Sometimes It Clicks

As a teacher, you answer hundreds of questions a day. You provide at least five lessons a day (either full lessons or mini-lessons). Stretch those numbers out to 180 days and you get somewhere in the range of 1,000 lessons a year.

When looping, with the same class for two consecutive years...you could be talking about 2,000 lessons!

Maya Angelou once said, 'I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'

As a teacher, I want students to remember how I made them feel, but with the nature of teaching...you kind of have to have them remember some of what you said to them. As it is school after all. That said, you are never sure what they will remember.

When I was student teaching at Lima Elementary School in Providence, I would have a seminar class every Friday. In this class, the student teachers (from all over the state) would meet to discuss what they learned about teaching. I'll never forget a student teacher that was placed in an affluent school district, discussed how a student had dropped an f-bomb and spent the next 90 minutes in the office with the Principal. Shocked, I turned to Josh (another student teacher at Lima) who gave me a shocked look in return.

In inner-city school districts, bad language happens. Students hear it from friends, siblings, parents, etc. If I was to send a student down to the office every time a student used bad language, I would be laughed out of the building. Usually when a student used bad language, I would give them a warning and let them know that 'outside language' is not appropriate for in school. I would let them know that if they continued that I would have to reach out to their guardians and discuss their language. That would usually do it. We would move on about our day.

On this one occasion last year, the students were getting restless and the language was flying a little freeer than it should have. I stopped my lesson and started a mini-lesson about bad language. I informed them that bad language is lazy language. I told them that I would've hoped that they had more vocabulary in their brains than just those words, We began by taking on the s-word. We went around the classroom and gave other words for the s-word (poop, doodie, bowl movement, etc.) The class was roaring at the idea that we were coming up with other words for a word that many of them used.

Then we took on the f-word. Instead of relying on defining the word and coming up with alternatives, I defined the word as a four letter f-word. We then created a list of other four letter f-words (four, five, free, fart, etc.) By the end of the day, I could only smile when I heard a student call out, 'FOUR You!' The lesson had stuck.

Teaching in the same grade every year, you never get a chance to see if your lessons had an impact, but this year looping, I have had the chance on a few occasions to see.

One was this past week when two students were arguing. I asked them to stop. I took away choice time at the end of the week. I told them I would be making up a list of families I had to reach out to for behavior. None of my usual tricks were working. I turned my back, then I heard it...

'Shut the FIVE up!'

I smiled.

'FREE you!'

I couldn't help but snicker. I was trying to be angry, but they broke me. It was hysterical.

I walked over to my desk and started writing.

'You can't call my Grandma,' said one student, 'I didn't say the f-word.'

I finished writing and looked up.

I hadn't been writing down names, I was writing down the quotes. I wanted to remember what the students had said word for word.

I was happy for the distraction. I was also happy to learn that sometimes those mini-lessons about life just click.