The last line in the book I’m about to recommend reads, “This is how school can sound.”

Whether you’re about to enter your first classroom or have been teaching for 20 years, I can think of no better book to recommend to you this summer then Paula Denton’s The Power of Our Words: Teacher Language That Helps Children Learn.

Published last year by Northeast Foundation for Children, the professional development organization that sponsors Responsive Classroom® workshops and institutes nationwide, Denton’s book is rapidly rising to the top of the list of word-of-mouth favorites among practicing classroom teachers.

And no wonder. The book is packed cover to cover with practical strategies and well organized ideas about how to talk with children in ways that enhance their learning, advance their academic and social skills, and strengthens the fabric of the classroom community.

Take this snippet from the book, for example: “There are students who will habitually bring a piece of work to us and ask, ‘Do you like it?’ How are we to respond? . . . ‘Here’s what I notice about this work,’ we might say, and then name some interesting and skillful aspects we observed. We can then ask the child, ‘What do you like about your work?’ or ‘What else would you like me to know about this work?’”

With insights like this, Denton makes the case that the teacher’s goal is to help build the student’s sense of intrinsic motivation and self-worth. Her book is dotted with literally scores of sensational charts giving concrete examples that invite us to kindle a spark in a child by saying something in a new way. Here’s a small sample:

Instead of this: Let’s see which table can get their supplies together fastest.

Try this: I see lots of supplies gathered. We’ll begin when every table is ready.

Teaching teachers the power of their own words through the power of her words, Denton has created a classic teacher text certain to be treasured by every teacher lucky enough to read it.