She told me that over the years, her student--often classified as a troublemaker--frequently heard "Don't do this, don't do that, stop it, etc." from teachers, administrators, and even family members. She argued that the word NO "just didn't work" for her student.
She continued on by explaining that as we speak, our brains create mental images to go along with the words we hear. For instance, if you hear, "She went on a bike ride today," your brain would produce an image of a bike, a woman on a bike, a bike trail, etc. When you use the word no (or any type of negative) in a sentence, your brain is unable to create an image of nothing. In essence, your mind goes blank. She explained that when we tell our children what not to do, they have no mental representation for the action.
It blew my mind! It made total sense...what a simple way to look at classroom management. If I'm telling students "Stop talking, no pushing, or don't run," I'm negatively impacting their ability to carry out those tasks. However, if I replace the negative command with a positive statement, my students are able to create a mental image and carry out the task as they see it in their minds.
This goes beyond putting things into positive terms (which I'm all for, by the way). This means changing the way I think and speak to improve student achievement.
On a related note, I'm interested in reading the book Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives. That is, once I finish Awakened and Pedagogy of the Oppressed.
Well said, Whitney! Another book that helped me A LOT with the power of positive phrasing is "Teaching with Love and Logic" by Jim Fay and David Funk - their website is www.loveandlogic.com. It gives excellent advice on how to communicate what behavior you do want, rather than trying to combat behaviors you don't want...you now have a post on one of your blogs, and a new, devoted reader! Thanks for all you do!
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