Teaching With Intention, Chapter 5

I know in my last blog post - my Summer Bucket List - I said I didn't want to do any school related stuff until July 15. But I feel like this is an incomplete, and I want to finish it up. 

I started my own little study of

And I had gotten through chapter 4. I've got 5 chapters left, and I'm going to try to do one a day this week, just to finish this up. {And get that incomplete off my record!}

Chapter 5 is called Swimming with Sharks: Teaching for Understanding and Engagement. In this chapter, Debbie Miller takes an actual lesson, actually a unit, on sharks, and tells her readers things she does to encourage understanding. Miller says, "The point is to know who you are and what you're about when you're teaching based on your beliefs, your students, and the environment you are creating." When doing a unit of study, Miller suggests making a large file folder and labeling sections of it Our Schema, New Learning and Misconceptions. 
Sort of like this from Deanna Jump:



I did something similar to this with a couple units I did at the end of the year on Dinosaurs and Insects. 

Wait, wait, wait - yes! {fist pump} I remembered to take pictures:

One thing I didn't do, that Debbie Miller suggests and I want to incorporate next time, is see if you "can make connections between new learning and what we already know."

Another idea Debbie Miller suggests is that when you hear your little voice in your head say Wow!, you need to "slow down, listen carefully, and think about what you just read." I try to do this with my kids, but sometimes I hear the tick, tock of the clock, and I don't take time to help them see important things we've read. 

Last Saturday, Tammy from Forever in First wrote about what she values. I like what she wrote, and it encourages me to continue thinking about this. Take a look for her ideas.

Otherwise, I'm enjoying my summer break. Last week was vacation time in the Colorado Rockies - I'll have to do a show and tell soon. 

Sara