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I saw a Tumblr post awhile ago about a professor who keeps an excel document where he keeps track of all the youth slang he encounters, and that is so pure. I love it when teachers genuinely try to connect with students, especially when they've been teaching a long time. I'm coming up on ten years as a middle school teacher (though I took a 5-year break for life and grad school), and I don't remember much from my first year by way of slang or pop culture. "Check Yes, Juliet" by We the Kings was popular because nearly every kiddo included it on their Romeo and Juliet soundtrack that year.
It's even more interesting to me now, seeing how kiddos incorporate English into their slang when English is a second or third language for my students. For example, last year, if something was aesthetically pleasing and good, it was "so fashion." While I always use moments like these to talk about word meanings and connotation -- for example, if they were writing this in a formal essay, they'd use the adjective form "fashionable," -- I never correct them or stop them from using it, because language is a slippery beast. English is also really punishing for these kids. They stress all year about the MAP test because they must achieve a certain score to be transferred to the regular class. Even though MAP is only meant to be a Measure of Academic Progress and not a summative assessment, but ranting about tests is a topic for another day.
Anyway, this year, to express displeasure about something, my kiddos tell me it is "so fake."
Another interesting thing I notice is how groups develop their own slang, almost meme-ing language. For example, one of our vocabulary words this year was "shabby." Any time I said the word, my Chinese students would collapse into giggles. The 8th graders wouldn't tell me why, but my sweet 7th graders explained that shabby sounds like another word in Chinese that is less polite. I can't remember what it is offhand. I'll have to get the kiddos to write it out. They also like to use the word "ruthless" as a sort of burn, or comment when someone has been burned, like when their beloved teacher calls someone out.
While language and slang evolve and shift with each group, it's comforting to see some things carry through from my youth to now. Yesterday, I was chatting idly with a coworker. We were talking about books, and one of us mentioned The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The kiddos were doing their own thing and not paying attention to us oldies. Or so I thought. Later that same day, one of my students, the most silent of all, said that he had the answer to life and it was forty-two. After I got over my shock that he spoke! in class! to me! unprompted! I asked him if he knew where his towel was. He did, and I said, "You'll be alright then." And we got on with our day.
This interaction made my whole week. It also affirmed one of my most deeply held beliefs about teaching -- that developing meaningful connections between teachers and students is the most important part of the job, and the best way to do that is for teachers to be their authentic, true, weird selves and to see and acknowledge the same in the kiddos. Don't be like my coworker, who tries to connect with one of our KPop obsessed girls by talking about Rap Monster. My dude, he does not go by that handle anymore and hasn't for a looooooong time. You've lost her attention. Although I think it's hilarious that he still tries to connect with her over KPop because she visibly dies a little when he says "Rap Monster." I mean, don't stop trying, my guy, but also, don't try so hard. Let the kiddos teach you.
It's even more interesting to me now, seeing how kiddos incorporate English into their slang when English is a second or third language for my students. For example, last year, if something was aesthetically pleasing and good, it was "so fashion." While I always use moments like these to talk about word meanings and connotation -- for example, if they were writing this in a formal essay, they'd use the adjective form "fashionable," -- I never correct them or stop them from using it, because language is a slippery beast. English is also really punishing for these kids. They stress all year about the MAP test because they must achieve a certain score to be transferred to the regular class. Even though MAP is only meant to be a Measure of Academic Progress and not a summative assessment, but ranting about tests is a topic for another day.
Anyway, this year, to express displeasure about something, my kiddos tell me it is "so fake."
Another interesting thing I notice is how groups develop their own slang, almost meme-ing language. For example, one of our vocabulary words this year was "shabby." Any time I said the word, my Chinese students would collapse into giggles. The 8th graders wouldn't tell me why, but my sweet 7th graders explained that shabby sounds like another word in Chinese that is less polite. I can't remember what it is offhand. I'll have to get the kiddos to write it out. They also like to use the word "ruthless" as a sort of burn, or comment when someone has been burned, like when their beloved teacher calls someone out.
While language and slang evolve and shift with each group, it's comforting to see some things carry through from my youth to now. Yesterday, I was chatting idly with a coworker. We were talking about books, and one of us mentioned The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. The kiddos were doing their own thing and not paying attention to us oldies. Or so I thought. Later that same day, one of my students, the most silent of all, said that he had the answer to life and it was forty-two. After I got over my shock that he spoke! in class! to me! unprompted! I asked him if he knew where his towel was. He did, and I said, "You'll be alright then." And we got on with our day.
This interaction made my whole week. It also affirmed one of my most deeply held beliefs about teaching -- that developing meaningful connections between teachers and students is the most important part of the job, and the best way to do that is for teachers to be their authentic, true, weird selves and to see and acknowledge the same in the kiddos. Don't be like my coworker, who tries to connect with one of our KPop obsessed girls by talking about Rap Monster. My dude, he does not go by that handle anymore and hasn't for a looooooong time. You've lost her attention. Although I think it's hilarious that he still tries to connect with her over KPop because she visibly dies a little when he says "Rap Monster." I mean, don't stop trying, my guy, but also, don't try so hard. Let the kiddos teach you.
