University of Maryland Toggle Talk Project What Teachers Have to Say What do you think of the UMD Toggle Talk Project? “Toggle Talk gave us some new shared language. It made me more aware of what I was hearing the kids doing in their speech. My students are very young and part of what I’m trying to do is build a classroom community that is affirming and makes connections between home and school.” - First grade teacher, New Song Academy
“Toggle Talk differentiated between when to use language formally and informally. This program dispels and rewrites this whole idea of talking ‘proper.’ It’s all about knowing when and where and how to talk in certain places. The program is not going to ‘correct’ anything or take anything away from students. It open up a new perspective of ‘this is how I talk when I am at school’ and ‘this is how I talk with my friends and family.’” - First grade teacher, Furman L. Templeton Prep.
Did Toggle Talk carry over into other areas? “I noticed that Toggle Talk carried over into center time or outside and I would hear some students say ‘no, that’s home language, you’re not using school language.’ It became embedded in their thinking because it was so engrained in the curriculum— home language, school language— they got the ToggleTalk down.” - Kindergarten teacher, Hilton Elementary
Has teaching Toggle Talk changed your opinion of children’s home English or impacted your teaching in general? “At the first meeting, it was bothering me to say it’s okay to speak differently at home because it’s not okay if it’s not proper English. But I have grown to appreciate the fact that it’s the difference between my students hearing there’s something wrong with me vs. me saying to them ‘you might say this at home, but at school this is how we say it.’” - Kindergarten teacher, Robert W. Coleman Elementary
What Principals Have to Say
“I think you did a phenomenal job of supporting the teachers. Sometimes we have situations where in the beginning we have all of this support and then you don’t see or hear from anybody until the very end. But that wasn’t the case, because you were always in contact with the teachers.” - Principal, Baltimore City Public Schools