Teaching with Intention, Chapter 7

Moving close to the end of my own little book study on Teaching with Intention!



Chapter 7 is Assessment, Reflections, and Next Steps.















Oh, I LOVE Calvin and Hobbes {and I'm probably breaking some copyright laws, but whatever!}

When I think of assessments, I usually think of a test that shows "did they get it?" But Debbie Miller seems to be more interested in on-going, formative assessments. She talks about conferring, observing, listening in, looking at student work, and more. She says "When we ask students to make their thinking visible during the process of learning something new, these authentic responses are the kinds of formative assessments that guide our instruction." 

Did you get the last part - guide our instruction. To me, what Miller is saying is that even though I have lesson plans for the week, I need to see where my kids are as we progress, so that I can see where I need to go next. 

Miller calls this Next Steps. She doesn't talk much about Next Steps, but she does say that we need to be reflective and ask ourselves questions about our lessons, and then think about what's next.

Not as much to take in as the last chapter, but more thinking for sure. 

Yesterday was not the best day - my daughter ended up not feeling well all afternoon and evening. Hoping that today is better. And we have rain - that's a big Hallelujah in this dry area. Hope you have something that brings a smile to your face. Sara