12 Ways to Use Words to Inspire Growth

Your words matter. 

The way we give feedback, lead meetings, or speak to our teams or colleagues matters. In reading Self-Regulated Learning for Academic Success: How do I help students manage their thoughts, behaviors, and emotions? several selected quotes throughout the book show how impactful or unimpactful our words are and how inspiring or uninspiring they can be.

"Praise is a mixed bag. Although it can increase students' self-efficacy and their expectations of future success, it can also lead them to feel helpless in the face of challenges if their self-worth is tied too closely to being praised." -page 11

Acknowledge effort over result. Don't discuss things outside of their control. Use words that make improvement seem possible.

Be specific with your praise. Identify why they're being praised. Don't use praise as a consolation for disappointment, or because you feel obligated to. Use words for a purpose.

Don't make them reliant on your approval or input. They need to be able to self-diagnose their own problems and solutions. The goal is always to grow and get better; it's not to receive kudos. Use words that promote dialogue.

Visualize later now. Talk about how the praiseworthy incident can be replicated elsewhere. Use words that make connections and promote transfer.

"When a child learns to associate task outcomes with the effort invested,he's more likely to attribute failure to a lack of effort and to adopt new strategies and work harder until he succeeds." -page 11

Acknowledge effort over result. People have to believe their efforts matter or else you won't be able to keep them motivated to embrace the challenge. Use words that will inspire more effort.

Focus on what's controllable. Don't waste time with things that can't be changed or that have already happened. I once spent an entire coaching season blaming our losses on 2 guys who had quit the team earlier in the season. What a blunder, and a waste of energy and time. I shouldn't have used words that caused people to dwell on things they couldn't control.

Action plans have to be achievable. Set them up for quick wins. Don't aim for a target that can't be placed or can't be achieved. Use words that can be realized.

Tell stories of your own failures leading to growth. Empathize with how hard it is to keep getting better. Use words that make it seem possible.

"...teachers can do a lot to further students' self-regulation by creating a warm and supportive social climate, providing collaborative learning opportunities, and giving feedback focused on the learning process rather than the learning outcomes." -page 19

Give them a tangible skill of focus. One improvement at a time. Use words that make it clear.

Include them in the planning and feedback process. Make it their plan and their result. Use words that get them to own it.

Create critical thinkers and decision makers. They need to be able to evaluate their own habits and ideas. Use words that cause them to reflect.

Don't waste time on things they already know. "Good job" or "you can do better than this" or "this is terrible" or "A" alone doesn't help anyone get better. We usually know when it didn't go we'll; tell us how we can improve. Use words that promote growth.

"...it can be difficult to remember that your verbal and written feedback should concentrate not in outcomes but on students' selection and use of learning processes and strategies. Doing this focuses students on what they can do to improve their work and gives them a sense of control over their academic success...." -page 26

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What's the Opposite of "Shoosh?"

Quiet is nice every once in a while in certain classroom situations, but it's not the environment that promotes long-term memory or transfer. Get them talking to each other about the material. Devote set intervals of time for interpersonal communication and reflection between students, teammates, colleagues, etc about the topic or lesson at hand if you want it to stick and have meaning.

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Quote Source - page 58

"You want to demonstrate the process of talking through a problem so that your students will begin to see how to negotiate challenging situations." -Germeroth & Day-Hess p. 8-9

You want them talking about it now so that they're talking about it when it matters - when it gets hard.

You want them talking about it now so that they're talking about it when you're not there.

Quiet cuts out critical steps to the process of learning anything. 

We talk our way through questions and problems all of the time, because it leads better performances and outcomes. 

Even the most confident of us bounce ideas off of our colleagues and teammates every day; shared decision making and responsibility are two elements on the Massachusetts teacher rubric; we're not supposed to work quietly.

So let's not teach quietly.

Quiet is orderly; it's easier. But don't confuse order and politeness for long-term learning.

"The overarching goal is to help middle and high school students realize that by using effective learning strategies and study habits, they can control their learning and academic success, even when the work is challenging." -Germeroth & Day-Hess p.34

Dialogue and interaction with others leads toward realization. Dialogue and interactions gets us through the tough stuff.

They have to be able to do it or talk about it outside of the classroom or practice for it to matter; it's not uncommon to hear someone lament that they took a class on something but don't remember a thing. 

It was probably a wicked quiet class.

For different ways to get them talking more, I wrote down 11 strategies last month. 

Get them talking about sample pieces of work discussing ways to improve it.

"Students can typically identify problems in other people's writing more easily than they can in their own, but with guidance, they can start applying what they've learned during peer feedback sessions to their own work." - Searle p. 86

Make today's lesson really matter.

Promote engagement; promote activity; promote the long-term learning and application of your lesson; get them talking about it.

#education #classroommanagement

5 Classroom Management Tips

Last Week I wrote down 9 Classroom Management Tips and since then I read Jane Bluestein's Managing 21st Century Classrooms: How do I avoid ineffective classroom management practices?

16 quotes later, I have 6 additional tips related to what most would say is the most difficult aspect of teaching to "master."

Classroom Management isn't easy, but keep these 5 additional tips in mind...

1. It's Not About You

Don't make it about you; it takes away from the real reason why classroom management is important; behavior that takes away from the learning of others must cease because it's taking away from the learning of others, not because it doesn't please you.

 "...instead of talking about how their behavior makes you feel, focus on how their cooperation will pay off for them." p.41

Making it about you the teacher sends the message that it's your show instead of theirs. 

Making it about pleasing you and complying to your wishes takes student attention away from the prime matter at hand - their education and preparation.

 "Simple recognition...that emphasizes students' efforts and actions rather than how their behavior pleases you is a great way to build morale and positive relationships." p.23

Don't praise students because they make you happy and make you feel satisfied; praise students because their efforts and actions are that of a student who will best learn taught lessons.

 2. Don't Cut off Your Nose to Spite Your Face

You can't react in a way that alienates your other students; you can't be threatening or volatile and still expect students to learn what you're teaching.

 "When we perceive threat, our primary brain functions retreat to the survival centers of the midbrain....Whether targets or witnesses, most individuals exposed to this energy will either shut down or fight back, with a no-win outcome likely for all concerned...." p.37

If they're not asking questions, then they're probably not learning; if they're afraid of your response, then they're not going to ask questions. 

You can't be draconian and expect real engagement.

 "Thus, the harder we try to control or disempower kids, the harder they will push back, whether by exhibiting overt defiance, becoming passive-aggressive, shutting down..." p.7

The brain cannot be in learning mode and survival mode at the same time. Fear is literally and figuratively a four letter word in the classroom.

"Classroom management behaviors that rely on teacher control and students' fear of punishment trigger the brain's survival instincts and suppress the brain functions students need for learning, cognitive processing, and retention...." p.8

There's always a tomorrow; don't say or do anything that you can't take back. 

I highly recommend the book

 3. Own It

Classroom management is not about your rules; it's about you. 

"When you walk into a classroom where kids are busy and engaged, it is unlikely that their cooperation was motivated by rules. And I can guarantee that when students are disruptive, off task, or out of control, it's not because there aren't enough rules." p.11-12 

Don't set limits that you're not prepared to enforce; don't say you're going to do something unless you're going to do it.

"But structure is only as effective as our willingness to follow through on the conditions and limits we use to create it." p.25

Avoid practices that send unintended messages. 

 "Asking for excuses for explanations when students have misbehaved, broken an agreement, or failed to complete an assignment interferes with our goal of building responsibility by suggesting that students can talk their way out of the requirements we set." p.26

You communicate most effectively with your actions; words eventually become meaningless.

 "Another way we sabotage our authority is by reacting to infractions with warnings instead of following through on the conditions we set." p.27

 4. Respond Intentionally

Don't give praise for the sake of praise.

"Although recognizing effort, persistence, or a job well done is legitimate and valuable, there are a number of ways to get this one wrong, with potentially harmful results." p.20

Instead of responding simply because you feel compelled to respond, think about what you want to happen as a result of your response. 

"...if you intention is to elicit a behavior you have not seen yet, you need to use a different approach from the one you use to reinforce existing desirable behavior." p.23

Respond in the manner that the behavior merits - no more and no less. 

"The best way to improve follow-through (and thus maintain respect and authority) is to only allow positive outcomes when they are earned and withdraw them when the conditions are violated." p.28

5. Always Make it Positive

Make sure the work students are doing is aligned with present abilities.

"Students who believe they're going to fail no matter what have little stake in engaging and cooperating." p.17

Use words and phrases that create the culture of cooperation rather than the expectation of struggle.

"Even making a simple change from a threat ('if you don't do this, you can't...') to a promise ('As soon as you do this, you can...') transforms the energy and power dynamic in the interaction and increases the the likelihood of cooperation, especially if the positive outcome is meaningful to students." p.18

Classroom management isn't about responding to bad behavior; it's about anticipating potential cracks that students can and will fall through, and filling them before the fall.

9 Thoughts on Classroom Management

Ought classroom management be easier than it usually is?

A student violates a rule or acts outside of the handbook, and they receive a consequence; the concept should be simple.

But, like with anything involving people, classroom management is arguably the least easy thing educators do.

It's especially hard when you're aiming for more than behavior management and compliance.

When you're going for total learning and the physical/emotional environment required for it classroom management becomes a constant cycle of observation, consideration, and dialogue. It can be cognitively, physically, and emotionally taxing all at once.

Anything that obstructs the clarity, momentum, provisioning, etc of the lesson must be addressed with the end goals of the lesson in mind - your response has to be intentional.

1. It can't be reactionary.

2. It shouldn't be addressed in public, but it ought to be timely.

3. Don't make it about you the adult; it has to be about the student, the class, and learning.

"Parents and teachers can reduce their own frustrations and those of the students by understanding that what appear to be laziness and lack of motivation are often an extreme need for support and guidance." - Margaret Searle, p. 159

4. You have to respond in a way that sets limits on the behavior while also communicating that you're always there to help and that you'll never give up on them.

5. It can't be judgmental.  It can't be insulting.

#fhspantherchat instead of getting frustrated with what you're seeing or hearing you need to identify why it's happening & how to proceed
— Eddie Evans (@ewevans3) March 9, 2014

6. Do some investigating; find out why before moving forward.

7. Reach out to those around you and ask what have others seen and heard from the student; I may not have the right approach but I'm sure we can come up with something.

8. Think about tomorrow. Don't burn a bridge. Don't embarrass.

See the entire presentation here
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9. Labeling, getting frustrated, lashing out, giving up, etc. is contrary to what we're trying to do

Each issue and each person is unique. Remember that and proceed intentionally.