Sep26

the teacher is the one who gets the most out of the lessons, and the true teacher is the learner. – e. hubbard

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the first year that i became a teacher

i challenged

my multi-age third-fifth grade class

to find

the longest word in the english language

antidisestablishmentarianism

to learn

how to spell it

to discover

its meaning

to be

excited

about the power of words

then

i received

the above note

 from one of those students

challenging me back

at a higher level

and

i was

excited

about the power

of his words

and

understood

their meaning

and

discovered

that

i loved

being a teacher

and

learning

every single day

 

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44 responses »

  5. Smart student for sure, Beth. Reflect the assignment back on the teacher. This kid is going to rise to upper management. ))

    Off the top of my head, I could not answer his question! Yet I think I am too disenfranchised but at the same time against those who are not for people who rally to protest the status quo to look it up.

    I jest a bit because I simply can’t help myself when I see that word, but you know I love your zest for teaching and learning and the circle that must be established between you and the student for the best to happen every day, my friend.

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  8. Every single day! Beth, you are so true in this comment! We learn from them and I love that you saved this piece of paper from one of your 3rd graders! So smart and I am glad you are a teacher that allows students to question, along with teaching them great and long words. Now, I am sure those little kinders are a different kind of fun and you continue to be open to their ‘lessons,’ Beth! Have a great weekend and relax, here’s to Friday! Cheers!

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  10. I agree, Beth. On Friday, I gave students a news article that they could gain bonus points by summarizing it in EXACTLY 20 words … and I wanted them to use some higher level words. That was fun for many of them. But, on the other side of the spectrum, one student questioned why the word ‘bouquet’ was used … why not just say ‘a bunch of flowers.’

    I pointed out that you would never say the bride threw a bunch of flowers. You’d say the bridal bouquet. The student, probably being a contrarian, continued to object. That’s when I went for the chestnut on how much we learn the first five years of our life. If we continued, at that same rate throughout life, we would achieve lofty heights. Why would any one want to stay stuck in the age of 5 or 10 in their growth (intellectually)? There were no more objections. ;-)

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  14. Perfect idea – the aim of jumping out of bed every morning is in my world to seek the opportunity to learn – teachers are privileged because they learn every day themselves while they create curiosity in students – curiosity to learn – have a wonderful sunday… :-)

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  15. The longest word now has over 1,000 letters:-) My students love looking at it in the dictionary and then asking ME what it means!!!! Ha!!!! Some scientific formula name is all I can say:-) The power of words!!!

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  16. I studied Chemistry and in organic chemistry they make huge compound words by sticking the names of the “smaller” units of a large molecule together.There is no theoretical limit to the length of the final word. This nomenclature is actually a whole year course unto itself. The great thing is that even as an undergrad student, once you’ve had the course, you can glance at a 40 or 50 letter word, see the component parts and not only pronounce it but know what the major components of the substance are, without ever having seen it before. I find myself doing that exact analysis every time I look at “antidisestablishmentarianism”. It seems that the bigger the words get the easier they are to pronounce – somewhat of a paradox.

    Sorry, just sayin’. :)

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    • Hi Paul.
      I love your scientific fact that “there is no theoretical limit to the length of the final word”. How cool are we??

      I’m no scientist, but I see what you mean. Your eye gets trained into reading the components of the word, so really, as in the example of ‘antidisestablishmentarianism’ you find several components which you can pick out easily. (Even just typing it out, I broke it up into its components).
      Regards. Marie.

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  17. So true Beth, it’s always good to learn from students. Sometimes they amaze me they will teach you without actually teaching you (especially the younger ones).
    Thanks for sharing this wonderful post.

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