Opening Minds: Using Language To Change Lives (2012) - Plot & Excerpts
Peter H. Johnston Sometimes a single word changes everything. In his groundbreaking book Choice Words, Peter Johnston demonstrated how the things teachers say (and don't say) have surprising consequences for the literate lives of students. Now, in Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives, Peter shows how the words teachers choose affect the worlds students inhabit in the classroom, and ultimately their futures. He explains how to engage children with more productive talk and to create classrooms that support not only students' intellectual development, but their development as human beings.Grounded in research, Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives shows how words can shape students' learning, their sense of self, and their social, emotional and moral development. Make no mistake: words have the power to open minds – or close them. Finished reading this for the second time, but this reading was with a group, a satisfying series of conversations. What a marvelous book to enhance learning about being a better teacher, and even learning about working with anyone. There is research that backs so many concepts that aren't exactly supported in some classrooms today, like choice for and empowerment of students. One of many favorite lines: "Our main advantage as human beings lies in our ability to think together." Much of value here in this second book of Johnston's.
What do You think about Opening Minds: Using Language To Change Lives (2012)?
Excellent read!! The chapter on Social Imagination is a must for all educators!!
—Rjplyler
Peter H. Johnston writes clearly about the impact of our words on our students.
—Angel
Very good, gets a little preachy at the end
—LovieDovie
