Chattanooga: Teacher lingo in the elementary classroom work

Oct 26, 2008 (Chattanooga Times/Free Press - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- DD | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Amy Cole says it countless times a day but rarely considers the rhyme just doesn't make sense.

"OK, I need you all to sit criss-cross applesauce, hands in your lap," the teacher tells her first-grade students at Rivermont Elementary School as the 6-year-olds make their way to a carpet to sit in what used to be called "Indian style."

She continues, "Show me that you're ready; give me one clap."

"That's my favorite part," said Jordan Jones, grinning, hands clasped together.

Whether they shorten it or add the optional clap, many elementary teachers such as Ms. Cole use "criss-cross applesauce" and other catchy commands to keep order in the classroom. Even if the lingo is nonsense, teachers say, it seems to work.

"I mean, 'criss-cross applesauce?' Applesauce doesn't even criss-cross. Where did that come from?" Ms. Cole said. "It's not even criss-cross like a pretzel. And yet I've never had a kid question it."

But that doesn't mean children aren't listening and critiquing the crazy teacher jargon. Several years ago, Ms. Cole said, she routinely referred to simple assignments as "easy peezy Japanese-y" until one of her young students informed her that it was politically incorrect.

"So then I changed it to 'easy peezy lemon squeezy,'" she said.

The often clever, rhyming or syncopated speech isn't taught in teacher school, educators say, but once one person in a building starts using a phrase, it typically catches on quickly.

Victoria Vandergriff often tells her fifth-grade students at DuPont Elementary to "take five," which they know means feet on the floor, hands in your lap, eyes on the teacher, ears open and mouths closed.

"We pick it up from each other," Ms. Vandergriff said. "You do it without thinking."

Sometimes even to their own children or spouses, they say.

Wendy Self, a third-grade teacher at DuPont, doesn't tell her family to be "quick, quiet and clean" when using the bathroom, but sometimes it's hard to stop herself, she said.

"You really have to make a conscious effort to get out of that mode," she said.

When Alicyn Wilkey wants to make it clear whether her students at Brown Academy should fold a piece of paper in half horizontally or vertically, she tells them to fold it in half like a hamburger or in half like a hot dog, respectively.

"Or we tell them to fold it in half like a taco, and they cut it to make a diamond shape," she said.

To avoid repeating herself unnecessarily, DuPont teacher Stephanie Marshall tells students who missed directions the first time to "ask three before me."

"That way they have to ask three of their classmates what to do before they come ask me for instruction," she said.

Sing-songy words and commands often stick best in young minds, teachers say, so the lingo makes classroom rules and procedures memorable and a little more fun.

"I like them because they're silly," said Scheyenne Walker, one of Ms. Cole's students.

"And it's rhyming words," added 6-year-old classmate Maston Morgan.

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