The Practical Classroom
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from their academic toolbox. Every student has the tools; they just need the right supports to learn to use them.
See Not-Yet Language for Learning Success (page 86), in this chapter, to explore more examples of empowering language.
Deficit Language in Disciplinary Instruction Although simply building a general vocabulary for a practical classroom is important, teachers must further reflect on the language they use when engaging in disciplinary instruction. Education author and consultant Rick Wormeli (2020) cautions, “Judgement and evaluation tend to invoke ego and self-preservation, not useful reflection and personal growth.” As students confront skill deficits specific to particular content areas, it’s very easy to inadvertently adopt deficit-minded thinking and language that are contrary to the ideas you learned about in chapter 3 (page 37) regarding a growth mindset, grit, and abolitionist teaching. When teachers see a student struggling in ELA but not mathematics, or in chemistry but not physics, there can be a tendency to believe the student lacks skills in these specific areas. This leads to acceptance of student struggles (“He just can’t do .”) and causes lasting harm. Judgment and evaluation reflect fixed-mindset thinking, which discourages students from engaging in productive struggle as they endeavor to stick with it through problems and try new strategies to overcome a setback or roadblock. Wormeli (2020) reminds us that “the goal is for children themselves to see the errors and how to fix them.” That goal aligns with the not-yet approach—helping students to build their capacity for growth and understand they can overcome struggles in a particular content area if they have time and the right supports.
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In a practical classroom, teachers modify their language from a deficit model to the not-yet approach, which focuses on language that is explicit and empowering and language that is useful in showing students how to move forward versus language that chastises where they have been. ELA, mathematics, and special education teacher Alyssa Nucaro (2017) explains how practical language empowers students and enhances classroom productivity: “Communicating to students that you believe in them and their abilities gives students the confidence they need to collaborate with others, become respectful learners, and work competently by reiterating positive behaviors and encouraging all students to do the same.” In this context, practical language expresses belief in students and their abilities, the confidence to collaborate with them around their learning efforts, and the value of a growth mindset.
