Articles Teacher Language

2008

Watching and Learning

Question: In The Power of Our Words and The First Six Weeks of School, you write about how important it is for teachers to get to know their students at the beginning…
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2008

Recognizing Students’ Accomplishments All Year Long

Publicly recognizing children’s accomplishments can benefit their learning and the overall school climate. But how do you do it without setting up a competition among students? This is a question that many…
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FEB

2008

Getting Past “I Can’t”

When I taught fourth grade, I introduced two-digit multiplication around the middle of each year. This would always stump a number of students who had breezed through math up until that point.…
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Re-energize Yourself When Fatigue Sets In

A: When I’m feeling overwhelmed by all the things I could do, should do, need to do, and want to do, I make a “Capture List”—a sheet of paper on which I…
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What Teaching Matthew Taught Me

"Matthew! Get away. You're not sitting with us!" Libby hissed the words, her voice oozing with contempt as she stuck her leg out to keep Matthew from joining the small group gathered…
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FEB

Open-Ended Questions

Language is one of the most powerful tools available to teachers. We can use language to stretch children’s curiosity, reasoning ability, creativity, and independence. One effective way to do this is by…
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FEB

Words That Encourage Positive Behavior

Question: What's one way you use language to encourage positive behavior?
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2006

Beyond Coping

When Corey joined my fourth grade class, he already had a history of school struggles and had spent part of third grade in a self-contained room for children with behavior problems. When…
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2004

Teacher-Child Problem-Solving Conferences

Derek was a fifth grader who was avoiding writing. Whenever we had writing time, he would ask to go to the bathroom, and there he would linger. After observing this for a…
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2004

Problem-Solving Conferences That Worked

Question: Think of an instance in which you used a teacher-child problem-solving conference. Why did you choose that strategy? A: Edward often clowned around during work times, keeping everyone from getting work…
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2004

Building Empathy for a “Trouble-Maker”

Chris was a student who struggled socially. He was in Sarah Fiarman’s mixed-grade class for two years, first as a fifth grader and then as a sixth. Of all the points working…
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2003

The Power of Language

A teacher's language is a powerful teaching tool. Our language can build children up or tear them down. It can model respectful and caring social interactions or just the opposite. Effective language…
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2003

What Did You Say?

Joey, a second grader, returns from a doctor's appointment in the middle of a math lesson. "Welcome back, Joey," his teacher says with a smile. "We're working together to solve the problem…
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AUG

2002

Powerful Words

In 1993, after teaching for twenty years, I still loved my chosen profession, but I often felt frustrated. It seemed as though I spent an inordinate amount of time on classroom management…
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