We have a teacher in our current Declarative Language Workshop who has been soaking up the content and our participant discussions! Each week she finds a new way to incorporate ideas into her classroom successfully, and then shares these with our group as part of her homework.

Ms. C. is one amazing teacher, and her ideas are worth hearing, especially if you are wondering how to apply declarative language to a classroom setting. So, I was thrilled when she gave me permission to share her ideas and reflections with you! In fact, she said, “I want everyone to know about declarative language. Your books…along with the Thursday group has completely turned my year around. “

Here is an excerpt from this week...please share with the teachers you know!

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I have one of the best classroom assistants (Diane) in the world. She saw me reading both of the handbooks and asked to borrow so she could read them herself. She is now SO into Declarative Language! Every time she notices me using it she says “Nice DL Ms. C!” or if she catches herself giving an imperative she says “oops! Forgot about the DL” and then she tries again. She's awesome at using "I notice" and "I wonder" statements.

Each week I pick two phrases or concepts for the two of us to practice. I get so many good ideas from everyone in the Thursday Zoom group and it always helps me to decide what to practice next. I hang up a sheet with just those few phrases REALLY BIG at the front of the room and we practice using them in class all week. This week was “I notice that your friend....” or “I wonder what your friend thinks...”

Every day Diane runs the morning meeting while I work 1:1 with students on individual goals. Today she told me she was so excited to use this week’s declarative language phrases while discussing “Would You Rather Questions.” Perfect opportunity and I didn't even suggest it!

She would say something like “Would you rather live with a roommate or live alone? I would rather live alone. I wonder what Janice thinks?” Specific students shared their opinion with only that first initiation from her. One student used her device without prompting to say, “What do you think my friend?” Another said “I wonder what Ms. C. would think? I’m going to ask her when she gets back.” About 5 minutes later when I came back, Diane said, “I remember there was something we were going to ask Ms. C.” And the student did ask me which was so cool!

I am looking for some more help or tips about how to really focus on wait time for both of us. A lot of my students need it for many different reasons. I also realize that it is incredibly hard to focus on the wait time in the classroom when there are so many other things going on. Do you have any suggestions that we can use for practicing longer wait time?

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Next Sunday morning, I'll share our follow up suggestions and discussion in response to Ms. C's questions! Have a great week!

Declarative Language in the Classroom - Part 1

I’m Thinking! The Importance of Wait Time (DL in the Classroom - Part 2)

I sure could use some help!