I met a funny, smart kid today at a conference. He publishes a cool site.

During a session at CCIRA, this young person asked his teacher (the session presenter) from the Denver Academy, “May I blurt?” Getting the okay, the student proceeded to share some valuable insights.

So, may I blurt?

I’ve told my students that I am prone to “outbursts” when I’m a student. During my research class tonight, I said, “I’m making personal connections. May I share?” My professor just laughed and said, “Of course…always.” I trust him, but maybe my meaning making wasn’t what all others find important or significant. I was unsure. Could students feel that way (and unlike me or the young boy from DA, not ‘ask to contribute’)? What might that imply?

I talked about the 3-Tier vocabulary and wondered if I’d used (in my session) too much language that wasn’t in a tier/domain that people could “embrace.” As my other professor suggested, there’s a hierarchy of language that tends to marginalize and isolate. Think of the RTI pyramid. So, she told us that we need to think of our communications as having the same considerations. Green = common/shared language; yellow = jargon; red = ideology.

What if Edu-jargon is my vernacular? It’s a part of my language and my understanding. Ugh. I don’t want to alienate anyone or sound pretentious. And “on the job,” I feel like I need to speak efficiently. But I try to use that language with my students/teachers/administrators…if I am consistent, maybe we can all enter into the conversation. But…maybe…

In any case, I am stretching my thinking…but I know that a coaching role has some explicit and implied responsibilities. I told someone today that my mind was “a-flutter or maybe just a-clutter” with new learning. I’ve had students define Critical Thinking as “thinking hard.” Oh. I’m there.