What If? Wednesdays

I was in the middle of a Twitter Chat, I don’t remember which one when Paul Solarz (follow him, he's fantastic!) wrote that he enjoys What If? Wednesday with his students. If I was a more diligent man, I would probably have asked him what that entailed. I’m not. I’m impulsive, novelty driven, and given to puzzle things out to create fantastic experiences with my kids.

So what did I do? I took the name. What If? Wednesday. It’s great! It has potential, and it can be anything. It can be an experience that creates great blogging opportunities, art opportunities, and who knows what else? Service projects? Why not? Or maybe it could lead to silliness. Silliness is beautiful. It creates fantastic community bonds in your classroom.
And silliness was in the offing today. Today’s (inaugural) What If? Wednesday question was, “What if you could choose your name, and it could be anything?” As we went through students’ choices, we got some ridiculous names, and a couple of “I wish this was my name” names.

We laughed so much, and really enjoyed each other, despite all the test stress we’re experiencing with the Florida State Assessment approaching. The kids loved correcting me as I misspoke their new names. Students inevitably asked if they could keep their names. Absolutely.

Before I give you my new class list, I want to endorse silliness in the classroom. You build creativity, you build community, and you help your students build a sense of self. Go be silly!

And now: my new kids –

Blueberry
Ashley
Fluffy Pink Unicorns, Dancing on Rainbows
Alexis
Goldilocks
Wheeljack
Sponge King
Cute VPK Dude
Guinea Pig Lightning
Philadelphia
Pretty Pretty Pegasus
Princess Glitter
Fluffy Wuffy
Olaf, King of Cinnamon Buns
Megatron
Fairie
Bob