Comprehension to the MAX, community for the WIN by Justin Slocum Bailey

After hearing glowing reviews for Justin's earlier sessions and getting a personal recommendation from Michele Whaley, I was super excited to finish my week in this session.

This session was all about creating a secret language in the classroom using gestures and ASL to create a sense of community and fun.  Apparently there is an online dictionary showing videos of how to do these.  Here are some of the signs that we learned

• Again: to get something repeated, either for clarification or for fun
• Copycat: used by the teacher to tell kids that they need to do what I do
• Play: used to show that we're about to have fun
• Slow down: used to adjust the speed of the teacher
• Word: used when a new word is going to be introduced or used by students when a word is used that they don't understand
• Rise above: is the Usain Bolt gesture and is used when the situation is stinky, but we are going to rise above it.
• Make lemonade: used when a situation is stinky and we are going to use the situation to teach the language
• Distraction: used when there is something (a noise, an action) that is distracting from the leaerning
• Start sign: used when the teacher is going to repeat or start a re-tell

I am big on precise language and what teachers say, so here are some quotes I got from Justin that I really like

• "You control the language that is coming at you."
• "There is no such thing as 'We already had that word'"
• "How many of you want to know more?" -when a student said that she had 30 bicycles
• "Am I saying that right? Names are so important." -when learning a student's name
• "Students aren't used to understanding in their classes."

We spent the rest of the hour talking about the normal distractions that happen in our classroom and how we can use them to #makelemonade  For example, if a cell phone goes off, we can use that in our story.  If there is an announcement, maybe it becomes a message from the aliens.  We need to be better about using our imaginations in the classroom to use the things that would normally be an annoyance.

So....right after this session, we went to our farewell luncheon.  Right as Blaine Ray was giving his speech, the room next to us starting jamming out to some sweet jams.  I looked at Justin, who was behind me, and made the sign for Distraction.  He nodded and I turned back around.  Then, he tapped on my shoulder and gave me the Rise Above sign.  It made me chuckle and made me feel like Justin and I had this secret language and I felt special.  I can't wait to do this in my classroom!

Last thing: I've always shied away from using gestures because it just doesn't seem natural to me and I didn't want to force all of my students to do it if they didn't want to.  Justin made it kind of optional.  He encouraged us all to do them, but if we didn't, no biggie.  As a student, I really enjoyed the signs and I imagine that my more fidgety students will like them to.