Language of Possibility: How Teachers' Words Shape School Culture and Student Achievement (Increase Empathic Communication in Your Classroom)

Language can help lift or limit students. Based on brain research and authentic classroom experience, this book will help you get back to the optimism of teaching by reconnecting with the possibility of each student. From classroom practice to systemwide policies, readers will find strategies for shifting the way we approach teaching to cultivate the gifts each student has to offer.

• Understand how limiting language stifles student growth and academic success
• Utilize figures and other resources to better recognize limiting language and replace it with positive language
• Reflect on the culture of your own school and improve collaborative work
• Access and analyze data that will equip you to better handle obstacles in developing your professional learning community
• Improve communication among all classrooms within your school or district

Michael Roberts is an author with more than two decades of experience in education. Michael has been an administrator at the district level and has served as an on-site administrator at the high school, middle school, and elementary levels.
Prior to his stint as the director of elementary curriculum and instruction in Scottsdale, Arizona, Michael was the principal of Desert View Elementary School (DVES) in Hermiston, Oregon. Under his leadership, DVES produced evidence of increased learning each year from 2013–2017 for all students and met the challenges of 40 percent growth over four years, a rising population of English learners, and a dramatic increase in the number of trauma-affected students. Michael attributes the success of DVES to the total commitment of staff to the three big ideas and the four critical questions of a professional learning community. This commitment has led to a schoolwide transition from “me” to “we”―a fundamental shift in thinking that has made all the difference.
Previously, Michael served as an assistant principal in Prosser, Washington, where he was named the 2010–2011 Three Rivers Principal Association Assistant Principal of the Year. In 2011–2012, Michael was a finalist for Washington Assistant Principal of the Year.
Michael earned his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Washington State University and his master’s degree in educational leadership from Azusa Pacific University.
To learn more about Michael’s work, visit https://everykidnow.com, or follow him @everykidnow on Twitter or everykidnow on Instagram.