Respect Training

At the beginning of each school year, I try to get into each classroom to teach all students at Houghton Elementary about respect and what this concept means in different settings and with different people.  During this lesson, which I call Respect Training, I define the word respect and ask students to give examples of what it means to be respectful toward different people in their lives (e.g. parents, teachers, friends/classmates, themselves).  I then explain to the students how to show whole-body respect by breaking down respect into three separate behaviors, specifically words, tone of voice, and body language.  I do so by acting out both respectful and disrespectful examples under each behavior and then ask for volunteers to come to the front of the class to act out these different behaviors themselves.  

I reinforce these concepts by introducing the students to visuals of three balloons with different amounts of air in them called Too Little, Too Much, and Just Right.  These balloons demonstrate three different ways of saying/doing something.  

• The Too Little Voice, represented by a deflated green balloon, entails the following behaviors: using a very shy voice, appearing shy or scared, making poor eye contact, slouching, and speaking hesitantly.  

• The Too Much Voice, represented by a popped yellow balloon, encompasses the following behaviors: using a loud voice, using a sarcastic, angry, whiny, sassy, or otherwise rude tone of voice, using threatening body language, and standing too close to someone.  

• The Just Right Voice, represented by a full red balloon, is the proper way to speak to others and entails the following behaviors: making good eye contact, standing up straight, standing at an appropriate distance, speaking in a clear, confident voice, using an appropriate tone of voice, and exhibiting appropriate body language.  

After teaching students about these concepts, I ask for student volunteers to act out each of the three different types of voices for the rest of the class.  I am always surprised by the amount of children who are typically shy that volunteer to act out these voices in front of the class, especially the Too Much Voice!  All students appear to thoroughly enjoy either acting out these different types of voices or watching their peers act out these voices.  

The visuals and the concepts were taken from a social communication game called Too Much, Too Little, Just Right.  The game itself as well as its contents are pictured below and the different balloons that represent these concepts can be seen within this picture.  

In many classrooms throughout the school, these three balloons are displayed on the walls in order to remind students to always use a Just Right Voice when interacting with others.  By going into every classroom and teaching these concepts, I hope to encourage commonality of language among both students and staff.  In this way, I believe that these terms can serve as a quick reminder to students to readjust the way they say certain things (e.g. "Bobby, please try that again in a Just Right Voice").  From reviewing the concepts in the past and at the beginning of this school year, I am happy to state that the visual of these balloons can be identified or at least recognized by most of the students in the school.  Click on the visual below in order to view a slideshow of this presentation.

As a note of caution, kids can access YouTube through some of these videos so please be sure to monitor your child when exploring this slideshow.