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Interesting and not so sure this is gonna work!

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Interesting and not so sure this is gonna work!

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After reading the first three chapters, I had a lot to reflect on. As teachers, we all strive to create a positive learning environment for our students. This is one of the strengths I think I have. It is especially important for me with the age of the students I teach-- 3 years old. For the majority of them, this is their first experience with school.  It is critical to create a warm, nurturing, safe environment that allows them to separate from their caregivers for the first time. One of the challenges I identified was in how I phrase the praise I give my students. Going forward I need to be more mindful of exactly how I word the praise in order to make it more meaningful.

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After reading the first three chapters, I had a lot to reflect on. As teachers, we all strive to create a positive learning environment for our students. This is one of the strengths I think I have. It is especially important for me with the age of the students I teach-- 3 years old. For the majority of them, this is their first experience with school.  It is critical to create a warm, nurturing, safe environment that allows them to separate from their caregivers for the first time. One of the challenges I identified was in how I phrase the praise I give my students. Going forward I need to be more mindful of exactly how I word the praise in order to make it more meaningful.

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In reflecting on the three chapters the author mentions Carol Dweck's work on growth/fixed mindsets. I had to sit and reflect about my own ideas and ways I teach and communicate with my students. I saw myself in some of the samples that were listed where I may have gotten frustrated with a child and have used some form of sarcasm. (Even with my own kids at home too!) And reflecting on how I praise my students. On pg.11 the quote, " Good language habits require intentional thought" resonated with me because that is part of the process to change from a fixed mindset to a growth mindset. Becoming aware of your actions/words and making a point to change how you respond. As the author puts it "Allowing yourself to be uncomfortable" so that you can grow and learn in our teaching practices. Lastly modeling is everything with children especially my 3 year old students. On pg 10 the quote" Kids are always watching us. Little people watch big people to figure out how to become big people." This is so true!!! By working towards a growth mindset you can model this and the kids can learn to have a growth mindset too!

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I am going to start with my weaknesses :D. It is hard to talk about what are strengths are and what are weaknesses are (at least  for me). My weakness (when I thought that it was a strength...ironic) are giving students feedback. I tend to use the phrase "I like the way.." or "I love the way...". After reading this in chapter 1, on how using these phrases can make students become "teacher pleasers" I was shocked. I always gave feedback like this. I always thought that it is a positive reinforcement and that it is a way to increase the desired behavior. Further in the book, it even talks about whether we should use the word "No". What I took from it, is that saying "No" can be necessary at times. Especially during critical situations requiring someone's safety. The book also talks about how it is important to be direct,  such as transitioning to another subject. For example, "It is time for Math now. Please put away the writing materials." (Direct)
" I know how much you like Math. When you are ready, you can put them away before writing time." ( Not direct). I was a little confused by this. The book suggests being direct is more important because it is like giving a student a choice when it shouldn't be.

I have approached students in both ways and they seem to work. I guess we can add this to our toolbox and use what we think fits in a situation or with a student. I will use this skill of being more direct with students so that they are more aware of my expectations with them.

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One thought aside from the question is that I really enjoyed when the author shared his experience with the Power of Words author (page 2) when she came to do a workshop and asked, Ẅhat behaviors do you find infuriating in your classroom?¨ I liked this because I do believe that more often than not, our language creates those behaviors in our students that drive us crazy. I also enjoyed the section Ẅe are Always Modeling¨. I think that is a strength of mine- not that I am a model 24/7 but that I try each day to be a consistent and predictable person for my students. I try to react and express myself in ways that are calm and positive. I realized a weakness was using comparative and judge mental language. Mainly because I do talk about ¨what good readers do¨. I also have times when I praise a student who is something right in the hopes of correcting a student who is doing something not wanted. I tutored right after I read one of these chapters and heard myself saying ¨Wow, I love the way you...¨- definitely my first step in changing my language!

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I chose this book because it seems to me that one of the *only* things we can fully control (and then not always!) is our own thinking and how we express ourselves. And we can start right away and all the time - no special materials required! I know that I am pretty good at engaging and listening to our littlest learners, building the relationships we will need to "do hard things", and I try very hard to always use respectful (not demeaning) language. I am NOT always mindful of the way I frame my words, and the implicit assumptions or less-than-ideal-dynamics I am expressing through them. I am looking forward to noticing -and reframing- language which implies judgment or comparison ("look how Tina is sitting...") and careless use of superlative/comparative language as opposed to direct language. I also found it a good reminder that when we speak to our kiddos, the one being spoken to is not the only one who hears. Finally, the point that we should drop labels and group names made me think that while we don't really classify our littlest learners as jocks, or geeks, or whatever, I know I tend to sometimes think (especially in the beginning of the term) how they may be like another student I had to give me a starting point for working with them. I realize I need to be okay with not knowing a student at first in order to approach them as a unique individual, and to base our relationship on genuine interaction and growing trust and familiarity.

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There were many examples in these first few chapters that made me think about my wording and interactions with students. I found that some of my strengths is that I am not much of a teaser or sarcastic teacher. I do this mostly because with young kids they may not understand joking/sarcasm and take what I am saying in a different way than intended. I find this is especially important for those students who may have processing and/or speech disabilities or are ELL. What I did notice is a weakness, and found very interesting, was the idea on page 27 of using praise to make students compete with one another: "I love how Bobby and Paul pushed in their chairs." When I was doing my student teaching, I was taught that this was a great way to use positive reinforcement while giving quiet signals to the others to follow expectations. I never thought of it from the other way. In reading chapter 3, I also noticed that I do say "good readers, good writers, etc." I never thought about the pressure and subconscious thoughts kids have regarding this language.