In the time I spent working in a Montessori school, I was able to attend several Montessori conferences where twice I attended workshops lead by Dr. Jane Nelsen, most notably known for her work in writing the Positive Discipline series. This was when I first began to be interested in brain research, the power our words have on others, and how this impacts learning. A year or so ago, I heard a radio program on NPR discussing the power of students' perceived intelligence based upon the praise/words their teachers used. While I couldn't locate the exact transcript of the program it was based upon this article and research by Dr. Carol S. Dweck. In her research, she showed that students who were praised as being smart, were outperformed by students who were told they were hard workers. Furthermore, students who were taught about how their brain works and learns did better than students who were just taught the content. This is profound! The choice words I use can directly impact the way my students learn and think of themselves. I would also wager that the way other students see me interacting with their peers makes a difference too.
When I observe my campus I see our teachers using language with students that encourages self-reflection and growth. I see students that are comfortable sharing out in class and teachers reinforcing the thought process more than the product. I feel that my colleagues do a good job facilitating and teaching students how to have conversations with each other. Last year we made collaborative conversations one of our focuses. A great example of this was at the beginning of the year. We were working on norms for having partner conversations, the students who attended our school last year were used to these procedures. (Turn and face your partner, make eye contact to show you're listening, ask for clarification or restate what you understood, etc.) The handful of students who had joined our school this year seems confused and were really timid at first. They needed more guided practice to accomplish these expectations during their partner discussions. This shows me that last year's teachers did a fantastic job at setting up an environment where the students were not only used to having a voice, but comfortable doing so. They aren't afraid of being wrong. So while I see the result of previous year's interactions with teachers and I see my own interactions it is difficult to fully know if every adult on campus realizes the power of using choice words.
What would you do, if anything, to make using choice words a more conscious and accountable school wide practice if you were the school leader?
I think this TED talk by Dr. Carol Dweck would be a great catalyst for a staff discussion. I also think it would be wise for teams to develop a "choice word bank" to draw upon in times when it may not be as easy to use choice words and to use in place of other forms of praise or redirections. While I think bringing this idea to the forefront of teachers' minds may be enough for some teachers, others may need more direct support in this. Also, as an administrator, modeling this type of interaction with colleagues and with students is also an important piece to this puzzle.
What could you do, if anything, to make the use of choice words a more conscious and accountable personal practice as well as one embraced by others on your site? Are those things within your sphere of influence?
Fine tuning my own practice is the first place to start. The next step is bringing my success with this into discussions with my colleagues. The more we collaborate and reflect on these types of interactions with students the more natural they will become.
5 things I am willing to do this semester that will make our school choose words wisely
1. Share some research on the power our words have on our students' success with my colleagues.
2. From the reading, the section discussing the importance of compliments (Fisher, Frey & Pumpian, p. 93) struck a chord with me. This semester I will work with my class on giving each other compliments.
3. I will review sentence frames for positive peer discussions with my class and share these with colleagues.
4. With my colleagues will share the service cycles described on pages 89-95 in How to Create a Culture of Achievement in your school and classroom: deescalating behavior, do the next right thing, the importance of compliments, and listen to students.
5. At parent-teacher conferences I will share with parents some strategies/phrases from the reading on how parents can rephrase their praise to help the student understand the student's role in the accomplishment. Encouragement vs Praise.