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I'm loving how this book is challenging me to realize how I interact and communicate with my students, the impact that words have on them, and how I can make sure I am being intentional in what I say. What stuck out to me most in our readings was the section over alternatives to praise in Chapter 4. Johnston talks about how if we said, "Look at how you..." instead of just simple praises such as "good job" we can turn the child's attention to the process and away from fixed-theory explanations.

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Wow! Johnston's book has become my favorite this semester. I love how it is challenging me to rethink how I talk to the kids. By using process-oriented feedback, inviting dynamic theory, and allowing social imagination we are allowing them to give them positive self-talk, focus on the learning, and learn how to get along better with each other. These are all powerful tools to keep them engaged, learn how to grow in their learning, and how to become sensitive to the needs of others. That being said, I also love how this book and these tools are challenging me for self-evaluation and challenging me to think about how I look and view myself. As a result, not only am I changing my teacher talk, but also my self-talk. Did I mention I love this book?

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Through reading this text, I am becoming more aware of how I am implementing MY middle school teachers' instruction and feedback models. I'm having to examine my practices and question the overall impact of my teaching. I am now very aware of the impact of continuous and challenging feedback as opposed to quick positive or negative responses. This is definitely a text that has me thinking.

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While reading, I continued to reflect back on my own learning and teaching. My students, most of which are in distressed financial situations and unstable homes, often do not see the value in conversations or dialogue, as well as what other's really intend. Johnston states, "Students in dialogic classrooms come to value their conversations because they are engaging and because they learn from them" (Johnston, 2012, p. 57). As others mentioned, perspectives are some of the hardest to teach. I very much agree with this. Students in these populations have some skewed perspectives- specifically on mindsets. Therefore, it is our job to integrate dialogic classroom settings as much as possible, to help students gain a more open and inquiry-based mindset.

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While reading, I was able to identify that most of my own education, until college, was in a monologic classroom. This gives me more drive to be intentional about the language used in my classroom in order to shape a dialogic community that promotes diversity and empathy in this broken world we have today.

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While reading these chapters I continued to think of feedback. My first year of teaching with SPS we spent time working on giving appropriate feedback. It is interesting to see how that has changed just a little bit in the short time I have been at SPS. The feedback we give now is focused on students growth mindset, encouraging students to choose more positive words when they are struggling, the power of the word 'yet' and so on.

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I connected these chapters to my learning about promoting and having a growth mindset. I can encourage a students to have a growth mindset in the type of feedback that I give them. I want to give feedback that focuses on the process which will in turn foster social imagination and social problem-solving.

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Ch. 6-Johnston says that children with behavior problems usually do not have well-developed social imaginations. However, I am encouraged that this can be changed through instruction.

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Johnston says that books are a  tool for growing minds (pg.56). Using books is a great place to start intentionally building a dialogic classroom and fostering a dynamic- learning frame.

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Ch. 4-It really surprised me when I read that "I'm proud of you" has the same effect as "I'm disappointed in you."  That was an eye-opener for me.   I will now intentionally try  to give feedback that will  focus more on the "process--effort and strategy--and not on the person."

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Perspectives are sometimes the hardest things to teach, yet so important to developing social understanding. Without perspectives, according to Johnston, it is hard to grow intellectually.

Johnston says, "the more children recognize that others routinely have different perspectives--not just physical perspectives, but emotional, motivational, and cultural perspectives-- the more developed they become, socially and morally as well as intellectually” (p. 73).

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While I was reading these chapters, I made a connection to this quote by Ghandi that our instructional coach at the high school includes at the end of her emails -

“Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.”

Our words are evidence of our beliefs, and as teachers, we can change or challenge our students' comfort with certainty by changing our language and conversational structures (p. 63).

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While I was reading these chapters it reminds me of the "older generation" in churches. Sometimes we (as the younger ones) look at them and say "Their just stuck in their ways and they will never change." As teachers it is easy for us to do that to, which reminds me of that fixed mind-set. We need to always be thinking about great moments to teach from and keep minds growing. This is how we will mold our students to be better people ever day.

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Praise is a very easy way to break down a student. Language needs to build students up, not push them down.

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Ch. 5-Again, I'm reminded to focus on the process and not the outcomes. The author makes a good case for working towards a dialogic classroom. It is important for students to understand multiple perspectives.

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As I read these chapters, I made a connection to something I heard Dr. Crawford say once in the Current Issues class. She said that over time she has realized "without conflict there cannot be growth."

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As I read these chapters, I made a connection to something I heard Dr. Crawford say once in the Current Issues class. She said that over time she has realized "without conflict there cannot be growth."

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Summarize your thinking into one question, connection, or application. The goal is to say just one something (1-2 sentences) about your reading as a way to summarize your thoughts in response to the reading. 

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Summarize your thinking into one question, connection, or application. The goal is to say just one something (1-2 sentences) about your reading as a way to summarize your thoughts in response to the reading. 