Swearing at School What’s Your Policy? Here's how seven teachers
answered this question: How do you keep school language clean?
Formal & Casual Language I teach at-risk high school students
the difference between formal language and casual language. I
explain that formal language is the language of the work world.
I explain that I expect them to practice formal language in my
class. All this is taken from Ruby Payne's program. When they
slip, I simply ask them to find a better way to express their
thought. They have no trouble following this practice most of
the time. In and Out of School Our district handbook lists bad
or obscene language as a Level lll offense, meaning that a
student can be punished with anything from a student conference
to suspension. Our school uses Ruby Payne's Framework for
Understanding Poverty. Our children are taught that the
offensive language they hear in their neighborhoods, at home, or
on the basketball court are not acceptable in school. There are
two sets of rules and the set