Yesterday in class, when it was time for grammar, I let my students do something I often used to make my own kids do in homeschool: play teacher. If you've ever taught anything, you know how much you learn by doing it.
Well, this was impromptu, not planned in advance, so I don't know how much they learned, but they sure did like it.
The Shurley Grammar workbook page had four sections. I have six students. Once again I had to choose "teachers" without being partial. So, at random, I asked, "If you have a brother, raise your hand. " (All hands go up.) "If you have a younger brother, keep your hand up." (Half go down.) The remaining three would "play teacher" first, one at a time.
I love watching them in teacher mode. The boy who led the first section, labeling parts of speech, used "the voice" of a teacher, somewhat sing-songy and very "praisy" of right answers.
The girl who led the second section used the same "voice" as the boy. Cracks me up. Her section called for labeling sentences (simple, compound, fragment, and so on). The boy she called on gave a monosyllabic answer. We all know that could mean a good guess, not necessarily comprehension, so I whispered to Teacher Girl, "Ask them to please explain."
Teacher Girl continued when the next student she called on got the right answer. "You are correct. Sentence 3 is an SCV. Can you please explain why?"
We ran out of time and I heard two other students ask if we can play again next time and let them be Teacher. He warmed my heart when he said, "This is the funnest afternoon we've had in a long time."
I didn't have the heart to correct his grammar.
Instead I thanked him for saying so and thanked the Lord for giving us an extra good day.
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