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."