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TEACHERS.NET GAZETTE
Volume 3 Number 10

COVER STORY
"Everybody loves hummingbirds, and they are wonderful tools to excite students about learning."

That quote from a classroom teacher is the basic premise of Operation RubyThroat: The Hummingbird Project...

ARTICLES
Meet our Antarctic Guide - A conversation with
USCG LT Marshall Branch
by Kathleen Carpenter, Editor in Chief
The Responsive Classroom: A Practical Approach for Teaching Children to Care by Dr. Belinda Gimbert
Attitudes Toward Numbers Through History by Daniel Chang
Classroom Photos by Members of the Teachers.Net Community
How Many Environments Does a Child Have? by Judith Rich Harris
The Hurried Child, Book Review by Sonja Marcuson
There IS a Printer and a Xerox Machine in Your Classroom That You Can't See! by Dr. Rob Reilly
What's Your Name? by Joy Jones
The funny thing about control: Or to gain control you have to give up control by Karin Ford
Through the eyes of a child - Reflections on teacher and student motivation by Sheree Rensel
Non-Conventional Techniques in Teaching Science by P R Guruprasad
Word Wall Tips from the 4 Blocks Mailring
Teaching Gayle To Read (Part 8) by Grace Vyduna-Haskins
Operation RubyThroat by Bill Hilton Jr.
Dear Old Golden Rule Days, Chapter 4 - Creative Writing by Janet Farquhar
Simple Science Center Ideas from the Early Childhood Mailring
The Freedom Box, Technology for the Blind and Visually Impaired by Dave Melanson
Librarians, Deaf Students and Hearing Students by Linsey Taylor
Pumpkin Math and Writing Activities by Michele Nash
Take Home Literature Activity Bags by Paulie
Favorite October Activities for the Classroom from Teachers.Net Mailrings
Fun Facts
October Columns
October Regular Features
October Informational Items
Gazette Home Delivery:

About Joy Jones...

Joy Jones is a third generation teacher, a playwright and the author of Between Black Women: Listening With the Third Ear, the acclaimed children's book, Tambourine Moon, and Private Lessons: A Book of Meditations for Teachers. She teaches at Fillmore Arts Center in Washington, DC. You may view her website at: www.JoyjonesOnline.com.


Recommended Reading


Tambourine Moon
by Joy Jones, Terry Widener (Illustrator)

$12.80 from Amazon.com
More information
 


Private Lessons - A Book of Meditations for Teachers
by Joy Jones

$8.76 from Amazon.com
More information
 


Between Black Women - Listening With the Third Ear
by Joy Jones

$7.95 from Amazon.com
More information

Teacher Feature...

What's Your Name?

by Joy Jones


"The new kid's name is too hard to pronounce, so let's just call him Sam."

"Her name is so long - why don't we shorten it?"

Have you heard comments like these at your school? I'm sure no one intends to offend, but one of the basic ways of demonstrating respect is to address someone by his or her proper name, whether that person is a visiting dignitary from a foreign country or a first grader from a first generation family of immigrants. This student with the difficult name may already be facing a lot of unsettling changes as the new kid in a strange, new school or perhaps even a strange, new country. It's worthwhile to extend the simple human courtesy of calling that student by his or her name.

To be sure, it may take more time and trouble to learn how to say a name from a foreign language and Americans are known for liking things to be quick and easy. But more and more American schools now find more and more of the globe within in their classroom walls. The school in Washington, D.C. where I taught last year has a population where one-third of the students speak English as a second language. According to the US Census, thirty-two million Americans speak a language other than English in the home.

What that means is, in addition to Dick and Jane, you may find Julio, Abdul, Kadiatou, and Soyung listed on your class roster. By taking the lead in learning the proper way to pronounce a student's name, you take an important step towards bridging cultures and modeling acceptance of that student's unique heritage.

And it's not just tolerance for the foreigner, either. A woman named Elizabeth told me of the struggle she had in school to correct teachers who insisted on shortening her name. "They always wanted to call me Beth or Betty or Liz. I had to tell them - 'My name is Elizabeth.'"

We don't let our students hand in papers with misspelled words; in like fashion, we should take care to properly pronounce our students' names. Calling roll may be one of the first tasks of class, but showing respect is always the first lesson of the day.


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