there is a constant push for implementing the common core curriculum, new state testing mandates, and a general overload of (complete) crap. the bottom line is this, if children cannot make connections to their own life and world through learning...it is meaningless. data driven education is meaningless. education has to shift from imparting a static package of knowledge to a dynamic goal of being able to create knowledge and deploy skills to new situations, whatever they turn out to be. in this world, teaching by transfer of information doesn’t work well. instead the role of teachers (and parents) becomes one of enabling and inspiring the students to learn...so as to spark the energies and talents of the students. in other words, learning should be fun. kids should want to learn. the goal needs to shift from one of making a system that teaches children a curriculum more efficiently and getting better test scores to one of making the system more effective by inspiring lifelong learning in students, so that they are able to have full and productive lives in a rapidly shifting economy and society. (throws mic and steps off of soap box.)
later that day as her sister slept, she tagged along as i went to the post office and (one of my favorite places) the library. i didn't even think to look at what events they were having there (because i am usually working)...but they had story hour on the hour of dr. seuss books and crafts to go along with them. (score!) i totally felt like i was kicking ass once more, even though i went for a book for myself and this happened by accident. we stayed for almost two hours as several stories were read to her by a cute gray haired lady. as the lady started to read green eggs and ham to ella, she gasped and said, "i had green eggs and ham for breakfast!" the lady smiled at me. (yeah, i know...no future serial killers here. not today, lady.) subsequently, i decided since i had all of the copies made and supplies bought for my kindergarten green eggs and ham activity, i was going to just go ahead and do it today. (happy belated birthday, dr. seuss!) we start in my classroom by guessing (making predictions) details about the story and about whether or not we will like the green eggs and ham. then, i read the story and we talk about rhyming words and story structure. they usually sit enraptured as i read. kids love patterns, repetition, and rhyme. (dr. seuss was a genius, fyi.) then, i make the eggs and ham in front of them and serve it up hot. i've never had a kid not try it as long as i've been doing it...call it peer pressure or whatever, but they all want to try it. after we eat, we do a shared writing activity about how it tasted. we illustrate a picture of our faces when we tried it (fine motor skills and creativity). finally, we graph how many children liked it or not. (math)
so you see, i didn't just simply serve green eggs and ham to my own child yesterday and to my kindergarten class today. a real lesson was taught. i didn't need a test to tell me they learned something, either. testing children constantly is not fun for anyone involved. (teachers hate them as much as kids.) no kid ever said, "whoohooo! i get to take a standardized test!" testing sucks the fun out of teaching and the fun out of learning...not to mention the fact that actual time to teach is compromised. society is creating expert test takers...and last time i checked, there wasn't a job in the real world for those with that skill. there is a lot more that goes into a lesson (parenting or teaching) than what meets the eye. the end result that i always have in mind is that i want children to learn and i want them to have fun while doing so. (sometimes it happens by accident.) was "cooking green eggs and ham" part of my county curriculum? no. did it cover a whole lot of content related to that curriculum and the common core? yes. do i feel justified in doing such a lesson after breaking it down into what actually has been covered? yes. were the kids able to make connections from the lesson to skills in their own world? yes. there are times i question my abilities as both a parent and as a teacher. i think it's very natural to question what you are doing for your kids (or for other people's kids) is the "right" thing. in this case, i know for sure i kicked ass in regard to both through these activities with my own kid and with my kindergarten kids.
i know for sure because the kids' laughter and smiles told me so. i know for sure because they learned something and they laughed along the way. i know for sure because i covered required content in an unconventional way. i truly hope that i have the ability to inspire children the way the master of rhyming words inspired me. as a child, his words cultivated my love of learning and my own love of reading. (right on dr. s.) kids have to find learning enjoyable and need to relate to it...now and for the rest of their lives. even though these kids are five, they are our future. i think many of us forget that...children are our future. (that's huge.) if feeding them green eggs and ham at five makes them more productive adults...i'm all for it. society needs to get back to basics in regard to education and remember what is important. fostering a love of learning is important. inspiring children is important. silliness and nonsense are both important. creating capable adults is important. the people who are creating and implementing these crazy curriculum and high stakes testing need to step back and embrace their inner child...and maybe eat a little green eggs and ham every once in a while. (maybe with a goat? on a boat?) education and society as a whole would be better because of it.
"sometimes the questions are complicated, and the answers are simple." -dr. seuss
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