The other day in Linguistics, we were talking about the ways that people use different registers when speaking. People change the language they use depending on the setting and the types of people surrounding them. When I thought about it, I figured that I use about five; I speak much differently when I am with family, professionals at work, peers, students, or people who I consider elders.
At work, when communicating with my students, I simplify everything I am saying, and am extremely careful about my word choice. I have to be so careful of the way I say things and the words I use to make sure I can elicit the right kind of responses from my students. Come to think of it, all the lesson planning, and academic work that I do is the much simpler part! Today during Math, I was playing a game with my students to review the concept of, more than/ less than. I use a set of laminated index cards on which I put varying amounts of dots in different arrangements on each card. When I show a student the two cards, they (or we) count the number of dots on each card, they hold up the correct amount of fingers and then I will either ask them which card is more, or which is less. I wanted to challenge one of my students a bit so I gave her two cards that both had four dots on them but were arranged differently. The goal was to see if she would think there were more dots if they were more spread out on the card, to truly test her understanding of "4". So she did a wonderful job, counted four dots on each card and smiled, telling me, "they the same", I told her, "Yes, they are the same", and she repeated. Next I wanted her to understand that, because they both have the same number of dots on them (4) we can say "they are equal", so I made the sign for same with my fingers (placing your two index fingers together, palms down, pointing away from you) and turned it sideways and it looked like an equal sign (which the student already knows) and she said "equal" and we high fived. She was so excited and had done great work, but in our classroom we place a lot of emphasis on proper communication and manners; I told her, "okay, so now you can say, they..." and she said "them is equals".
Today reminded me how much we as teachers, shape the lives of our students, I always think of the impacts that middle school and high school teachers have on students, because teenagers are at such a volatile time, but there is something almost magical about being part of the building block steps, when skills are just beginning to emerge.
Vocabulary
linguistics -(n) The science of language
surrounding (adj) - Enclosing or encircling
elicit- (v) To draw out or bring out
manners- (n) A persons outward way of behaving
high five- (n) Gesture to show "good job!", where you hold up your hand with another person, palms facing each other and slap your hands together.
laminate- (v) Covering paper within two layers of plastic and sealing them together with heat
remind (v)- To cause someone to remember something
Match with the correct definition:
remind a. Bring out
laminate b. A persons outward way of behaving
high five c. Cause someone to remember
manners d. Enclosing something
elicit e. Seal paper between plastic using heat
linguistics f. Celebratory gesture
surrounding g. Science of language
Plural Endings- I added an s onto the word dot to making it plural, meaning, more than one dot.
Add an s to make each of the following words plural:
1. Girl
2. Plate
3. Juice
4. House
5. Candle
It is definitely important to instill proper manners within your students, no matter what age. Its hard for children to change registers, but as they get older it will get easier.
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