Listening/Interpreting/Hearing?

A first grader overheard me in conversation with my teaching assistant one day. I had been describing the various homes I lived in. When telling my assistant how tiny the first home that my husband and I owned, I said it was like living in a “cracker box.”

Not long after, I overheard one first grader repeat to another student sitting at her table in a whisper, that I live in a cracker box.

It made me think about all the other missed messages I unintentionally send and others repeat? How can my teacher language be consistently accurate, I wonder?

My first answer is that I need to talk less.
Next, I need to listen to my own talk too, and ask myself if I could say things more clearly with accuracy?

I don’t think I would be described as a teacher who drilled facts in a monotone voice to my students. When I try to be precise and polished in speaking, I seem to lose my words! I do better, it seems, when in spontaneous situations and more informal settings. But, I do hope I can learn from the times I haven’t spoken so others understand the message.