Tone of Voice

In the past couple of weeks, I've noticed something about the way my students talk to each other.  I have a number of kids who will try to remind students to act appropriately if they are having a hard time.  I truly believe they want to be helpful and get the students back on track, but sometimes, they do it in a way that is counterproductive.  For example, if some kids are chatting while the rest of the class is waiting for them to be quiet, other kids in the class will say "Shh," or "Ms. Towner is waiting for you."  In writing, they seems like a good comments, but in reality, the tone of voice used to deliver these lines could be hurtful. 

I gave an example of this to my students yesterday, explaining that if someone came to me and told me to be quiet with a hurtful tone of voice, I probably wouldn't want to be quiet.  It might even make me want to be louder.  After giving a couple of examples, one of my students raised his hand and asked, "Did somebody really talk to you like that?"  He was shocked that a student would address me so disrespectfully.  I explained that students don't talk to me like that, they talk to each other like that.  In that moment, it was clear that my students understand the importance of showing respect to adults, but have forgotten why it is important to respect each other. 

Being the day before Spring Break, I obviously didn't launch into a major lesson on this idea, but it showed me that I will need to review respectful talk with my students when we come back from break.