Louder Than Words, by Benjamin Bergen, tells us to "use concrete words, active verbs, and positive statements" (according to reviewer KP Hagen)

KP Hagen is an able source of summaries of important (often overlooked) texts.  


Here is her summary so far of Louder than Words by Benjamin Bergen

Louder than Words is about the Embodiment Theory of language. fMRIs are confirming what good writers have been telling us for ages--use concrete words, use active verbs, use positive statements--and now we know why. http://www.amazon.com/Louder-Than-Words-Science-ebook/dp/B00918JOBI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370281884&sr=8-1&keywords=louder+than+words 

My take away from it, based on being about halfway through is ideas on how to make our communication easier to understand. Sure, these are ideas all writing teachers have, but now we know why they work.

1. Use concrete nouns

2. Use action verbs

3. State ideas in the positive (because it you state in the negative, people have to imagine the idea and then make it the opposite). So, better than The dog was not clean, say or write, The dog was dirty.

4. Make sure your metaphoric or descriptive language works from a body standpoint--doesn't have to be your body, but something that could have been seen, heard, felt, smelled, tasted.

-- KPHagen 

I hope these summaries are helpful to readers of this blog.  I find them essential to my continued growth as a writer and interpretor of research.   READ MORE

Where do posters come from? This poster came from one of my colleagues, who recommends Ken Bain's book about Great College Teachers

"I watched the dancing quotations video and really enjoyed it."

Ken Bain's Whatthe Best College Teachers Do has inspired one of my colleagues to send me the following note and quote from his book:

I watched the dancing quotations video and really enjoyed it. One of the quotes reminded me of a phrase from Ken Bain's What the Best College Teachers Do (an amazing book--it will rekindle your love of teaching if you're ever down). This isn't an exact quote, but it's close: "A grade is the beginning of a dialogue between the student and I as we explore how well the student has understood the material." And then, I couldn't stand not having it right, so I went looking for it. Here's the paragraph:

...the syllabus summarized how the instructor and the students would understand the nature and progress of the learning. This was far more than an exposition of grading policies; it was the beginning of a dialogue in which both students and instructors explored how they would understand learning, so they could both make adjustments as they went and evaluate the nature of the learning by the end of the term.

 

Great stuff. 

Why not look at the book?

Link to the video  youtube.com/KpHagen1

By the way, KPHagen.com has an excellent video about how professors can work together to accelerate feedback to students

Here's one of the links to the dancing words.