So I got a real cool teaching tool for my classroom. Not sharpies or flash cards, but a monkey mask.
Slightly used, but just a buck fifty.
I started the class by telling the students I saw a monkey in front of the school. They weren’t impressed. As they worked on their spelling words, I had to use the restroom. That’s when I pulled a Clark Kent and transformed myself into Monkey woman. I put on the mask, raced around the building to the classroom window, pressed my face up against the glass and grunted.
The students screamed. I mean, screamed.
I took off my mask, ran back into the classroom, expecting my students to laugh and say, “Mrs. Mac! We saw a monkey!”
Well, it didn’t go as expected. Instead, I entered a classroom of students on the verge of tears. Mike, the oldest and cleverest, cried, “Teacher! We saw a monster!”
“Are you sure it wasn’t a monkey?”
“No!” Mike insisted, his bottom lip quivering, his skin ghost white. He pointed to his classmates, stretched out on the ground.
“YaWei and Jenny die! There is a monster!”
This is not good. Life doesn’t always go as planned.
To prevent a meltdown, I brought Mike into the hall and showed him the mask. His smile returned, my lesson plan put on hold until the next day. I spent the rest of the class assuring the students that it was just me in the mask.
Haibo, a jovial staff member, helped get the students laughing.
I was able to use the monkey to help with the week’s vocabulary. Words included: brave, cowardly, messy and neat, broom, mop, but not meltdown or panic.
I’m sure the students will never forget the words. If you watch the video, the students read a paragraph about the day’s events.
The monkeying around continued the next day during art class. Free hair cuts.
