Inviting Students to Learn: 100 Tips for Talking Effectively with Your Students

by Jenny Edwards

(ASCD, 2010)

Reviewed by Cindi Rigsbee, NBCT

Middle Grades Literacy (NC)

Teacher Leaders Network

I was drawn into this book by Jenny Edwards because the title suggests something I’d never really thought consciously about: talking with my students. Sure, I talk to them, and not as part of a dictatorship in a classroom but as part of a relationship, a culture of family. But do I talk with them? I know I have to read this book to find out.

When I think about a second master’s degree in my future, I often think of studying linguistics. I love words and therefore became more and more interested in Inviting Students to Learn as I read along. I was pulled in as early as the Acknowledgments, where the author thanks someone who taught her “precision in language.” Then she mentions something called “neuro-linguistic programming.” I’m getting excited...

I calm down at the Foreword, though, which I find to be a little too heavy on sharing language instruction and less about giving the big picture of the book’s merits. Over the course of several pages, only two paragraphs are devoted to actually framing and promoting the book’s usefulness. But on I go, thinking back to the acknowledgments and still sensing that this book is full of possibilities for this language lover.

I don’t have long to wait. The introduction makes me feel as if the author knows me: she’s included a poem, “A Language That Expresses Care,” at the beginning of the book! Early on, she’s hit me where it really matters. Then Plato and Mahatma Gandhi are quoted, and research is referenced. Dr. Edwards knows her stuff on the relationship between students and language and knows how to share it in a way that isn’t clinical and tasting like medicine.

The first chapter defines skills needed to “communicate invitationally” with students — but really, the tips on posture, gestures, tone of voice, etc. should be considered when communicating with anyone. Then, in Chapter Two, Edwards gives suggestions on ways to communicate, everything from the seamless and easy (compliments, positive notes, emails) to those that require 21st century technology and understanding: for example, MUVES (Multiuser Virtual Environments, MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Player Games), podcasts, wikis, Twitter, and more. Meanwhile, the explanations in this chapter are reader-friendly and non-threatening, a surefire way to keep an audience engaged and turning pages.

No education book is complete without a discussion of how to make the advice work for any student in any class. Chapter Three takes us through language tips for special needs students, diverse populations, students of different ages, and even a relatively new group of students — the online learners — a refreshing addition that is commonly included, if at all, as an afterthought. In Edwards’ schema, digitally oriented students are given as much consideration as any other set of learners with special characteristics..

Chapter Four connects Edwards’ ideas to various purposes: building relationships, teaching, planning for the future, encouraging students, etc., and I’m becoming more and more impatient: where are they? What are these tips she keeps mentioning? Then I turn the page – “100 Tips for Talking Effectively with Your Students.”

I can barely turn the pages quickly enough: there are lists of adverbs to use when communicating, for example, and that’s just the beginning. The “tips” range in length from a third- to a full page, and at the end of each tip you’ll find a list of possible connections with Edwards’ discussion in earlier chapters.
There are literally hundreds of examples of words and phrases that will intentionally enable students to learn. I tried to select a favorite one or two for the purposes of this review (“Words that Change Minds,” “Magic Words” etc.) but there are just too many. If you’d like to see a sample selection of tips, download this PDF from the ASCD website.

Jenny Edwards has taken research on language, combined it with common sense and what she’s seen work with students, and shared it with her readers. She adds book recommendations and references other authors and researchers for additional study. Now I’m hooked and would like to read more on the topic of using language to “invite” our students to learn. I’ll start by re-reading this book. It’s so rich with information, I need to approach it in stages — try a couple of the tricks and then dive back into it again.

This book will be useful to anyone who communicates with anyone about anything. I’m going to begin by using some of the tips while talking with my husband. I bet he won’t even pick up the remote.

Cindi Rigsbee is a middle grades literacy teacher and coach in Orange County, North Carolina. She was a finalist for National Teacher of the Year in 2009, writes poetry and is the author of Finding Mrs. Warnacke. (Jossey Bass, 2010). She’s currently a teacher on loan to the N.C. Department of Public Instruction. She blogs at The Dream Teacher.