Words-on-the-Move 08#5
A summary of Peter Johnston’s presentation on 4-5-08 podcast format.
Notes for Words-on-the-move #5
Peter Johnston – Choice Worlds: Helping children build literate worlds worth living in classrooms.
• We as educators array people each day in the classroom through use of language.
• We say we want them to be assertive, independent strong willed people when they are adult but we want submissive students
• Teachers need to say “I just made a big mistake as a reader, I got distracted when someone came into the room, so I’m going to reread this section here. (this statement allows mistakes, errors – and when that happens it becomes no big deal, just try again)
• A phrase to use often in the classroom is “Say more about that”
• Teacher should refer to another child’s point of view or suggestion which then gives that child a place of credence and importance.
• As teachers we teach individual minds as well as collective minds
• “Child’s language reflects the books that he reads.” PJ
• Two children see writing with different definitions:
o One views writing as accuracy, grammar
o The other views it as having something to say
Teacher’s feedback, use of language, feeds the child’s definition of who he is or in this case what writing is about.
Students have implicit questions that they ask during the school day
What are we doing here?
Who am I? Who can I be?
What do people like me do?
How do we relate to one another?
How do we relate to the object of our attention? (reading writing, science, art, math, etc.)
3 necessary dispositions
Toward Resiliency
Tendency to maintain a focus on learning when the going gets tough
Opposite is brittleness – avoidance of challenging tasks
Toward Reciprocity
Engage in joint learning tasks, asking questions,
Take other’s purposes and perspectives into account
Toward Playfulness
Ready and willing to innovate or notice variations in learning situations
Creative in framing problems
Notice unfamiliar
Generate alternatives
Inclinations to play
Opposite – unplayfulness
Inclination to see only in terms of familiar mindlessness
See only familiar uses for objects
Not able to see beyond initial interpretation
Agency – If I act, and act strategically, I can accomplish things.
“What problems did you encounter today?”
Be enthusiastic and celebrate problems – normalize having a problem.
If there is no problem – not learning strategically
Teach looking for options – teach optimism
Problems may be intentional
Build an expectation of change
PJ “Teaching is noticing opportunity and orchestrating change to happen”
Fixed Theorists
Question ability and assign blame for failure
Growth Theorists
Self instruction, self monitoring, don’t see self as failure.
References:
Choice Words by Peter Johston
About the Authors: Writing Workshop with Our Youngest Writers by
Lisa Cleaveland;
Comprehension Through Conversation: The Power of Purposeful Talk in the Reading Workshop, by Maria Nichols
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, by Carol Dweck
Music : Revelation IV from Soundzabound by Barry Starlin Britt
