Miss Trunchbull loves literacy

I am currently covering a maternity leave for one of our teachers and so September to the end of January, my life looks quite different than the usual schtick. With all this teaching going on, I have had no time for writing. I look forward to getting back to my writing life, but I am enjoying the teaching very much. It helps to have the best age group (grades 3-5) and an especially sweet group of kids. But it's just been fun to play. I've been Captain Canada, Edna the Ears, Mission Control, a Broadway producer, and that really evil teacher from "Matilda".
No matter what outrageous idea I come up with to help us explore something new, the kids are with me, ready to try anything with enthusiasm.
Not surprisingly, what has been most enjoyable for me is their love of the Literacy Centres. I decided to use Lit Centres in order to best address the huge disparity in ability. I never could have anticipated how successful they would be. The students are motivated and empowered by the choices they can make at each centre and by my expectation that they are responsible for their own learning.
Every day between 11 and 12, my classroom is a quiet buzz of energy:
There are kids reading in the reading centre, alone or with a buddy or maybe listening to/reading a book with a CD. There is a group at one table doing reading response worksheets. At another table, kids choose from 45 activity cards to do a fun (and often physical) activity to reinforce their weekly spelling list. There is a sentence centre with games that have morphed into new games over the weeks as each group experiments with new ways to play them. But my absolute favourite is the creative writing centre. Kids have a myriad of ways to  inspire some creative thinking and today the whole class got involved in helping J think of uses for his invisible monkey. They are writing Wanted posters for the strange creatures they make up. (If you see something that looks like a cross between a fairy and a weasel that poops jelly beans, please contact us immediately.) They pick pictures from the Roll & Write dice game and make crazy stories. Emerging writers record them into a tape recorder. They can choose an item from the Bin of Inspiration or the Bag of Weirdness to get them writing. When the chime sounds to move them to their next Centre, the loudest groans tend to come from the creative writing corner.
As soon as my term is finished, I will pack up my Bag of Weirdness, infuse myself with the kids' amazing imaginations and head into my studio to steal as many of their ideas as possible. Don't tell them.
Monica is the author of "Thanks for chucking that at the wall instead of me."