Sunday, April 18, 2010

The power of words

I've come across a couple of interesting books recently about the power of language - in particular how a teacher talks in the classroom - and some chapters are available to read online :

The Power of our Words : teacher language that helps children learn by Paula Denton http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/bookstore/tupowerofwords.html

Here is the first chapter : http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/pdf_files/pow/pow_intro.pdf
It is easy to read and annecdotal - these are the subheadings
  • Language molds our sense of who we are
  • Language helps us understand how we think, work and play
  • Language influences the nature of our relationships
and the Goals of teacher language :
  • Developing self-control
  • Building a sense of community
  • Gaining academic skills and knowledge

Choice words : how our language affects children and learning by Peter Johnston
http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=389&idcategory=0

and if you google "choice words peter johnston" it will bring up 120+ pages of the book at Google Books
http://books.google.com/books?id=tJJqZ_uSVxcC&dq=choice+words++peter+johnston&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=OHzLS6qmKIaasgOGxcyTAw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBUQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q&f=false

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