Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Opening Minds Chapters 1-3




     We are teachers. We put our heart and soul into our profession. Our words are our tools in which we build learners. The words we use inspire, motivate, encourage, change, and teach. Our language matters. The messages we send our students matter. I was excited to start reading Opening Minds by Peter Johnson to learn more about how to talk to students in positive ways. I loved his book Choice Words. It is one I often flip back through to remind myself of positive ways to talk to kids. 
   
     As I read chapter 1-3 tonight I kept thinking about my language with kids. Do my words allow kids to take risks, to put forth effort, to have a mindset that they can learn if they try? Do I feed into children's fixed characteristics about themselves? Our most powerful tool as a teacher is our language and these chapters have me reflecting on how I can improve the messages I send to kids to empower them to want to change.
   
     "A single comment can profoundly change the academic and moral choices children make." This is powerful. Words can build or break students.

    "I also show you that our language choices have serious consequence for children's learning and for who they become as individuals and as a community. I help you make productive choices, because the language we chose in our teaching changes the worlds children inhabit now and those they will build in the future. Make no mistake wehn we are teaching for today, we are teaching into tomorrow."

     I also thought hard when reading about the fixed performance frame vs the dynamic learning frame. This is a mindset. A person with a fixed mindset believes that people are born with certain traits. I kept thinking about my upcoming third graders who already have beliefs about themselves as learners. These are the kids coming in who have already have fixed mindsets about themselves such as, "I can't write. I'm bad at math. I hate reading because it's hard for me."  How can I change these fixed messages? How will I use my language to get kids to believe that their hard work matters and this year can be a new year full of new possibilities and outcomes based on their hard work and perseverance?
   
     A person with a dynamic learning frame or a growth mindset believes that their effort will result in success. They work hard when faced with a difficult problem. They feel smart when encountering a challenge. How will I use my language to send the message that effort is more important than achievement?  We all know these kids too. These are the kids who work so hard at what they do. They place value on their own learning and try, try, and try again when faced with challenges. Johnston describes placing emphasis on process vs performance.


     I like the idea of telling kids at the beginning of the year, "Your brain is changing and so is the way you experience ideas. Expect to change."
   
     Johnston says we want kids to say, "I'm not good at this yet." and to take steps to change that.

     I thought about a beginning of the year activity while reading chapter 3. Johnston talks about deciding which things in life are "essentially fixed, beyond our power to change, and which things we can change (even if it's just a tiny bit)." I was thinking students could as a group brainstorm things in the classroom that they could change vs things that were beyond their control to change. We could brainstorm stereotypes or fixed mindsets kids have about themselves that they could have the power to change...through hard work and effort, perseverance! Last year Patrick Allen inspired me to do beginning of the year read alouds on the theme of persistence. This talk seems like a perfect companion. While reading I kept hearing myself ask kids, "How will this year be different? How can you change the messages you tell yourself about your abilities" I keep thinking about how I will honor hard work and effort. 


     "Children must experience many things as at least potentially changeable, not just aspects of the world outside them, but also aspects of themselves-their learning, their identities, their intellect, their personal attributes, and their ways of relating to others."


      I'm excited to keep reading to hear examples or nudges to use my language to change messages kids have fixed abut themselves as I read on.


    Thanks so much to the organizers of #cyberpd. I can't wait to read other's thoughts!


    

12 comments:

  1. Amy,
    I'm so glad to have your voice in this conversation. As I read your reflections as a third grade teacher, I was reminded of my role as a first grade teacher. You have reminded me that I have many opportunities to begin to shape this mindset. Every move I make can "build or break" students (that made me pause for a moment).

    You ask so many great questions in your reflection such as "How can I change these fixed messages? How will I use my language to get kids to believe that their hard work matters and this year can be a new year full of new possibilities and outcomes based on their hard work and perseverance?" Much to ponder.

    I'm hoping the next chapters will begin to answer some of these.

    Cathy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Amy,
    I was also moved by your reflective questions throughout your post! And I love how you went back to last year's study of Patrick's book. I'd forgotten about the beginning of the year read alouds on the importance of persistence. Thanks for the reminder! I'll look forward to reading your next posts!
    ~Laura

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amy~
    I LOVE your post I found myself wanting to shout AMEN many times! I also found myself connecting as a student. I still remember my high school guidance counselor telling me that if I continued on the track to community college rather than a 4 year school I would always be someones under dog. He knew my drive was stronger than I was giving myself credit for and he told me! That made a HUGE difference in my life and the life of my family! His words shaped my life! I am forever grateful to Mr. Shaw.
    I hope I can make even half of the impact on a student that Mr.Shaw made on me.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amy,

    I agree with Laura. I love that you connected this book back to last year's book study of Conferring. I had completely forgotten that I wanted to start the year with books about persistence (we use the word perseverance at our school). You are so right that both Peter Johnson's words and Patrick Allen's go together. Thanks for making that connection for me.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Amy,
    So much to talk about, huh? I love your insights and thinking. Amazingly, I focused my thinking on how I can help change the thinking of the fixed mindset performers, but shared a great reminder: I need to also continue to encourage the dynamic performers as well!

    I absolutely love your idea about involving the students in the activity you described - smart thinking and a very powerful anchor tool to use throughout the school year.

    Thanks for sharing!
    Michellle

    ReplyDelete
  6. Amy,
    I enjoyed reading your post. The idea of a group brainstorm about what we can change vs what we can't change was very interesting. I imagine it will be fun for you to see the viewpoint that children bring to that discussion.
    Tony

    ReplyDelete
  7. Michelle,
    I like your use of the word "nudges". So much of the thinking in this book "nudges" me to use the kind of language within the dynamic-learning frame to move kids forward in terms of how they think of themselves.

    I love your idea for a beginning of the year activity and brainstorming stereotypes within the fixed mindset which students could have the power to change and using that thinking in conjunction with read alouds on the theme of perserverence.

    It's amazing how books like Opening Minds can impact our teaching in such powerful ways.
    Val

    ReplyDelete
  8. So glad you posted! Love reading your thoughts :)

    When you mentioned, "I like the idea of telling kids at the beginning of the year, "Your brain is changing and so is the way you experience ideas. Expect to change," it made me not only think of our students, but of myself....how important it is to reflect, make mistakes, adjust our thinking, and make life/teaching more interesting. :)

    Keep the posts coming.... :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Amy,

    I love this statement,"Our most powerful tool as a teacher is our language and these chapters have me reflecting on how I can improve the messages I send to kids to empower them to want to change." This just makes clear to me what our role is in the classroom. Language is so important when talking to children and I think we all want to build children up, but sometimes end up breaking them down. If we think more explicitly before we speak to children, we're bound to make some changes.

    I also love your idea of how to begin the year by brainstorming what we can change vs. what we can't -- I may borrow this idea myself.

    Thanks for your important reflection, Amy.

    Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  10. Amy,
    I so enjoyed reading your post. I am fascinated by how many of us have really picked up on the powerful word "yet". It gives so much ownership to the learner, whether they are an adult or child.
    Brainstorming things that can change would be a wonderful way to start with your class - the idea that change happens to all of us will be quite evident.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Amy, I loved your post. You are so reflective and purposeful with your students. Like you, I believe that word "yet" is very powerful. It can change students.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Amy,

    I enjoyed reading your reflections. Thank you for sharing!

    "Words can break or build students"--what a powerful statement. How often as educators do we say things without realizing the consequence or how a student might take it. This is a quote, I will be thinking more about as I move forward.

    I like your beginning of the year ideas. I hope you will blog about how it goes.

    Barbara

    ReplyDelete