Teacher-Student Dictionary

In an effort to bridge the gap between the generations, let me present to you the Farnham Teacher-Student Dictionary.

Unfortunately, as culture is constantly changing, some of these words and phrases may no longer be valid in a couple of years. Teenagers have a highly developed skill for developing new ways to say the same old thing!

One last caveat, some of the following entries may be particular to the teenage group located at Kenneth Cooper Middle School. Do not be alarmed if your students have no idea what you are trying to say.

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Ballin' - (verb) to play basketball well or to live rich

"The teachers be ballin' against those 8th graders every year!"

"He think he ballin' with that fake watch!!!"

Beast/Beastie/Beastly/Beasted - (noun, verb, adjective) to dominate, be good at something, or to be superior

"Man... Ken is beast at Black Ops."

"Cooper beasted on Hefner at the football game last night."

"This pizza is beast."

Catch the hands - (verb) to get smacked or punched in the face

"You're gonna catch the hands if you don't stop talking about my momma!"

Cold - (adjective) better than cool

"That's a cold jacket."

Chunk up the deuce - (verb) a greeting in the form of a sideways peace sign. (Not to be confused with the bathroom #2 or what monkeys do at the zoo.) ;)

"I saw my friend leaving the store, so I chunked up the deuce."

Fresh - (adjective, noun) to be cool or have good style, to flirt

"I dress so fresh and clean."

"Are you trying to get fresh with me?"

Get my name outta your mouth! - phrase meaning "don't talk about me;" often given as a reason for arguing/fighting

"You better get my name outta your mouth. You don't know me!"

"What was all that yelling about?" "She wouldn't get my name outta her mouth!"

I do me. You do you. - phrase meaning "stay out of my business"

"I'm tired of listening to your mouth, so how about this... I do me and you do you."

I'm straight - (adjective, verb) to be ok or fine with a situation, or to tell the truth

"I'm sorry I ran out of cookies." "That's ok, I'm straight."

"Listen to me. I'll tell it to you straight."

Irky - (adjective, adverb) to be annoy or bother to the point frustration

"LEAVE MY BINDER ALONE! Why gotta be so irky?"

"Go on with your irky self!"

Lockin' - (verb) Formerly a dance invented in the 70's; now a term for fighting.

"You better shut your mouth, or we gonna be lockin'."

"If you see Bob, tell him we are going to lock."

On me/On my momma/On God - a phrase meaning "I promise"; a swear or oath used when you're trying to be serious and no one believes you.

"On my momma.... that dog jumped out of the bushes and ate my homework!"

Poppin' - (verb) to get something started or as in "what's going on?"

"Let's get this party poppin."

"Hey Ken, what's poppin?"

Roastin' - (verb) to be cleverly make fun of someone or their appearance

Bob - "You calling me fat?! Well, I can lose weight, but you'll still be dumb!"

Ken - "Alright... we roastin' now!"

Sad - (adjective) usually drawn out, as in "Saaaad" - said after witnessing something pathetic or depressing

**pencil in other hand** "I can't find my pencil!" "Saaaad!"

"My girlfriend just dumped my with a text message!" "Saaaad!"

Swag - (noun) your confidence, style, demeanor, or overall reputation

"I'm really diggin' your swag."

"He got killa swag."

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Did I miss any good ones? Leave a comment below!

Good Kid, Bad Kid

As we get ready to start the second semester, I have had a thought that has been rattling around in my head. Let me see if I can put it into words....

A teacher's success should not be measured in the number of awards they receive or "good" students they teach, but in the number of "bad" students they have.

That sounds about right. Now I should explain that a little bit!

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Too many times I hear teachers bragging about the good kids they have taught and complaining about the bad kids they just put up with to survive the day. Some teachers take pride in pointing out these "good" students or classes, as if the teachers themselves were the sole reason for the positive outcome. I also see many educators pointing to certificates or grants they have received as if this too should be the definitive proof that they are successful teachers.

I guess my problem with those two pieces of evidence is this... they don't tell the whole story. The first option completely dismisses a large portion of the student body, the "bad" students. If we are truly honest with ourselves, succeeding with a room full of "good" kids isn't really that impressive. I mean, how hard is it really to work with a room full of motivated, eager people?The second reason totally misses the mark on what is most important in our schools, the kids! We are not paid to gather ribbons of merit or to collect honors to hang on the wall. We are in the classroom to work with children and to help them be better prepared for their future lives.

I believe true success comes from reaching out and connecting to as many of your students as you possibly can---to honestly say that you have no child in your room that you could live without, have no student that you constantly complain about or wish was no longer in your class. To say that means that you have taken every step possible to reach out to your students and left no stone unturned in trying to find a way to connect to each of the children that you see during your class periods instead of just writing them off as a "lost cause" because they don't get it as quickly as the others.

So to those of us in education looking for someone to look up to, someone to model our teaching styles or classrooms on, don't look at resumes filled with awards or fall into the rut of bad mouthing a kid just because it takes a little more effort to get through to them. Instead, take that energy and apply it to building a relationship with your students and realizing that the children in your room are only as "good" or "bad" as you perceive them.