Can you believe we’re approaching the end of our summer book study?!
This chapter was all about the thoughtful use of time! Isn’t this one of our biggest issues in the classroom?!?! So much to do and so little time?!?!
I want to share a couple of quotes that really hit home for me…
“Learning by doing takes time…”
This year time is going to be a major adjustment for me because I am moving to a new school that has a shorter day! My day will be an hour shorter this year so fitting it all in is going to be even more of a challenge!
This sums it up so powerfully. Our students learn by doing. Hands on. Engaging activities that challenge them to figure things out. Not by doing worksheets or test prep packets. But by doing with the their hands and this takes time. We need to build this time into our day and not be driven by timers (GUILTY, Party of GREG!)!!
“Keep it simple…”
This is something else I’m really working on. Not everything has to be big and fancy and Pinterest worthy. In fact, it’s those little moments in the classroom that matter the most. This year my classroom has been simplified (as far as decorations…) which means tons of room for student work! My center system is simplified for me (teacher friendly and easily managed) and the ‘staches. Kid friendly=independence=more time for me to do what they need me to do!
Conferring
My big take away from this book is conferring!!!! Not just talking to my ‘staches, but talking with them, listening to them, and discussing their work with them to personalize instruction and build that all important relationship with each student!
And finally, this year I am going to work on making conferring part of my day! I love the challenge that Debbie issues on page 119 of Teaching With Intention: commit to one or two conferences a day for two or three weeks and you’ll be hooked!
So, let’s challenge ourselves to making conferring part of our day! Who’s with me??
And finally, two quotes from the book that I hope you’ll carry with you each day:
“Remember then that there is only one important time and that time is now.”
“And remember, when you walk in to the classroom, you are a brilliant teacher, okay?”
Indeed. We are all brilliant teachers. And we are the cool kids and we are all the popular kids!
Next week, I will be speaking to Debbie Miller about the book and asking her your questions!!!!! Stay tuned for details!
Be sure to link up your post about chapter 8!
//static.inlinkz.com/cs2.js?v=116
Join Our Newsletter
Subscribe to get our latest content by email.
3 comments
I'd love to check in later in the year and chat about how conferring is (or isn't!) working in the first few weeks of school. How are you planning to document your conferring?
This chapter had so many take aways for me. I've always done conferencing but I think by limiting how many students I conference with during writing time I'll be able to have those deeper conversations. That whole quote by Jon Muth was so powerful – I want to get a print of it and hang it somewhere!
I believe that it is better to meet with 1 or 2 students daily. I’d rather do this because then you can focus in on that child’s needs/weakness and build those up to be strengthens. When my district requires me to do small groups for guided reading and math, I am not sure how to accomplish this. Something I need to work on. This just popped into my head, I can do this in the morning after I take attendance and things like that, while they are working on their morning work.
Digging deeper to ensure that my students understand the skills being taught is what is most important. Making sure that they learn what they need/have to and have fun doing it would make for success. By digging deeper and conferring with individual students will help create the relationship that Debbie speaks about. This will create a better classroom environment, as well as a fun/trusting/caring relationship I want to have with my students. This will happen because I will also be able to make those important connections and getting to know you moments with them. They need to know that I am a human being and I have a life outside of the classroom. I need to know about their likes/dislikes/favorites to learn how I can make this year more enjoyable for them, as several of them may have never been a school setting before.
“Keeping it simple” is something that I’d love to do. This would make life easier for me and my students. None of us need to make learning difficult because then it’s not fun. Again, something I need to work on. I have materials to use and yet I find myself trying reinvent the wheel. Simplicity makes life easier for all involved.
I came way with lots of ideas to use, as well as areas that I need to improve on. Being in kindergarten for my third year, I taught middle school Language Arts for 11 years prior, I have areas that I need to improve on and this book has helped realize that I am a good teacher, but I can be better. In time, I will be a better teacher tomorrow than I was yesterday.