Introducing a spelling test to a student by saying, ''Let'' s see how many words you know,'' is different from saying, ''Let''s see how many words you know already.''

It is only one word, but the already suggests that any words the child knows are ahead of expectation and, most important, that there is nothing permanent about what is known and not known.

Peter Johnston Grounded in research, Opening Minds: Using Language to Change Lives shows how words can shape students'' learning, their sense of self, and their social, emotional and moral development.

Make no mistake: words have the power to open minds – or close them.

Following up his groundbreaking book, Choice Words, author Peter Johnston continues to demonstrate how the things teachers say (and don''t say) have surprising consequences for the literate lives of students.

In this new book, Johnston shows how the words teachers choose can affect the worlds students inhabit in the classroom. He explains how to engage children with more productive talk and how to create classrooms that support students'' intellectual development, as well as their development as human beings.