Name Tag Signs
As I've pointed out at seminars and in my writing, research indicates that the teacher's voice represents approximately 80% of the talking done during the day. That much talking can quickly lead to verbal overload and a tendency on the students' part to tune-out the teacher's voice.
With that in mind, let me show you a fun way to communicate with your students without having to rely upon your voice. It's a goofy little idea that was the end product of my observations of my students' reactions to our classroom visitors.
You see, it used to be that anyone visiting our campus was required to: 1) sign in at the office; 2) pick up a pre-cut slip of paper; 3) write your name on the slip; 4) insert the paper in a plastic name holder; and 5) pin the badge to your clothing so that it was visible.
Note: Everything is pretty much self-adhesive stickers now; but, back in the day, that's how it was done.
Anyway, a visitor to our classroom always seemed to attract the curious attention of a number of students who would wander over to see what was written on the name tag. And even though we had visitors on a regular basis, all of them having nothing more than their names written on the paper insert, the novelty of the name badge never seemed to wane.
I mean, wouldn't you think that after the 40th teacher had visited our classroom the students would figure out the whole "it's nothing more than the visitor's name written on a piece of paper" thing and lose interest? But, no, that didn't happen. It was almost as if the badge was some kind of kid-magnet.
Later that year, on a Thursday morning after I had reminded everyone that their book reports were due that day at two o'clock, I decided to see if I could put the attraction factor of the name badge to work in my classroom. All I needed was my own badge and a slip of paper.
So, during recess, I went to the office to see if I could get my hands on one. But instead of just helping myself to a badge from the drawer in which they were kept, I thought it would be more polite to ask the secretary if I could have one.
Warning: I've learned that it's never good to take liberties in someone else's domain. You do so at your own risk.
Long story short, my efforts at professional etiquette got me nowhere--"Oh, those are only for our visitors."--and I left the office empty-handed.
Back in the room after recess, I walked over to our visitor and asked if I could have her badge. I explained what I was going to do with it and she was more than happy to help out.
What I did:
1. Removed the slip of paper with her name on it.
2. Measured the dimensions.
3. Cut another slip using a scrap of yellow construction paper.
4. Wrote Book Report? on the yellow paper.
5. Pinned the now-completed Name Tag Sign to my shirt.
6. Waited for their reaction.
Suggestion: It's not always necessary to make a formal introduction of a new idea. Generally, that's the case; however, letting your students discover the new idea on their own, one-by-one, can be beneficial not to mention somewhat entertaining. Granted, you might get a lot of repetitive questions. Just don't let it bother you. Focus, instead, on the individual reactions.
As it turned out, I didn't have to wait too long. A student who had come up to ask a question about her social studies assignment noticed the badge and, interrupting her own question, asked me about it.
Mr. Morris
With a smile:
Oh, I just thought I'd remind everyone about their book reports. What do you think?Student
Nodding her head:
I like it. It's kind of different.
It was different and, boy, was it effective. Whenever I'd interact with a student or two, I'd see their little eyeballs dart to the sign for a quick look every now and then. Pretty funny.
The Book Report sign turned out to be the first of many signs I wore that year and have worn for years on end. And although the frequency would vary, I would normally wear a sign or two each week.
Sometimes I would wear the same one for a couple of days while others I only wore for a couple of hours. Regardless of how long I wore it or what was written on the slip of paper, it never failed to grab their attention.
It's A Funny Business
I had the best reaction to a sign I wore for my third graders toward the end of the year. Having worn dozens of different Name Tag Signs for a number of different reasons--mainly informational--I wore one that simply said:
Of course you'd have to read it in order to know you weren't supposed to read it and then it was too late. (As you can imagine, this is about as close to metaphysical as third graders are ever going to get.) Thinking about their puzzled expressions as they valiantly tried to figure out that little sign still brings a smile to my face.
