Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Anyone else have little parrots?


Ok, this post is directed to all teachers (and parents too, I guess) who have children parrot them during the day.  It cracks me up when they say my "catch phrases" that I didn't even realize I say ALL the stinkin' time until I hear it from them.  Case and point:  Today in math I was calling on all different kids to create a story problem based on how many objects were on the overhead.  Well, in a hurry to wrap up the lesson and actually get us to lunch on time I forgot to say what I apparently must say a lot after kids try something new, "Clap it up for (insert name here)!"  because the last little boy who shared his story indignantly quipped to his classmates, "What?  Aren't y'all going to clap it up for me?"  Later at the end of the day another child was sharing objects from their schema box and when he finished, before I could say anything, a little girl in class called out, "Come on y'all, clap it up for him!"  The best part--I have NO IDEA when the "clap it up" thing started but I dig it and am going to keep rolling with it.  Which got me thinking about all of the random things I say...

Things I apparently say a lot at work:

-#1-"You need to get your body back under control."--Hands down, number one, most often said thing by me (and parroted by children) on a daily basis.  Last year I had a parent cracking up retelling the story of how her 7 year old daughter came home and said this to her younger sister while she was rolling around on the floor.  Her mom's comment to me, "I knew that must be a Miss _____ phrase."

-#2-"Tears don't work on Miss ______.  If all four legs were on the floor this wouldn't have happened, pick up your chair."--When they rock and fall off their chair I don't even flinch, you rock, you fall, you learn about gravity.  Children every year have started saying this to one another so I don't even address it after the first grading period.  My mom was visiting a couple of years ago when an precocious little 7 year old put on her "teacher voice" and said this to a kid about 4 1/2 inches taller than her.  I kept on teaching while my mom busted out of the room to go compose herself in the hallway.

-#3-"Seriously."--Why they always think I am always lying to them I'm not quite sure...

-#4-"Yup, true story."--Again with the disbelief...

-#5-"For realz?"--I'm just waiting for this grammatical gem of mine to find its way to one of their writing tests.

-#6-"Clap it up for (insert name here)!"--This one just started...I'm still not sure how or why...

Any other teachers out there realize they say something all the stinkin time courtesy of little children parroting you?  I'd love to know what they are and know that I'm not the only one!

1 comment:

SheA said...

the answer is yes i do - but if i left the comment to 'splain it lucy- i would most likely have a comment that resembles a post- so for right now i will say yes- and ps- "clap it up y'all" that cracks me up....totally. thanks