Can you hear me now?

Nope!

I have entirely lost my voice. (Those who know me can attest to the fact that this is not due to screaming.) I don't feel terrible, and we had two Montessori teachers-in-training scheduled to observe our classroom today. So off to school I went!

My voice is, quite literally, a six-inch voice. You have to get real close to hear me at all. It pushed all of us to use more signs, gestures, and even illustrations to communicate. (The children are also surprisingly good at lip-reading!) But the really interesting thing about speaking so quietly . . . is that everyone else does, too! I whispered and gestured to the children, and they whispered and gestured back. It made for a very quiet work period. Of course, they were also super-quiet because I (quietly) explained my silent situation, and they are good about helping me out when I need it. But even our adult visitors whispered back to me--after the children had left the room for lunch.

This fascinating phenomenon is a powerful reminder of the influence that modeling has in our classrooms. If you want to see a behavior in the children, you must be the example.


P.S. You don't have to be rendered mute to give this a try!