Today I am linking up with Mr. Greg and the 3 lovely chapter hosts for the Teaching With Intention book study! Whew. I don't know about you, but chapter 2 makes you think! Here's what I took away from the chapter.
Chapter 2 is called Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices. It's short but more powerful than you'd first think. I jotted down some notes and even tried to write down my beliefs.
* The anchor classroom teacher (from Chapter 1) that Debbie visited had a vision of what she wanted for her classroom. This classroom took well thought out planning and putting her vision into action. It showed by Debbie's reaction to the classroom visit. I highlighted this phrase in the book in reference to that teacher:
"and she's made conscious decisions and taken deliberate actions to get them there ever since."
Wow! I feel like sometimes I have these ideas but immediately shoot them down or wonder if I have the time or the space. This chapter has made me realize that I really need to sit down and list what my beliefs are and make it match my classroom practices. Here's how Debbie Miller suggests going about doing that:
1. Develop your belief statements.
2. Align those statements with your classroom practices.
3. Find evidence throughout your day of those beliefs you listed.
At the end of the chapter it is suggested to take 15 minutes after each day and jot down your reflections of the day. Keep those states short, clear, potent, and powerful! Um, let me go find an awesome journal to keep these in ASAP! (seriously, it's on my list of things to buy) I think this is a great idea. I keep hearing "be reflective, be reflective". Oh I reflect, but I never write it down...therefore 3 days later I have no idea sometimes what I wanted to change or things to remember about a lesson that went well or didn't. A key thing here for me will be keeping them SHORT. Um, Debbie Miller...I don't talk short nor do I write short! That will be my challenge is not going into stories and keeping it simple!
Can I get an amen for the very last paragraph? "Take the high road. Don't let them defeat you. Do what you have to do; in the end no one can mandate how you feel about children, the ways you interact with them throughout the day, and the things you say and do that reflect who you are and what your believe about teaching and learning." - page 20 Teaching With Intention by: Debbie Miller. I'm not going to say much other than, how do I insert the hands in the air emoji?!
Things I am most definitely taking away from this chapter:
1. Develop my belief statements and match my practices to them.
2. Reflecting at the end of the day, must jot it down!
Now, I wrote down a very ROUGH draft of my beliefs. This was easy but at the same time hard...if that makes any sense at all. I know what I believe...but I'm a talker. I want a narrowed down list that hits all the main beliefs. I am going to be thinking on them and when the book study is over I will post them on here! I also want to post them in my classroom as well.
Have a lovely week everyone! If you're still in school...hang in there. I don't know how you do it!
I had a student that would say, "Raise your Amen hand for that!" And I did a lot of that in this chapter! Like you, I'm going to be thinking about the content of this chapter and feeding off its positive challenges for a good long while.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! That is great! :)
DeleteI love your idea of getting a cute notebook for reflecting! You may also want to consider making or finding one that you can print out (and maybe bind yourself) if you have trouble keeping it short. A template might be useful. I'm going to be posting my Chapter 2 reflection sometime by the end of the day. Maybe I'll throw together a quick reflection sheet that encourages short writing.
ReplyDeleteKristin
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