Secret Signal

I wanted to share with you an interesting conversation we had in class today. I noticed quite a few tones of voices in the class that were making me uncomfortable - immagine a high pitched whine of another student's name that suggested the other person had done wrong. We all stopped and talked about why this was happening. Infact, we figured out that it was just the way that students were asking their peers and friends to move, or help them with something. We all reflected on how this tone of voice made us feel, and decided that it made all of us (myself included) feel bad, or sad, or disrespected. As a class, we agreed upon a secret signal to use in class if we hear this voice - a finger tap on the side of our nose. This way, students can remind each other to use a nicer, more respectful voice in a simple way. So far, they've been great at using this, and using respectful voices in class and outside.