First Five Phrases
Five phrases to begin
Secondary · Grades 9–12
Speak with Intention · The Learning Conditions
The five
Engage students as increasingly independent thinkers while maintaining professional authority, academic standards, and disciplinary expertise.
| Classroom moment | Try this | What it opens |
|---|---|---|
| When you want the student's reasoning | “What's your reasoning?” | Treats the student's thinking as something worth examining, not merely marking right or wrong. |
| Before giving feedback | “Before you read my feedback, what are you noticing?” | Builds self-evaluation before teacher evaluation. |
| When a student brings relevant expertise | “What do you know about this context that could help us?” | Makes legitimate room for knowledge that may sit beyond the teacher or the textbook. |
| When certainty would be premature | “What would we need to know before we could be more certain?” | Turns uncertainty into disciplined inquiry. |
| When the question is genuinely hard | “This is a question I find genuinely hard. Let me think out loud, and you do the same.” | Models expertise without performing certainty or withholding what you know. |
Why these five
Your words become their thinking
By sixteen, a student has absorbed a working definition of what counts as thinking — and they absorbed it from the adults who taught them. The questions you ask repeatedly become the questions they ask themselves when no one is watching.
A student who has been asked what's your reasoning? for three years does not stop asking it when they leave your room. That is the whole return on this practice, and it arrives late.
What to expect
The first time you say “Before you read my feedback, what are you noticing?” some students will resist — they came for the mark, not the conversation. Ask anyway. Self-evaluation is a skill that develops through use, and it will not develop if teacher judgment always arrives first.
How to begin
One phrase a day
Take one phrase a day for a week. The awkwardness is normal — it means you are changing a pattern that has been automatic for years.
| Day | The phrase to practise |
|---|---|
| Monday | “What's your reasoning?” |
| Tuesday | “Before you read my feedback, what are you noticing?” |
| Wednesday | “What do you know about this context that could help us?” |
| Thursday | “What would we need to know before we could be more certain?” |
| Friday | “This is a question I find genuinely hard. Let me think out loud, and you do the same.” |
Use the held-back answer strategically. When students have enough knowledge to think productively, make room for their reasoning before adding yours. When they need expertise, teach. This is a starting point for professional judgment, not a set of words to reproduce exactly.