Weekly Reading Wednesday- Teaching with Intention Chapter 1

This summer, Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard is hosting a book study on Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller.

This week was all about Chapter 1: Your Ideal Classroom.

I really liked this chapter. It was such an easy read. It was like Debbie Miller was speaking to ME, and inspiring me to move out of the way and let me kids LEARN! I know I'm going to take some great things away from this book as the summer continues! Let's get on with Chapter 1, shall we.

My ideal classroom is a space where students feel welcome, supported, and safe. So many children come to school in the morning after a rough time at home. I want my classroom to be their safe place, where they do not have to worry about going hungry, getting beaten, or feeling like they aren't important. I want them to feel "at home" or better than being at home!

When students come into the classroom, I want them to be able to learn where and how they can be most successful. I want my students to learn how to make smart choices and to take responsibility for their education. Choice is so important and helps students take charge of what they are learning.

So, in my ideal classroom, I want to give the students the ability to choose as much as possible. I believe that will really help them to take the initiative to learn more.

In my ideal classroom, I want to see the students learning, working hard, discussing things, teaching and helping each other, and most importantly enjoying themselves. The teacher would be working with students in a variety of settings: 1-on-1, conferencing, small group, guided reading, math group, strategy group, whole group, etc.

Last year, I did not give my students assigned seats. Other teachers thought I was losing my mind, but I wanted to see how my kiddos did with the freedom. I couldn't believe how well it worked out. My students usually made smart choices about who to sit with or work with. Their assignments got done, and I didn't have the usual headache of "Little Susie touched me with her pencil." I mean really, folks, it was awesome! They had the choice of sitting at the tables, on the floor or carpet, the center areas, or anywhere around the room. I was inspired to give them more choices for them to take charge of their own learning.

My next move to give more choice in my classroom was to give center choices. I still wanted them to try activities in each center, so I created a chart with a picture representing each available center, and the kiddos got to choose the order they went to the centers. It worked out so much better than I ever thought. They really took charge, and I began to see the kiddos blossom!

One of my favorite things to hear is, "Is there anyone in your classroom?" I know that sounds strange to want to hear, but on multiple occasions, someone (including my principal once) asked this question. The first time I heard it, I was a little confused. I looked around my room, and realized that my kiddos were super quiet. Not mischievously quiet, but hard-at-work quiet. While working with a small group, I'm not one to interrupt quiet learning, so I was very proud. Of course, the class got a reward for getting a compliment about being so good at quietly learning independently or pairs. After the first time, I learned to just smile and say, "We're just learning hard."

I feel like I'm getting closer and closer to my ideal classroom. However, each year brings a different chemistry into the classroom, so we will see how it goes next year, but I will definitely be striving for this each year!

Can I just say that I hate paper. I know that we need to have paper for certain things: students have to practice writing, teachers need to have a paper-trail for certain things, documentation, student portfolios, etc. I'm just not good at keeping up with it all and getting it organized. UGH! It's awful! My poor kiddos often said something to the tune of "Miss C, you really need to clean your table off!" Yes, my sweet kiddo, I know I do.

So, my goal for next year is to be more organized with the paper work. This summer, I'm working on collecting all the binders I can get so I can put all papers away into binders on the shelves behind my table next year. We shall see.


There are quite a few teachers working together on this book study. Check out Greg at The Kindergarten Smorgasboard, Keri at the Enchanted Kindergarten, Jessica at Mrs. Plemon's Kindergarten, and Stephany at Primary Possibilities to see more thoughts on Chapter 1 of Teaching with Intention.