The Missouri Reader Vol. 37, Issue 2 | Page 66

In Opening Minds, Johnston breaks
children’s theories and beliefs into two
distinct groups: the fixed-knowledge frame
and the dynamic knowledge frame. Fixed
theory represents characteristics and abilities
as permanent, “I am not a good reader”.
Fixed knowledge thinkers view mistakes as
detrimental and often do not try tasks that
are difficult or involve risks for fear they will
not able to accomplish the task. Students
who view life in dynamic frames think that
their ability and intelligences grows over time
and is always changing with new knowledge
and situations. Dynamic learners feel the
harder they work, the more they learn, the
smarter they get. Challenges are not
threatening or detrimental, rather a way to
learn something new and create a more
interesting environment. Teachers language
can help students create a dynamic learning
narrative by choosing what to say when
students are successful or unsuccessful, the
way activities are framed in the classroom,
and what we explicitly teach children about
how our minds and brains work when we
learn. For example, after a student has made
a comment, the teacher can validate the
student’s voice by rephrasing the students
thinking aloud, showing the student that the
teacher is listening and giving them the
opportunity to reflect on his or her thinking.
The teacher can then ask the student, “How
did you do that?” giving the student the
opportunity to rethink the steps involved in
problem solving. This question, as well as
questions like, “How did you…” and “What are
you thinking?” invites students to build
agency and increase the strategy involved in
dynamic learning.
Giving feedback is one area in which
teachers must reflect and being willing to
change. Although this can be difficult,
Johnston finds it the point of most leverage.
Feedback should be immediate and a moment
to teach students how to respond to each
other and the effort that is taking place in the
classroom. Process and effort feedback are
the best options because trying is more
important than success. In a dynamic

learning narrative students focus on the
process, rather than the product or outcome.
By pointing out the process, students can
transfer the knowledge and use it again in
another situation. Johnston (2012) states,
“Praise is related to power and control” (p.
44). By giving feedback, teachers are
improving conceptual understanding and
developing stamina, flexibility, and purpose.
The classroom discourse must change and
promote positive language interaction
between students and teachers.
One
way to do this is to begin feedback with
phrases like, “I like the way you…” or “Look at
how you…”in order to draw attention to the
process in which students are working.
In order to promote interaction, teachers
must create a dialogic classroom where there
are open-ended questions, discussions, and
interactions between students. A variety of
perspectives and ideas are encouraged and
valued throughout the discussion. However,
an important feature of the dialogic
classroom is symmetrical power
relationships, where all students have
something to contribute and learn from each
other, not the typical teacher as the expert,
student as the learner relationship. Johnston
gives several suggestions on how to decrease
asymmetrical relationships in the classroom,
and has found that by focusing on process
rather than product, students are lead into a
dynamic frame in which the power is
symmetrical. Johnston (2012) suggests
several tools for reducing asymmetrical
power relationships such as asking open
questions, using words such as “maybe,
perhaps, or I wonder” when having
discussions, allow students to take turns
without having your input in the
conversation, remind children to speak
directly to each other, not using you as the go
between, and ask children to report on what
their partner had to say, not what they
themselves had to say (pg. 56). Teachers
should arrange for students to learn together,
build on each other’s ideas, view various
perspectives, and encourage thinking
together. Cooperative classrooms foster
©The Missouri Reader, 37 (2) p.66