The Missouri Reader Vol. 37, Issue 2 | Page 69

testing shows our students that a single
performance determines many factors that
affect our communities, throwing students on
a fixed-performance learning frame. We need
a better grasp on what constitutes quality
education.
Johnston and Costello (2005) also points
out that high stakes testing undermines
school districts stating, “…the assumption
behind current accountability testing is that
schools as organizations, and the individuals
within them, are not only unable to monitor
their own performance but are also unlikely
to provide the best instruction they can
unless forced to do so annual through
rewards and punishments” (p. 264). The best
interest of the child is not at the heart of high
stakes testing. Students are not able to
collaborate to solve problems, or even able to
discuss and reason through the process to
reach an answer, all of which Johnston has
found to be effective in his research. Johnston
(2005) sums it up best by leaving us with this
thought, “Learning must form the basis of our
assessment practice” (p. 265).

Final Reflections
Teacher’s language affects children’s
learning and has the power to change a
child’s life. In each of the books, Johnston’s
draws on real-classroom examples that
empower students to be dynamic learners,
who work together, and build on each other’s
strengths to solve problems and learn. The
teacher must level the power between the
teacher and the student, leaving the room
open for discussion and learning to take
place. Creating a classroom community in
which students are rehearsing agentive
narratives will ensure that students are
learning that they make a difference, and
have an impact on the classroom as well as
the society outside of the classroom. By
providing feedback for students and
encouraging students to see that our minds
change and grow through process, teachers
are helping students foster agency. A dialogic
classroom increases social interaction

between students, learning how to disagree
and agree, how to problem solve, and how to
change over time. Teacher’s language is the
most powerful tool they have in the
classroom.
In closing, teachers face many challenges
in the high stakes testing, performance and
assessment driven society that is education.
By focusing on the language of the classroom,
teachers can help students become dynamic
learners who focus on learning and accepting
challenges on a daily basis. Encouraging
classroom discussion and fostering effort and
process-oriented feedback, the teacher can
build on student’s strengths. Teachers must
equip students with the skills and strategies
needed to be productive citizens of the world.
By reexamining our language and
interactions within the classroom, we can
make that impact on our students, in turn
changing the future of our country.

References
Clay, M. M. (1991) Becoming literate:
Construction of inner control. Portsmouth,
NH: Heinemann.
Dyson, A. (1999). Coach Bombay’s kids learn
to write: children’s appropriation of
media material for school literacy.
Research in the Teaching of English, 33(4),
367-401.
Greene, M. (1985) The role of education in
democracy. Educational Horizons. 63: 3-9.
International Reading Association &
National Council for Teachers of
English. (1994). Standards for the
assessment of reading and writing.
Newerk: DE. International
Reading Association; Urbana: IL.: National
Council for Teachers of English.
Johnston, P. (2004) Choice words: How our
language affects children’s learning.
Portland, ME: Stenhouse.
Johnston, P. (2012) Opening minds: Using
language to change lives. Portland, ME:
Stenhouse.
©The Missouri Reader, 37 (2) p.69