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EDSE 2712Introduction to theLearner in Difficulty

Article for Activity 3. 7B. Ed Secondary (Online) ProgrammeFaculty ofHumanities and Education

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Template for review of journal articleTitle of articleAuthor and brief backgroundJournal Hie and Volume numberReview:

~ Overview of article~ Development What are the key points in this article? What did you find striking about the key points?

How relevant are the key pOints to your role as a teacher? What do you agree/disagree with in the article? How has this article influenced you in thinking about your assumptions,beliefs? How specifically will I be able to use this information and knowledge toimprove or enhance your teaching and relationship wrth your students?~ Conclusion What new insights/discoveries have you made in relation to your role as ateacher? How will you make use of this knowledge in the future?

What further information or knowledge should you seek to expand yourknowledge in relation to the content of the article?Your critique should be no more than 3-4 pages.

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Teacher language influencesstudents' identities as learners.Five principles keep

retlre.1 vetosina ovetodto listen 'I. Coaae Clrpet.fould he you f o c l l S ~ JW cln VVoul. yo like to II.T 1110I1I? Lerhat you .n do, not WI. at your no blck. londorful jol Help mehat Plot 0' "quiet" do .1 you ur:Iude yOAf 1Why can't yot s . . . ds. ' tat's wrong! T

;k.w. .,hat Plot oincludei get samghbor c l i o,dorslan,rstand?l'Ork like,int_

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1.1p . . . . . . . . . . . . . le i happened . . . . . . . yool I like 0 y . . . . . . . . . . . Irty-Yoa're holdin ... 1 l I e I _ ," e . , , ,_II Tony? PI ... .,... olIy. Co, ,...do Iwr... l1li's into

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Take the lime to notice and commenton positive behavior, being quitespecific: uYou 're trying lots of d iffe rentideas for solving that problem. Thattakes persistence." Such observatiOnsgive studer'us hard evidence for whythey should believe in themselves.3. Focus on Actions, Not AbstractionsBecau se elementary-age children tendto be co ncrete thinkers, teachers cancommunicate m OS Lsuccessfully withthem by detailing spec ific actions thatwitllead [0 a pos itive environment . Forexample, rather than saying,respectful ," it 's more helpful to state,uWhen someone is speaking duri.ng adiscussion, Ihe rest o f us will listencarefully and wa it untillhe speaker isfinished before rais ing our hands [0add a comment. "

Sometimes it s effective to promptstudents to name concrete pOS itive

behaviors themselves. To a stude ntwho has trouble focusing duringwriting lime, a teacher might saymatter-of-factly, "What wilt help youthink of good ideas for your story andcon cenUi\le.on ~ t i r i g them down?"The student might then "espond, UJ canfind a quiet place to write, away frommy friends .'"

There is a place, ofco urse, for suchabstract terms as respectful an d respon-sible, but we must give students plemyof opponunities to associate thosewords with concrete actions. Classroom expectatiOns such as "treat oneanother with kindness" will be moremeaningful to students if we he lp thempicture and practice what (hose expectations look like in differem situations.

Focusing on action also meanspointing to the des ired behavior ratherthan labeling the lea rners charac te r orattitude. I had a student who chroni-

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30 LEAO ERSH1PfSHTEMIIER 2008........., .. ......._

cally did poor work when he could dobeuer. in a moment o f frustration , 1said to him. " I don't think you evenca re!" This allowed me to vent , bu t itdid no thing to help the studentchange. His energy went towarddefending himself against my negativejudgment, not toward examining an dchanging his behavior. Worse, suchlanguage can lead students to acceplou r judgment and believe that theyindeed don't care .

Its more helpful in such situations toissue a positive challenge that namesthe behavior we want: "You r job todayis to record five observations of ourcrickets. Think abou t what you 'll needto do before you start. This moves thefocus to what the st ud ent can do .i . Keep It BriefIt's hard for many young children tofo llow long strings of words like th is:

When you go ou t to recess today, be sunto remember what we said aboutinduding everyone in games, becauseyesterday some kids had an issue .withnot being induded in kickball and foursquare, and we've talked about this. Youwere doing really well for a while there,

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but lately it seems like you'regetting kind of careless, andthat's got to change or . . .By the end of this spiel. many

students would be thinkingabout other things. Few couldfonow the entire explanation.Students understand morewhen we speak less. Simplyasking, ~ W h can teU us one way toinclude everyone at recess?" gives theman opponuttity to remind themselves ofpositive behaviors. If you have taughtand led students in practicing the classsexpectations for recess, students willmake good use of such a reminder.5. Know When to Be SilentThe skillful use of silence: can be Just aspowerful as the skillful use of words.When teachers use silence, we open aspace for students lO think, rehearsewhat to say, and sometimes gather thecourage to speak at all.

We can see the benefit of silence if ,after asking a question, we pause beforetaking responses from students.Researchers have found that whenteachers wait three to five seconds, moresLUdents respond, and those responsesshow i g h e r ~ l e v e l thinking (Swift &Gooding. 1983; Tobin, 1980).

Three to five seconds can feel u n c o mfonably long at ftrSl BUI if we stick toi t -and model thoughtful pausing bywaiting a few seconds ourselves torespond to students' comments-we'llset a pace for the entire classroom (hatwill soon feel natural. Ou r reward willbe classroom conversations of higherquality

Remaining silent allows us to listen tostudents and requires us to resist theimpulse to jump in and correctstudents' words or finish their thoughts.A (rue listener tries to understand aspeaker's message before fonnulating aresponse. When we allow students to

speak uninterrupted an dunhurried, we help them learnbecause speaking is an important means of consolidatingknowledge.

In my current role teachingeducators Responsive C l a s s ~room strategies, I watchteachers incorporate these fiveprinciples of language into theirdaily communications with students,and I see them build classrooms where

students feel safe, respected, andengaged. By paying attention to ourlanguage, we can use it to open thedoors of possibility for students.1BReferencesSwift,]. N.,&::GoocUng, T. ( l 9 8 3 ) . l n t e r a ction or wait time feedback and u e s ~tioning instruction on middle schoolscie:nct teaching.}oumal oj Research inScience Teaching. 20(8),721-730.Tobin, K. G. (1980). The effect of anextended teacherwait-time on scienceachlevemcnl. joo.nwl ofRl:search in So::imu:Teaching. 17, 469-175.Vygotsky, L (1978). Mindin sodCIy.Cambridge , MA: Harvard University Press.

Author'S note: A 2006 study by SaraR i m m ~ K a u r m a n and colleagues at the ,Universityof Virginia showed that e s p o n ~sive Classroom practices were associatedwith students having higher reading andmath I f i t scores, better social skills, andmore positive feelings about school. TheU.S. D e p a n ~ n t or Educations institute orEducation Sciences has awarded R i m m ~Kaufman a $1.9 milllon grant to funherinvestigate how Responsive Classroomtices contribute to gains in students' mathachievement.Paula Oenton is Director of ProgramDevelopment and Delivery for NortheastFoundation for Children, developer of theResponsive Classroom approadl ;ww w.responsivedassroom.org; paula@responsiveclassroom.org. She is th eauthor of The Powerof Our Words:Teadler Language that Helps ChildrenLearn (Northeast Foundation for C h i l ~dren, 2007).

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