Engaging in Respectful Communication

Allison Rudolph

“Can you get him?” a student yelled to me. My first thought was: Who had walked out of the room and needed to be escorted back in? Little did I know that this was a cry from a student who felt as though he was being treated disrespectfully. In the urban school where I teach third grade, there is a unique way of communicating information and dealing with disrespect from a peer. Not only do my students lack the language to ask for my help, but they are unable to explain what exactly another student is doing that they find bothersome. It is therefore my goal with this unit to enhance my students’ ability to communicate orally in a way that expresses respect for one another.

Student Background

I teach seventeen third graders at an inner city school in Wilmington, Delaware. 94% of the students in the school receive free or reduced lunch because of their low family income. I have one student with a history of homelessness. The vast majority of my students are African American. I have one Hispanic student who is fluent in English. I have seven students who read well below third-grade level, one of whom reads at the first-grade level. I have four students who are on track to be at a third grade level by the end of the year, and six students who currently read on grade level. I have ten students who are well below grade level according to targets on the DCAS test, and seven who are below grade level.

Let me describe two situations that have occurred in my classroom to provide a better understanding of the culture that prevails. A month after the start of school, two students came in from recess clearly upset at each other and arguing. I called both students back to the conference area in my classroom and asked Student A what had happened. He stated that Student B had “clipped” him. (That is, Student A tripped Student B while playing flag football on the playground). After hearing Student A’s explanation, Student B yelled, “I didn’t do it on purpose!” to which I responded, “Okay. Can you please apologize?” Student B got very upset and refused to speak. I modeled the exact words I expected him to say to Student A: It was an accident; I am sorry for clipping you. Student B then started to twirl in a circle while looking up at the sky and quickly muttered, “Sorry.” When I asked Student B to stop twirling, he shouted, “Why?” to which I responded, “Because that is how we stand when we talk to people.” Student B huffed and walked away.

I observed this situation while my students were attending music special a few months into school. While they were being quizzed, the students were expected to respond silently on their own papers. When student 1 called out an answer, Student 2 yelled, “Shut up!” Then a third student called out, “Don’t call out,” to which yet a fourth student responded, “Yeah, what’s wrong with you?” These are just two of the many examples that indicate to me the need for direct instruction in proper oral communication.

Objective

I have two objectives in writing this unit. The first is to supplement the third-grade Social Studies unit on respect to include a real-world application in my classroom. The second is to model and teach my students how to communicate with each other effectively to reach a shared goal.

The Social Studies unit focuses on respect for others, their opinions, and their property. It does an adequate job of comparing and contrasting respectful and disrespectful behavior. However, it does not clearly distinguish and teach each of the types of respect. Respect for others’ opinions is the area in which my students the most need to improve. Therefore, my objective is for my students to be able to discuss, recognize, and display respect for others in the classroom when they communicate with each other.

Additionally, by the end of this unit my students will be able to work respectfully with other students to achieve an academic goal. They will remain on task, take turns speaking, and use appropriate language to reach this goal. A secondary objective is for my students to be able to communicate effectively with each other when conflicts arise between them.

Rationale

There are several reasons I chose to use the first Social Studies unit to teach my students effective oral communication techniques. First is the timing of the unit. We begin the first day of school with this Social Studies unit. It is imperative that I lay the groundwork for the way students communicate from the very beginning of the year. In order to help create a classroom conducive to learning, my students must be able to communicate respectfully with each other. Using the topic of respect gives me the ability to teach the Civics standard (found in the Appendix) with a real-world component. Just as my students must understand that there are rules and laws in our society to ensure respect for each other, there must be rules for communicating with each other in the classroom. Students “must understand that if all the group[s] can agree on a set of rules … then talk can proceed in a way which will make the whole group, and its individuals, more effective.” i If my students can communicate respectfully with each other, they can work collaboratively together toward an academic goal.

I chose to target oral communication because my students have the ability to describe what respect looks and sounds like when working with others but are unable to demonstrate it. Every day my students talk over other students who are trying to voice their opinions. Similarly, instead of discussing issues appropriately, my students yell and insult each other. Since they do not have the vocabulary to express their feelings, they are unable to communicate to their peers that they are unhappy with their actions and so often use inappropriate means of communication. Clegg and Ginsborg support my claim by stating that “many children with deficits in communication skills have difficulties in peer interaction.” ii It is my goal to teach effective language to use when discussing interpersonal issues and when working together to solve an academic challenge.

Background

Cultural Literacy Overview

In Cultural Literacy, E.D. Hirsch asks what we should be teaching our students. This knowledge should be something that levels the playing field for all students independent of indicators of socioeconomic status. The answer bridges the gap between the knowledge children and adults hold. It is a tool children can use to increase their competitiveness in local and global settings. The answer, in short, is cultural literacy, “a descriptive list of the information actually possessed by literate Americans.” iii

Cultural literacy, at its most basic level, is necessary for effective communication. It encompasses the ability to understand and create different types of messages, whether they are auditory, visual, or lexical in form. Do your students understand and therefore act upon the directions you have given them? Can your students determine the main idea of the video you asked them to watch? Did your students comprehend the characters’ motives in the passage they just read?

Effective communication can take place only if the individuals having the conversation have a wealth of shared knowledge. The people engaging in a conversation must have the same base of knowledge and reference points in order to understand what they are discussing. If one person has a deep understanding of a topic and another person has never been exposed to it, the two people trying to communicate will have to resort to their common knowledge in order to exchange information. Therefore, “knowing what others probably know … is crucial for effective communication.” iv This is especially true for teachers. Research shows that broaching a new subject with students is most successful when the teacher connects it to a concept students already understand.

Background knowledge therefore plays an important role in one’s level of cultural literacy. The more people are exposed to, the more information they possess. Given more information, people can communicate on a wider variety of topics with anyone who shares a similar cultural literacy. This is most obvious when children are reading a text.

Students with background knowledge on the topic of the text are more likely to comprehend what they read. If they do not have sufficient background knowledge, much of the information they are reading will be meaningless, since they will be unable to connect their new knowledge to something they already understand. If a high school teacher taught a group of elementary students who could not yet identify basic shapes upper level geometry, they would be ill-equipped to handle the information because they would lack the background knowledge necessary to comprehend the new information. It would be impossible to find the number of faces on ten pentagons if you did not know what a pentagon (or a face) was.

It is important to note what constitutes cultural literacy. Hirsch states that “cultural literacy lies above the everyday levels of knowledge that everyone possesses and below the expert level known only to specialists.” v What a handful of scientists study about nuclear physics is not in the realm of cultural literacy. Similarly, how to spell the state you live in is something you should already know and does not indicate whether you are culturally literate or not. Based on this idea, Hirsch postulates that “more and more of our young people don’t know things we used to assume they knew.” vi Given the increasing availability of the internet and television, students are no longer required to maintain a broad base of knowledge because the information they desire can be obtained through newer media sources.

Cultural literacy is most important for the underprivileged population of students I teach. The problem is twofold. Being unable to understand or communicate on a wide variety of topics makes it less likely that they will be successful when interacting with the wider community. In addition, a lack of background knowledge is detrimental to their comprehension. If they are reading and have not been exposed to a concept the author assumes a culturally literate person is aware of, then they are more likely to miss the meaning of the passage. The more background knowledge I have to fill in before teaching a lesson, the longer the lesson will take. The more I have to extend the lesson, the fewer lessons I will be able to teach in a year, leaving my students behind their peers. Hirsch summarizes the issue by stating: “Illiterate and semiliterate Americans are condemned not only to poverty, but also to the powerlessness of incomprehension.” vii

Speaking and Listening

Four leading topics emerged in my research on oral communication. The first was the relationship between oral communication and cultural literacy. The second was the academic importance of oral communication. The third was my discovery that social disadvantage plays an important role in a student’s speaking and listening skills. Finally, I discovered certain practical information that has immediate application to oral communication in my classroom.

Oral Communication and Cultural Literacy

“Anthropological studies of peer groups and peer culture show the high importance of talk for the construction of social meanings and social norms within the peer group.” viii When we talk with each other, we express our personal understanding and opinion of a topic. As this information gets shared with an increasing number of people, that original idea becomes part of the norms that are understood by all. Contradictorily, if the listener disagrees with the original idea, and that contradictory set of ideas has a wider pattern of diffusion, the differing information becomes part of the cultural norm. The common thread is that information is passed from one person to another through oral communication. A situation from my classroom provides an example of the way such oral communication spreads the cultural norms. When a student from a different grade came to my classroom for an out-of-class timeout for the second time within a two-hour time period, my students verbally reprimanded him. They made comments like, “not again,” “you shouldn’t be in here,” and “act right, boy.” They were expressing to the other student the school cultural expectation that you should be in class learning, not sent out of class for misbehaving.

This example helps explain how “most learning in most settings is a communal activity, a sharing of the culture.” ix School is an obvious example of a communal place where many people gather together. The ideas that are shared and expressed help to shape the culture in the building. The behavioral norms in my school have been expressed from the beginning of the year and repeated daily. So it was reasonable for my students to express disgust at another child going against the cultural norms. If the community had not been aware of the cultural norms, or not acted in a communal way by looking out for each other, my students would not have expressed their opinions toward the student who was acting inappropriately in the other classroom.

Boyd and Galda draw a clear line between talk and literacy: “We internalize talk and it becomes thought. We externalize talk and it becomes our link to social reality. We elaborate talk and it becomes our bridge to literacy.” x For example, as we read and talk to ourselves to clarify what we are reading, we are thinking to ourselves. In addition, when we speak to each other, we bring our thoughts to reality and affect the social understanding of the people around us. My students let other students know what is expected of them and expressed their disapproval when those expectations were not being met. I elaborate below on how communicating with others effects children’s literacy.

Academic Importance

In order for effective communication to occur, the classroom needs to have a culture in which collaborative talk is respected and expected. My social studies unit will foster this respect, most notably respect for others’ opinions. “Sharing tentative ideas through exploratory talk is safe only when those listening accept these ideas seriously, treat them respectfully, and add them to the shared knowledge of the classroom community.” xi If

one student in a group belittles the thoughts and ideas of another student, the student whose ideas are not taken seriously will be less likely to contribute in the future. On the other hand, a student who feels as though his or her thoughts are important and used for the greater good of the group will be more likely to repeat such talk. Setting up a classroom in which talk is fostered can lead to real-world examples of how to respect the opinions of others.

Once the culture of communication has been established, letting students experience exploratory talk is an important academic component of oral communication.

“At the centre of working on understanding is the idea of trying out new ways of

thinking and understanding and that ‘the readiest way of working on understanding

is often through talk, because the flexibility of speech makes it easy for us to try

out new ways of arranging what we know’.” xii

Exploratory talk is characterized by the trial of ideas. It is not a concrete explanation of one’s thoughts; instead, it is a constantly changing verbal set of ideas. When students communicate about a topic, they can gauge their listeners’ responses to their comments and, more important, learn more about the cultural understanding of that topic. For example, when my students discuss their beliefs about school uniforms, they can gather information on whether the culture indicates that the rule is important or merely an unreasonable burden. Often children will enter a conversation with one set of ideas and leave with another after trying out their opinion, hearing what other students have to say, and coming to a new conclusion. Oral conversation gives them a platform on which their ideas can be easily presented and remolded. Similarly, it gives them the ability to try out new ways of expressing the same idea. If one explanation of their opinion on uniforms does not effectively communicate their point of view, trying out a new way to state it is characteristic of exploratory talk.

Exploratory talk is the type of talk that is not perfect; it is “characterized by false starts, repetition, backtracking, pauses, overlaps and interruptions.” xiii This is what you would expect to hear if you walked past a group of students discussing how two books are alike and different. It is the way two students try to figure whether the math word problem is asking you to multiply or divide. You know you are hearing exploratory talk if you hear phrases like ‘could,’ ‘might,’ ‘maybe,’ ‘I think,’ or ‘ I believe.’ xiv This is in contrast to presentation talk: the rehearsed, clear, exact wording expressed to convey a distinct message. It is the type of talk you expect from students who share a project in the front of the room for the class.

Social Disadvantage

Many of my students are socially disadvantaged. According to Clegg and Ginsborg, social disadvantage depends on factors such as socio-economic status, family status, type of housing, level of maternal education, unemployment, and poor health. xv Many of my children come from single-parent homes and live in government-subsidized housing (one

student is homeless). Their mothers do not have more than a high-school education, and often their parents are unemployed.

Social disadvantage puts my students a step behind academically. One of their deficiencies is in language, especially vocabulary. “Children in lower-SES [Socioeconomic Status] environments have slower rates of vocabulary growth.”xviii xvi Research has shown that disadvantaged children hear fewer words as they grow up than their higher-class peers and have fewer books (an economic luxury) at home. They are less likely to read and gain new vocabulary in the process. The result is that my students do not have the language to express their feelings when they are in conflict with their peers. In addition, disadvantaged parents do not spend as much time with their children. Clegg and Ginsborg found that “in terms of time spent interacting with their children, adults in the professional families spent twice as long as the adults in the welfare families.” xvii Children who do not spend time with their parents are not learning academic or cultural information from them. They lack many of the benefits conferred by the people Vygotsky describes as more knowledgeable others: “children can learn effectively through interaction with a more knowledgeable other (which may be a peer of an adult).” In the absence of available and effective parents, teachers are often the only more knowledgeable others that all students interact with on a consistent basis.

Practicalities of Oral Communication

It is important to consider differences in oral communication between boys and girls. According to Corden, one difference is that boys talk in a more aggressive manner while girls speak with a comforting, reassuring tone. Boys are more likely to interrupt; girls are more attentive and tend to keep their groups on task. Girls also seek consensus rather than insisting on asserting themselves. They are also more likely to comment on another students’ ideas in a more socially acceptable way. xix Knowing gender tendencies helps to target specific behaviors in a group of students.

Respect Research

While researching respect in the classroom, I found that the authors focused on either respect between teacher and students or respect between two individuals on an equal social footing. I will start by discussing what respect between individuals means and follow by discussing the benefits and detriments of respect and perceived disrespect between teachers and students.

The Meaning of Respect

“To treat someone ‘with respect’ is to treat her in a way that acknowledges her intrinsic value, or ‘dignity’.” xx By showing someone respect, you validate him or her as another human being who, just like yourself, should be treated with kindness and compassion.

One way to show respect for a person is to use manners that the group’s culture has agreed upon. In American culture, adding “please” and “thank you” to a request is a mark of good manners. For example, when I ask a student to sit down, I say, “Can you please sit down?” Adding the word “please” shows that I respect the student I am giving a direction to. It may seem like a minor distinction, but when “please” is included every time a direction is given, the connotation changes. Instead of constantly asking a child to follow my commands, I am asking the child to respect me, as my manners have proved that I respect him or her, by doing what I asked. In return, the children will hear me say “thank you,” acknowledging the respect that they have showed me.

This is a skill my students lack. It is not often that students ask for something using “please,” and they are even less likely to say “thank you.” They do not consider these omissions as a sign of disrespect, for “people who have never developed the habit of treating one another with courtesy are not constantly encouraged to take it for granted that people deserve to be so treated.” xxi This is one of many assumptions that students normally learn from their more knowledgeable parents. When parents have not expressed to their children the importance of saying “please” and “thank you,” they are less likely to display those manners in other situations. On the other hand, “little people have not yet figured out what they and their comrades are really worth, and because, as a consequence, they do not yet treat one another with respect.” xxii This is where school comes in. It is my role to teach the manners that are indicative of respect.

The consequence of students not treating others with respect is isolation. When a student comes up to me at recess and says that another student is bothering him or her, my response is invariably, “Well, find somewhere else to play.” Buss states that “people so ill equipped to be agreeable to one another are likely to keep at a distance from one another; and people thus alienated are less likely to care about another’s well-being.” In contrast, “Where there is respect, there is care, concern, and consideration for the needs of others.”xxiii It’s a cycle. If students cannot treat others with respect, than others stay away from them. If others stay away from them, then they are less likely to care about the others who are no longer interacting with them. This cycle is confounded when, especially at school, there is little space or time to be on one’s own. Not only are students constantly accompanied by at least one adult, but also, more often than not, they are surrounded by the rest of the students in their class. It is therefore imperative that all students learn how to be respectful to the peers whose company they cannot avoid.

Teacher and Student Respect

Respect between teachers and students also plays an important role in creating a classroom in which students feel comfortable to communicate orally and take risks when speaking to someone else. In order to create that culture, I must show my students that they are allowed to make mistakes, and that when they do so, it does not change my view of them. “Students who have unconditional faith that their teachers will not abandon them

despite their level of achievement are more inclined to perform at their peak to show their appreciate for the teacher’s confidence.” xxiv The goal is for my students to work as hard as they can and therefore learn as much as they can. One way I show respect for my students is by including manners when speaking to them. Aspey et al. explain that using praise and encouragement, accepting student feelings, and avoiding criticisms are other ways to show students that you respect them. xxv

Willie adds that “inspired teaching and useful learning are enhanced in school communities where there is respect between teachers and students based on confidence and trust.” xxvi When I feel disrespected by my students, I am less likely to go out of my way for them. When the materials I bought and brought in to enrich my classroom were unnecessarily destroyed, I stopped bringing in such materials. On the other hand, when my students respected my materials, I continued to bring in new things that would enhance their learning experience. The same thing holds for my students. For example, one of my rules is that all student must be silent in the hallway. When students saw that every infraction would have the same consequence every time, they were more likely to meet my expectation that simply being upset that I was disrespecting them by meting out an unfair consequence.

Teaching Strategies

I do not feel as though a month is an adequate time period to see a significant change in the behavior of my third graders. On the other hand I cannot spend the entire year modeling what respectful behavior should look like in every situation my students may face in school. So I have chosen to break this unit into two components. The first component is a one-month intensive session that will present explicit content and model respectful behavior. This intensive session will be followed by an extensive eight-month time period during which strategic interventions will be used to reinforce the respectful behavior I taught in the first month of the unit.

The unit will target four behaviors. I will encourage students to repeat the first two behaviors as often as possible. I want them to say “please” when they would like something to be given to them and “thank you” after they have received something. I will also promote the use of encouraging language between my students. In addition, I will focus on discouraging two behaviors: insulting other students and their family members and cursing.

Throughout the unit there will be opportunities for teacher led, whole class discussion. Students will have the opportunity to share situations in which they have been treated respectfully and disrespectfully, and how they felt as a result. In order to ensure that every student has an equal chance of sharing, each student will receive the same number of tokens. Each time students choose to add to the conversation, they must give up one of their tokens. Once all their tokens are gone, they are no longer allowed to speak.

Another technique I will use is journaling. This will involve interactive communication between each of my students and me. After my students write in their journal, I will write a letter back in response. They can choose to include details about ongoing issues between peers in the classroom, although the majority of the journal entry topics will include ways they were respectful outside of school. They can write about ways they encouraged a sibling, or recount how they said “please” and “thank you” to a parent.

Classroom Activities

The intensive part of my unit will include lessons aimed at increasing the encouraged behaviors and alternates to the discouraged behaviors to deal more effectively with conflict. They will be intertwined with the first Social Studies unit, which focuses on respect for others, their property, and their opinions. Saying “please” and “thank you” is one way to show respect for others. Similarly, encouraging others by saying “I like what you said” is one way to show respect for others’ opinions. The extensive portion an expansion of the initial lessons will be enacted throughout the entirety of the school year.

Lesson 1

Students will listen to a skit that has many opportunities characters miss to say “please” and “thank you” (See Appendix A). As they listen, each student will have a card that has the word “please” on one side and “thank you” on the other. When they believe it is appropriate to include one of those phrases, they will hold up the card. Then each student will receive a copy of the script. It will be their responsibility to add the words and act out for the class a more respectful version of the skit. Afterwards the class will discuss three topics:

• when you should say “please,” and when you should say “thank you.”

• why people should include these words in their daily communication.

• how they will remember to use “please” and “thank you.”

Students will then be asked to write a written response to one of the topics discussed in their journal.

Lesson 2

All students will have an Encouragement Placemat (See Appendix B) on their desks with twelve phrases that could be used to encourage a peer. One student will be called on to read a situation in which it would be appropriate for his or her peers to use words of encouragement. It will be the rest of the class’s responsibility to choose one of the phrases to use in response and include a reason for choosing it. One student will pick out a scenario (See Appendix C) and act it out. After the student is finished, the rest of the class will have the ability to respond with encouraging phrases from their Encouragement

Placemat. The lesson will conclude with a reflection on how it felt to give and receive words of encouragement, and why it is important to continue to do so.

In order to reinforce the behavior taught in Lesson 2, I will incorporate an encouragement giving activity to the daily routine. Two to three students a day will be asked to spin the encouragement wheel. Each time it is spun, a student will direct the phrase to which the spinner points toward a deserving student. In the beginning encouragement will be provided by the teacher and include examples like “Nice work on ___,” “I like the way you ___,” or “You are awesome at ___.” As students get used to the process and develop the appropriate oral language, they will be able to provide their own examples for the wheel and use them for other students. As this intervention is carried out throughout the year, I will monitor the class to make sure that every student has an equal chance to encourage other students in the class, and that every student is encouraged by his or her peers.

Lesson 3

This lesson is intended for situations that occur throughout the year in which one student insults another student. After the situation, I will set a time of three minutes and give my students the Other Than Insult sheet (See Appendix D). Students will independently write down how they would feel if the insult a peer said were directed at them. They will also brainstorm other things that the students could have said in that specific situation. One the timer goes off, each student will have one minute to share with his or her closest neighbor what he or she has brainstormed. Each pair will become a group of four and be responsible for choosing the best alternate phrase to be shared with the class.

At the end of the week the class and I will discuss the phrases we heard throughout the week. As a class we will choose one phrase to focus on. The focus will include posting the word on a bulletin board that has grass on the bottom with flowers growing out (A visual example is given in Appendix E). The phrases that should no longer be said will be posted under the grass as to simulate burying it. Then we will brainstorm two to three other phrases or words we could use instead. Those other phrases will be placed in the flower part of the display. From that point on, my students will be held accountable for using the more appropriate phrases and keeping the disrespectful one buried. A section of my students’ journals will include the buried words and the more acceptable alternates.

Assessment

I will be assessing my students based on the frequency with which I observe them exhibiting the four targeted behaviors. I expect the use of “please” and “thank you” and incidents of encouragement to increase, while insults and cursing decrease. More specifically, I would like to hear my students say to each other, “good job” and “I like what you just said (or did).” There are many other encouraging things my students could

be saying to one another, but I have chosen to track only those two comments because they can be applied to the largest variety of situations. I will be listening especially closely for insults directed at another student and those directed at a family member of a student. I chose to split insults into those two categories because I have found that when my students initially insult each other, their insults are directed toward the other student. Only as the situation intensifies do insults become targeted at family members. Similarly, I expect cursing—both using the actual curse word, and any substitution with the same intended meaning—to be eliminated. In my classroom, this behavior typically occurs when students are upset and do not have adequate language to express their feelings.

At one point at the beginning, middle, and end of the unit I plan on videotaping the first fifteen minutes of the day. During this time, my students are expected to engage in various independent activities to get themselves ready for the day. I have chosen early morning because my students have more independence at this point in the day than at any other. They have the freedom to move around the room without my direct instruction. It is also a time where they choose to talk with each other about information that is not related to school. This time therefore gives me the opportunity to monitor how peers interact when they don’t believe an authority figure is watching, allowing them to be more candid and authentic in their interactions. I will use the Behavior Assessment Chart (See Appendix F) to review the videos and document the frequency of behaviors I have targeted. In addition, once a month, I will choose a day to tally the behaviors listed on the Behavior Assessment Chart in order to monitor the progress of my students.

Resources

Teacher’s Bibliography

Aspy, David N., Flora N Roebuck, and Bob Black. "The Relationship of Teacher-Offered

Conditions of Respect to Behaviors Described by Flanders' Interaction Analysis."

Journal of Negro Education 41, 4 (1972): 370-376.

http://www.jstor.org/stable/2966985 (accessed September 11, 2011).

This resource will describe behaviors to promote respect between teacher and student.

Boyd, Maureen P., and Lee Galda. Real Talk in Elementary Classrooms: Effective Oral

Language Practice. New York: Guilford Press, 2011.

This resource defines types of talk and techniques to enhance each type.

Buss, Sarah. "Appearing Respectful: The Moral Significance of Manners." Ethics 109,

4 (1999): 796-797. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/233946 (accessed

September 11, 2011).

This resource describes respectful behavior and its importance in social interaction.

Clegg, Judy, and Jane Ginsborg. Language and Social Disadvantage: Theory into

Practice. Chichester, England: John Wiley, 2006.

This resource describes the effects of socioeconomic status on language acquisition.

Corden, Roy. Literacy and Learning Through Talk: Strategies for the Primary

Classroom. Buckingham [England: Open University Press, 2000.

This resources details the research on oral language and group work, and suggests

strategies to promote their success in the classroom.

Grugeon, Elizabeth. Teaching, Speaking, and Listening in the Primary School: Literacy

Through Oracy London: D. Fulton Publishers, 1998.

This resource describes techniques and rules for group work.

Hirsch, Eric D., Joseph F. Kett, and James S. Trefil. Cultural Literacy: What Every

American Needs to Know. New York: Vintage, 1988.

This resource defines cultural literacy, and promotes the use of this to introduce a

set of knowledge that all literate Americans will know.

Willie, Charles V.. "Confidence, Trust and Respect: The Preeminent Goals of

Educational Reform." Journal of Negro Education 69, 4 (2000): 262.

httpwww.jstor.org/stable/2696244 (accessed September 11, 2011).

This resource describes what teachers can do to ensure respect and trust from their

students.

Appendix A

Please and Thank You Skit

Narrator: Doc the dog was very busy.

Doc: Tomorrow is the first day of school. I need to make sure my puppy has what she needs.

Narrator: Doc starts walking to the store to pick up supplies.

Heather: Hi Doc.

Doc: Hi Heather.

Heather: Look, I made the puppy bones for the first day of school.

Doc: It looks great! Do you think you could come over later to help me pack her stuff?

Heather: Why I would love to.

Doc: See you later. Bye. Next stop: paper and pencils.

Narrator: Doc walks to the store.

Doc: I will take some purple paper and some pretty pencils.

Store Owner: That will be $10.

Doc: Next stop is the city park.

Narrator: Doc walks to the city park.

Doc: Good morning Mr. Cat. One big bunch of beautiful balls.

Mr. Cat: That will be $4.

Doc: My puppy will love to play catch with these.

Narrator: It is now time for Doc to get puppy ready.

Doc: And now that we have had Heather’s delicious bones I think it is time to

Puppies: pack my bags!

Doc: Yes!

Narrator: Puppy picks up the bag and looks inside.

Doc: That one is ready to go!

Puppy: My very own pencil and purple paper. Oh WOW!

Appendix B

Encouragement Placemat

Appendix C

Encouragement Scenarios

1. You are very nervous about playing an instrument in front of the class. You get up and play in front of everyone.

2. You never raise your hand to answer a question, but you know the answer. You raise your hand, the teacher calls on you, and you get it right.

3. You raise your hand to answer a question, but get it wrong.

4. You draw a picture in art class and share it with the rest of the class.

5. The teacher poses a question that no one can think of an answer to. You come up with something very creative.

6. The teacher has a math problem on the board. You go up and answer it correctly.

7. You struggle with math. You do not often get the answer right on the first try. After working on one problem for a long time, you finally get the correct answer.

8. At home you and your parents build something. You are very proud of it and bring it in to share with the class.

9. You doodle often in class. You are proud of one particular drawing and share it with your neighbor.

10. You have been trying to do ten jumping jacks in gym class. Each class you try again. Today you reach your goal.

Appendix D

Other Than Insult

Appendix E

Appendix F

Behavior Assessment Chart

Appendix G: Implementing District Standards

Common Core Standards

Speaking and Listening 3 – Grade 3

Ask and answer questions about information from a speaker, offering appropriate

elaboration and detail.

Speaking and Listening 1b – Grade 3

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussion (e.g., gaining the floor in respectful ways,

listening to others with care, speaking one at a time about the topics and texts under

discussion).

Speaking and Listening 1d – Grade 3

Explain their own ideas and understanding in light of the discussion.

Civics Standard Two K-3a

Students will understand that respect for others, their opinions, and their property is a

foundation of civil society in the United States.

Notes

Curriculum Unit

Title Author

KEY LEARNING, ENDURING UNDERSTANDING, ETC.

ESSENTIAL QUESTION(S) for the UNIT

CONCEPT A CONCEPT B CONCEPT C

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS A ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS B ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS C

VOCABULARY A VOCABULARY A VOCABULARY A

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION/MATERIAL/TEXT/FILM/RESOURCES