Introduction - August 9

Hi everyone!

Welcome to our newest followers - Kristie, Jen and Katie!! And to those of you who stop by and view the blog, don't forget to post a comment or click "follow this blog", so that we know you are here too!! We want to make sure we include everyone who stops by!

Now...on to our book - The Power of Our Words. I figured it would be easier to write a blog post for each section of the book. Feel free to chime in and comment whenever you would like to!

I just finished reading the introduction to the book.....it was a very informative overview! My initial reaction (and I mentioned this in a previous post) was that I am going to have to make effective teacher language my deliberate practice for this coming school year. The first examples that the author gave in this section mentioned two different scenarios - one classroom had a teacher (Ms. Gibbs) who rang a chime and a delivered a very effective statement, "I see that everyone is ready for Math. Let's get started.".....the second classroom teacher used a louder voice to be heard over her students and she exclaimed, "Okay settle down, everyone! Social time is over. We have to get to work on Math now." Upon reading this, I immediately saw myself in the second teacher....I know for a fact that I have said those very same words many times. The author states how both teachers were responding to the very same situation and were attempting to get their students ready for the next part of their day.....but the words they used were sending very different messages to their students. The second teacher was giving the message that "we now have to stop something fun (talking to our friends) and start something not as fun (Math)".....the first teacher (Ms. Gibbs) gave the students the impression that "it is time for all of us to work together." Her effective use of the chime added to her ability to send a clear message to her students. As I read through both of these examples, I found myself reflecting on my own teacher language....and how what I thought was effective language with my students was probably not.

In the next section of the introduction, the author quotes psychologist Lev Vygotsky: "Language actually shapes thoughts, feelings and experiences. It produces fundamentally new forms of behavior." The author states that this is done in several different ways:

~ Language Molds Our Sense Of Who We Are

~ Language Helps Us Understand How We Think, Work And Play

~ Language Influences The Nature Of Our Relationships

Let's discuss each of those sections.

Language Molds Our Sense Of Who We Are: The words that we use help to shape and determine who we are. What we say to other people can greatly affect who they are and who they might become in the future. The author gives the example of her friend, Don, who loved to sing and how the music teacher suggested that he move to the back row of the choir and only mouth the words, instead of actually singing them. That teacher used words that prevented Don from following through with an interest that he enjoyed. Instead of giving him helpful suggestions on how to sing better, or helping him by giving him extra practice sessions on how to improve his singing, the teacher basically "squashed" Don's dreams of being a singer. She could have used different sentences that would have allowed Don to improve his singing. Her words definitely had a lasting effect on him.

Language Helps Us Understand How We Think, Work And Play: The author gives an example in this particular part about how one of her own teachers makes a comment about how she "takes a very intuitive approach to teaching." Paula Denton spends a lot of time reflecting on this statement, as she never really thought of herself as being intuitive in her teaching. Just as her own teacher got her to thinking about one of her own strengths, one that she didn't even realize, we can use words that can help our own students to realize their own strengths. I know that many of us will say "Good job!" or "Way to go!" when our students proudly hold up their classroom work for us to see....I know that I do it everyday. Our time with our students is carefully structured and we all work hard to keep things moving on what we are supposed to be doing....so a quick response like "Good job" seems like an appropriate thing to say. But after reading this section, I now realize that our little Kindergarten kids are proudly holding up their work for us to see and when we say "Good job", we aren't really expressing what exactly we like about their work. We need to be more specific in our compliments. "I really like the way you remembered to use an uppercase latter at the beginning of your sentence."...."I am very impressed with the spaces you left between your words."...."I notice that you are working very hard on forming your "5"s the correct way!" (Again, I will be working on this - deliberate practice - who is there with me??!!!) When we compliment a specific skill that our students are working on, our students will be impacted in a much more positive way.

Language Influences The Nature Of Our Relationships: The author states that the words we use and the tone of our voices greatly impact the relationship that we have with our students. She mentions the example of a school "bully" named Jim. She explains that initially she would resort to threats and punishments when dealing with Jim, but one day, after witnessing him pushing some other children, she pulled Jim aside and asked him to explain how things were from his side. She assured him that she wanted to help, but needed him to explain things from his point of view. Jim didn't stop being a bully, but he did develop more of a sense of trust with his teacher that year, because she took the time to listen to him. Our words will help our students to develop important relationships with us, with their peers and with themselves. We all work hard each year to develop a sense of community in our classrooms through our Morning Meetings. As teachers we need to develop a sense of respect, cooperation and trust.

In the next part of the introduction, the author mentions the goals of teacher language. Effective teacher language will help to assist our students in three main areas:

~ Developing Self Control

~ Building A Sense Of Community

~ Gaining Academic Skills and Knowledge

It is important that as teachers, we use effective teacher language as a tool to help develop each of these areas for our students.

Developing Self Control: The thing that jumped out the most for me in this section is that as teachers, we want our students to learn self control. Children are not born with self control, they need to be taught how to be aware of themselves. Our job as teachers is to help them on this road to developing self control. That role is especially important for us as Kindergarten teachers...we are teaching our kids during the first formal year of being in school and we can only assume that most of the children we teach have little or no self control when they step into our classrooms. We need to provide them with countless opportunities to develop their sense of self control through modeling, questions and examples. The language that we use during this time is of the utmost importance. We are laying the foundation for these children that we teach. We need to focus on positive behaviors and use teacher language that will be effective and specific.

Building A Sense Of Community: At the K-Center, we all work very hard on developing a sense of community in our classrooms. We all start our day with our Morning Meetings and from the start of the school year, we all work hard on working together as a team. We teach our students to listen to each other (only one person speaks at a time), to cooperate, to encourage each other and to help to create our own classroom rules. I believe that this is definitely one of our strong points at the K-Center.

Gaining Academic Skills and Knowledge: A great deal of our daily language helps our students to develop the skills that they are learning in our classrooms each and everyday. We encourage them to use higher order thinking skills and reflect on their work. By modeling effective language, we are teaching the children how to use this same language with each other. Before we know it, our students will be speaking to each other in the same manner that we are speaking to them. Rather than the usual "Good job", we might even hear our students give specific reasons why they like the work of their peers.

The final section of the introduction discusses the actual process of changing our language. For some teachers, especially those who have been teaching for a long time (raises hand!), changing the way we speak to our students might be difficult and/or uncomfortable. Fortunately for those of us who may find this change uncomfortable, there is an appendix at the back of the book to assist us in changing the way we speak to our students. It might not happen overnight, but when we start making a conscious effort to improve our teacher language (deliberate practice), it will eventually become easier and easier as the school year progresses. Our students will benefit in the long run.....and as the author states, "better language makes us better teachers and our students better learners."

Overall, I found the introduction to be filled with lots of interesting facts, examples and statements. I really got a lot out of it and I am looking forward to the next chapter!

Please, please, please....add your comments/thoughts/statements, etc. below!! We all would love to "hear" what you have to say!!