Opening Minds Chapters 4-6

This is my second post reflecting on chapters 4-6 in Peter H. Johnston's Opening Minds from Stenhouse as part of  the #Cyber PD. You can join the conversation at Jill Fisch's blog.

This year one of my research goals in the classroom will be to intentionally focus on opportunities for discussions related to reading and writing because of insights from my students during dissertation interviews. As ideas for enhancing what students identified as being aspects of class that motivated them as readers have been tumbling around in my mind, it was natural that Johnston's ideas with such a focus on words would inspire me to refine my thinking.

Globally, I am thinking about the concept of the teacher's influence on the classroom culture and the tone we set with our words. I loved this quote, "This feedback is not given by the teacher, but it is surely grounded in the kind of feedback the teacher gives," (p. 35). Our words and actions on a day to day basis send messages to students about what we value, as well as our expectations. Through the classroom examples, I thought about the teacher's role in stating expectations, modeling expectations (both explicitly through minilessons and implicitly through day to day choice of words), and providing scaffolding for students to work toward language and interaction expectations.

I especially loved the focus on students developing agency and whether our words support working toward that narrative or are counter-productive. It will be beneficial to go back to quotes like this again and again to reflect on the impact of my words and to critically examine whether there are aspects that do not work toward what I want, "When we make personal judgments of children, whether through praise or criticism, we teach them to do the same. They learn to judge themselves and others. They develop a sense of contingent self-worth--that they are able, good, and worthy when they are successful" (p. 39). While reading I have been jotting down notes so that I can create my own cheat sheet with ideas from the book, which has prompted me to think about my language in various facets of my life. The book definitely has me rethinking comments such as I am proud of you. Johnston continued to drive this message home for me as he continued to talk about the impact on multiple aspects of children's lives, including their resilience (p. 40). While reading, I could not help but think about how his suggestions complement workshop philosophy well. That basic foundation is there, but now it is about fine tuning on the word level in order to maximize the impact of instruction.

As educators, it is important to continually remember how we define the purpose of education. When Johnston stated, "We need to help them become lifelong teachers as well as lifelong learners" (p. 50), it made me think about how it is much more common to think about and hear others highlight the learner side. It makes perfect sense to also consciously focus on the teaching side, which complements aims of democratic schooling well. As I think about how I will demonstrate an appreciation for and welcome an analysis of different perspectives, highlighting the benefits of uncertainty, Johnston provided me with a lot of ideas to reflect on and shift my language to align. I also thought of other books that I have wanted to read to support my continual thinking in this area, such as Socratic Circles.

I look forward to learning and growing with others as I map out plans this summer and then revisit to reflect throughout the school year.