  I think that my job has changed my use of language. Since I started this blog I've looked back at the last time that I kept a diary, about 10 years ago when I was in the Peace Corps. I've found that my current writing style lacks some of the vitality of my previous attempts. More subdued, more restrained, bigger words.
I assume that the same patterns now exist in my spoken language. Understatement and use of long words are useful in the classroom, if only because people need to puzzle through my baroque sentences they tend to start thinking before they have a chance to get mad. Also any emotional loading in words tend to lead my kids into some non-constructive mind-sets. The main cause of this diffidence, however, is that I can't talk about my job.
On the one hand confidentiality rules prevent the release of any specific information about children. On the other hand the parts of my job that I can talk about are so outside most people's experience that when I do bring things up it's like I'm speaking in asterisks and ampersands. I've met people in similar positions who deal with them in different ways. One guy talks about the most extreme things he's seen in an attempt to shock people.
Others joke about the kids. I've found that I have less and less to say, about anything. Even the weather and football seem beyond me. The only words left seem to be about what I teach and the scripts that I use when I talk to the kids. The nice thing about these blogs is that words are all there are, I'm hoping I can find some more words. 
