Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: Redirecting Language: Giving Clear Commands when children have gone offtrack

by Gina Applegate

Kelly Mowrer

Rebecca DeSantis

Well the first thing we thought of when we read this chapter was, “well students getting off track happens in the kindergarten class quite often.” Paula Denton gives five points for using redirecting language.

· Be direct and specific

Here she says to tell a specific child what you are expecting of him/her. “David, hands in your lap.” David knows that she is talking to him and what she wants him to do.

· Name the desired behavior

In this part she want to get across that there are battles to pick that you may not want to waste the time on. This is hard, because it takes a while to get good at this and your emotions can get in the way. Some examples are:

Instead of “stop running” try “Stop. Walk.”

Instead of “How many times do I have to say, ‘No talking right now’?” try, “It is time to listen”

Here you are not signaling out one specific student that you may want to, but it is telling all students what behavior you are expecting right now.

· Keep it Brief

The fewer the words, the better. We found that this definitely applies for our little kindergartners. “Freeze” and “Stop” work wonders here.

· Phase redirection as a statement, not a question

This is something that we have all learned from our society, “Can you please pass the salt?” It is a statement, but we are asking it as part of being polite too. When we use redirection we are using it to guide a student who is not able to guide his own behaviors, so we need to tell him what we want. He will then learn this and know it for the future. Some examples, “ instead of, “Will you look at me?” try “Eyes on me”. Instead of I’m going to ask table one to quiet down.” try “Table one, quiet down.”

· Follow through after giving a redirection

Since redirections are meant to be firm, we have to be sure the students act on them. By following through we are telling the students we mean what we say. And when done successfully, they learn to act on it. Here are where logical consequences come into play. Make sure you are calm and it goes along with the behavior.

Redirecting language if successfully used is to bring your students back to a safe community and to show positive behavior all while respecting the students sense of dignity.

Chapter 6

The Power of Our Words: Chapter 6 Reminding Language

Written by: Donna King

• Reminders in the classroom help students stay on task, responsible and safe.

• Reminders are most effective when given BEFORE or JUST AS behavior is going off course.

• Rather than telling students what they’re supposed to do, the teacher prompts students to remember for themselves with specific questions.

1. Effective Reminding Language…..

• establishes expectations clearly

• phrases reminders as questions or statements

• is direct and respectful in tone and manner

• is brief

• is used when teacher and students are calm (in control of self)

2. When Teachers feel angry…..

• address ‘small things’/be proactive e.g. ‘Donna, respectful listening.’; ‘Marie, remember friendly words.’

• Use ‘freeze’ or ‘stop’ as time to collect thoughts, take deep breath and think through next statements

• Use time out/take a break

• Enlist help of buddy teacher for time out student

3. Examples of Reminding Language….

• “Think about how you will help with clean up.”

• “What can you do to be safe and friendly as we line up?”

• “It’s time for library, what should you do to get ready?”

• “Donna, what should you be doing now?’

• “I’ll begin when everyone is ready.”

• “What could you do if you have a question?”

• “Marie, what are you supposed to be doing now?”

• “Remind us, how are we going to______________________?”(line up, pack up, move to center, get ready for snack)

• “Show us a safe way to do that.”

• “What can you do if you don’t understand?”

• “What will help us have a good meeting?”

• “Show what you’ll do when you want a turn to talk.”

Personal reflections…..

The phrases in bold (above) are the first ones I’m practicing. Once they become second nature, I’ll add a few more. I think reminding language can be very effective when spoken in a calm, controlled, respectful manner.

No one that I know (adult or child) wants to be embarrassed by loud, impolite criticism. Unfortunately, many of our students hear much negative, angry, discourteous talk in their daily lives. While it is extremely discouraging to hear children speak to classmates and teachers with such insolence; it is also understandable. It’s frustrating, but challenging to teach them to rise above the language they know and teach them the meaning of respectful language. Reminding language is a perfect opportunity.

(Donna M. King)

Chapter 5

Chapter Five ~ Reinforcing Language: Seeing Children and Naming Their Strengths

Written by: Maureen Spaniak and Jen Perachio

The first two sentences in this chapter really made an impression on me: “Children build on their strengths, not their weaknesses. This is one of the most important things to keep in mind when teaching.” It is crucial that we, as teachers, see and say what we see children doing well and help them learn how they can improve. Teachers need to use reinforcing language in order for children to know they are on the right track and to help them grow further. We, as teachers, often overlook what students are doing well because we are focusing on what needs to improve….how sad! And there is a difference between reinforcing language and praise. Reinforcing Language describes specific positives in student’s work or behavior. Saying, “Great Job!” is a type of general praise. In order to see children’s strengths we must observe our children closely and get to know the whole child…what interests them, what saddens them, what delights them.

We use Reinforcing Language in a variety of ways:

• Coaching Performance ~ Good coaches use encouraging language to help players improve skills and good teachers should use this same language to help students in the classroom.

• Helping a Group Move Past a Stuck Point ~ When a teacher has a difficult group of students in a class, it can be challenging to have class discussions, even after the rules have been taught and established. A different approach may be to try to remark on the constructive behavior some students may be exhibiting. Having the student s share ideas of how to improve behavior and encouraging each other to try the suggestions may help the whole group’s behavior improve. When their efforts are noticed and they hear positive comments, they will feel successful and valued. Saying “ I like how Mary is sitting quietly” can send mixed messages: the reason to behave is to please the teacher and holds some children up as examples and excludes others.

• Pointing Out Individual Children’s Leading Edge Behaviors ~ Speaking privately to children to encourage them as they pursue their personal goals to improve behavior is very effective. When a teacher says, “I noticed you were sitting quietly during our sharing time. That really helped us have a great meeting today!” When the student is spoken to individually by the teacher, the child can focus on how he/she has grown, rather than worry about what the other classmates may be thinking.

• Describing Learning Histories ~ It is important to remind students that learning is an ongoing process, not simply an end product. It’s very effective to point out how far students have grown in their behaviors. Students feel proud when a teacher reminds them of how far they have come in learning or demonstrating a behavior….”Last week it took us 15 minutes to line up for dismissal, and this week we were able to line up in 10 minutes!”

Effective Reinforcing Language

Some points to remember when using reinforcing language:

• Name concrete, specific behaviors.

• Use a warm and professional tone.

• Emphasize description over personal approval.

• Consider adding a question to extend student thinking.

• Find positives to name in all students.

• Avoid naming some individuals as examples for others.

By using reinforcing language, you let students know what they are doing well either socially or academically.

Think back to the first sentence of the chapter where it stated that children build on their strengths, not their weaknesses. We can use reinforcing language throughout the school day….refer back to the variety of ways summarized earlier.

Lastly, we need to remember to use this kind of encouraging language with every student, not just the “best”, because if we do, we should see all children making progress in their growth.

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Listening: Understanding the Message in the Words

Written by: Katie Gorman

“So powerful is good listening that it can allow us to hear through considerable language barriers and understand the intended meanings behind each other’s words.” Chapter 4 discusses the importance of listening to each other, including listening to our students. It defines listening not as hearing only the words but understanding the intended meaning behind those words. We must devote our full attention to our students when they are speaking to us and put aside our own point of view in order to fully comprehend what our students are saying. After understanding what they are saying, we can then comment on it further.

Listening and responding to our students is a three-step process: 1. We really take in their words, 2. We figure out the true intention of their words, looking at tone, context, and other signals for clues and 3. We think about how to respond. Two ways to complete this process are pausing and paraphrasing, discussed further below.

First, let’s discuss why we should listen. We should listen in order to help us know our children individually, culturally and developmentally. Obviously at the K-center we have students of various and diverse backgrounds unfamiliar to us so we need to understand their needs, thoughts and feelings. Knowing our children in this manner also helps them feel safe and welcomed in the school community. Listening also helps the students learn about themselves. Being self-aware helps the students learn to the best of their ability by helping them become more conscious of how they learn, think and develop ideas. Listening also builds a sense of community by teaching our students, through example, how to listen to each other. Listening also helps make our questions more effective. By truly listening to our students, they are more likely to continue responding because they believe we are hearing them, which in turn also helps students to take their learning more seriously. Lastly, listening to our students helps them to become better communicators. Our students will learn from us the importance of taking in a speaker’s words, searching for the intended meaning in one’s words and responding to the speaker.

In order to become a better listener, the text discusses two technical strategies: pausing and paraphrasing. Pausing simply means allowing some wait time before responding. There are times pausing and then responding with a simple gesture or utterance will suffice; however, other times you may have to tell your students you need to think about it more. But you will need to go back to it later when you have the proper response! One important note to remember in pausing is to be consistent from student to student so all children feel valued. A hint offered in the text is to count silently to five before answering a student; soon enough it will be come natural.

The second technique is paraphrasing which has three purposes.

➢ Encourages students to make sure what they said was what they really meant.

➢ Allows teachers to make sure we’ve understood students correctly.

➢ Leads both the students and teachers to think more deeply and in more sophisticated ways about a topic.

Paraphrasing is more powerful when holding problem solving discussions, making plans, or trying to specifically deepen mutual understanding of an issue. There are several effective ways to paraphrase starting with using your own words. In order to successfully do this, reinstate the main idea, name indirectly expressed feelings, organize thoughts into categories and name principles that tie ideas together. Also, avoid using “I” which takes the focus away from the student. Thirdly, keep it brief so the focus stays on the student. Another strategy is to use an approachable voice so our voice and our carefully chosen words help our students feel safe in communicating their true thoughts and feelings. Lastly, follow paraphrasing with an open-ended question to help broaden your student’s focus.

The main idea throughout this chapter is to truly listen by searching for the speaker’s intended meaning beneath the words. Pausing and paraphrasing are two effective strategies but we must be committed to understanding how our students feel and think when they are trying to communicate with us.

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 - Open-Ended Questions: Stretching Children’s Academic And Social Learning

Written by: Colleen Hand

So we now know that positive teacher language can help motivate our students especially when we connect students’ schoolwork with what they care most about in their larger lives. Chapter 3 discusses how teacher language can also stretch student’s curiosity, reasoning ability, creativity and independence so they can learn more broadly and deeply. How does this happen you ask? Well, open-ended questions, of course!!!

Open-Ended Questions:

• there’s no single right or wrong answer

• draw on student’s own thoughts, knowledge and feelings

• encourage students to be inquisitive

• are powerful because they support the natural way children learn

• promote children’s engagement

To promote student engagement try asking, “What do you want to try?” or “What might work?” or “What do you want to know about this?” These questions show that we trust in their ability to have good ideas, to think for themselves and to contribute in valuable ways to the class. I think that this is pretty important since they lead to the students being engaged and invested in the activities so I plan to make a list of open-ended questions that I can keep handy while I’m teaching.

I also thought it was interesting that open-ended questions lead to self-control. I don’t know about you, but self-control in the kindergarten classroom is a MUST for me ☺ Open-ended questions help children gain confidence in themselves. I really liked that. Wouldn’t we all want students with confidence? By asking the question, “What did YOU do that helped you learn these words?” it prompts the student to reflect on the fact that they learned the words as a result of something THEY did, and it pushes them to realize what they did was effective.

Here’s something to remember: should teachers stop asking Closed-Ended Questions? Of course not! Sometimes there’s a correct answer that we just want the students to know.

One really wonderful thing about asking an open-ended question is that we never know what we’ll hear in response. The essentials that apply to all open-ended questions are:

• Genuinely open up your curiosity

Being truly curious of children’s responses also means valuing their thinking processes!!!

• Clarify exactly what you’re asking for

• Use words that encourage cooperation, not competition

• Watch out for pseudo open-ended questions

I didn’t know what this meant at first but a pseudo open-ended question is one that sounds like an open-ended question but has behind it the teacher’s desire to hear a certain answer.

Here’s another interesting point: Wait Time Adds to the Power of Open-Ended Questions. Your pause time gives all children a chance to think about the question before the discussion takes off.

Chapter 2

Chapter Two: Envisioning Language as a Spyglass

Written by Gina Applegate, Kelly Mowrer and Rebecca DeSantis

The one thing that struck us was "that change requires work." This was a striking statement that leads the rest of the chapter, because not only are we going to help our students change, by providing them to see themselves achieving, but also we, as teachers, will be changing our view/way of speaking to our students. This will be work for all of us.

Paula Denton says that because she is writing this in the 21st century and the focus is on standardized testing, that in order for teachers to try and help them in academics is to make them feel more comfortable in school. For most of our students, academic success is not something that they desire or feel value from. We as teachers need to speak to them, making them feel comfortable in school, have fun at school and in turn become successful in school.

An example of a statement that we all thought was something that we could use, instead of reprimanding students for not listening, is something like this, "We can do our best learning when we are careful listeners." Here Paula Denton says that when you use an envisioning statement like this, you are not only setting a clear goal for the students to be careful listeners, you in turn make the students intrigued and want to become this image themselves. She also says to be careful when making these envisioning statements. You need to remember that it takes practice and time to make these statements. One other thing to remember is to not compare a positive to a negative, i.e.: good listeners to bad listeners. Another suggestion is to use concrete images and words that your students use. This way they will be able to relate more to your statement. She wants teachers to remember metaphors excite the students. So try to use them in your statements. And the last suggestion that she makes is to allow the students to fill in the details. Students will be more motivated to work harder to become the student that they want to become by, yes, working harder and making a little change. Which, in turn, brings us back to the beginning statement that we were initially drawn to...."that change requires work."

Chapter 1

First off, a hello to our newest followers: Rebecca, Kelly and Jeff! Welcome.....make yourself at home!

This next blog post will focus on Chapter 1 in the book, The Power of Our Words.

The chapter starts by mentioning five general guidelines for the use of teacher language:

1 - Be direct and authentic.

2 - Show faith in children's abilities and intentions.

3 - Keep it action oriented.

4 - Keep it brief.

5 - Know when to be silent.

Let's discuss each of those guidelines.

Be direct and authentic:

Basically we need to say what we mean and mean what we say. By doing this, the students in our class will trust and respect us. We need to use direct language when speaking to the children in our class. The example mentioned a teacher using indirect language, "I like the way Gregg and Marta are sitting", while eyeing up other students who are not sitting quietly on the carpet. I don't know about you, but I immediately saw myself in that example! I say that all the time to my students to get the attention of those who are not doing what they should be doing. The author mentions how these words were useless...most of the class will begin to ignore you if you say these words. The other thing the author mentioned was when teachers address the class in the form of a question and how you should not do that.

The author also says that we need to select an appropriate tone of voice when speaking to our students. We need to speak to them in a warm and direct tone of voice, indicating exactly what it is that we want them to do.

Also, the author mentions that we need to be careful of sarcasm slipping in to our words. I know that I am guilty of doing this sometimes. We don't want to confuse the children...they might not know exactly what we mean.

The author mentions following through on our words. If we say we are going to do something, then we need to do it. If our kids know that we are going to follow through on what we told them, they will take us more seriously.

Next, the author mentions staying away from over-generalizations. Instead of telling the students that "This is going to be fun", speak to them in the first person, telling them, "Some of you may find this to be fun."

Lastly, the author says we need to be aware of the signals our body is sending. Watch your body language folks! Simple things such as your hands on your hips or making a face might convey the wrong message to your students.

Show faith in children's abilities and intentions:

The book states that we need to take time to notice the positive things. We need to be observant to the little things that kids do, letting the kids know that we have faith in them.

One thing the book states that we should avoid is baby talk. Sometimes we do this without realizing it! We might make our voice all sing-songy or speak to the children using mispronounced words. We should leave this talk for when we want to communicate with babies. If we speak to school age children this way, they might not think we take them seriously.

One more thing the book mentions in this section is to be aware of language patterns that treat boys and girls differently. These differences are probably done unconsciously. We should really listen to the way we speak to the students, to make sure we are being fair to both genders. One idea mentioned in the book was to have a peer come in and observe you teach, an idea that maybe we can all benefit from.

Keep it action oriented:

The author mentions that as teachers, we need to connect the abstract terms with the concrete behavior in our classrooms. As teachers, we know that kids learn best through concrete interactions. Our job is to connect our words to the concrete actions, so that children can connect the two together. Rather than telling kids that someone is "disrespectful", we need to provide something specific, like "Remember to use a happy face and kind words".....the children can relate to those specifics so much better.

Also, the author mentions that we need to describe the behavior of the students, not their character or their attitude. If we need to change the behavior of a particular child, we need to name that certain behavior. We have to describe the unwanted behavior so the child will know exactly what needs to be changed.

Another thing mentioned by the author, we need to keep the wording nonjudgmental. Don't assume the child is acting a certain way for a reason. We don't want to make accusations, as that may have a detrimental effect on the relationship between us and our students...and it probably will not change the unwanted behavior.

Keep it brief:

It's hard for our students to follow our words when we use long sentences. Short and sweet is what we need. Really long and drawn out explanations are going to confuse the children. The kids in our class have a very short attention span. We will lose most of them if we keep going on and on about the same topic.

The author also mentions that we should leave out the warnings. Don't continually tell them "if you don't stop that behavior, we all might lose our recess to review our rules." Warnings might produce a negative relationship between the teacher and the students. The students might see the actual reviewing of those rules as a negative thing. If we need to review rules, then just do it, but we should not use it as a threat.

Know when to be silent:

Silence can be a powerful tool in a classroom. The children need time to think, time to speak, time to gather their thoughts. One of the most important thing to consider is allowing wait time. I remember a teacher in-service years ago when Martha Menz discussed wait time with our students. Teachers should wait about three to five seconds before calling on a student for their response. It might feel like a long time, but it really isn't. More students might answer and by doing this, we allow our students to use their higher order thinking skills. A good idea is that teachers model the thinking...take time to show the children how to pause and gather our thoughts before answering. They will begin to follow our lead.

The author states that we need to listen to what our students have to say. We talk all the time, we need to allow time for our students to talk and discuss the topic at hand. I know that sometimes (when I am watching the clock), I tend to finish a child's sentence for him or her....especially if I am trying to rush them along to finish their thoughts. This will take some practice for me!

Another thing the author states is that we should refrain from repeating directions. I think this means when it comes to simple routines in the classroom, like packing up procedures. It does not mean if you are doing some class work and you witness a student struggling with a particular task, you don't want to ignore them, you should assist them. The author states that there is a difference between helping a student to figure something out and repeating directions.

Finally the author mentions that we should resist the temptation to use voice-overs. A voice-over is repeating the student's response right after it is said. (Again, I am guilty of this!) We sometimes do this to affirm the answer that the student just gave, but we are giving the wrong message to the children. They might think the words are only important if we utter them, since we repeated the same exact thing that the child just said. Allow the child's words to stand on their own!

A very informative and jam-packed chapter! More things for me to work on! Deliberate practice......deliberate practice......deliberate practice!!!