Question 1/Week 1 (blog entry for ETL this week): Consider your summer learning and summer planning for this upcoming school year, write a list of 5-10 “non-negotiables” of ideas/concepts/practice that you learned that you will NEVER sacrifice in your classroom – they are THAT important! Why have you chosen these?
As the new school year quickly approaches I have an obligation to reflect upon the “non-negotiables” of my teaching. My “non-negotiables” are a list of my beliefs where I will dedicate my time and attention during each school day.
Responsive Classroom~ This summer I did some research on Responsive Classroom. I think that gathering my students in a central area for a Morning Meeting is essential to creating a positive classroom community. It brings all members of the classroom closer together as a classroom family where we are able to share about the activities of the day. Furthermore, by incorporating all of the components of the Responsive Classroom, I am building in time for Community Building.
Community Building~ This “non-negotiable” is a biggie! I took a class this summer that was based on building classroom community. I enjoyed this immensely as it reminded me of some of my own principles of teaching. I’ve always been a strong believer of creating a community of learners amongst the students of my classroom, but have always started the year out good, but by the end of the year my effort to build classroom community seems to always dwindle. I am going to be very purposeful and intentional this year in creating a community of learners, this is high on my priority list.
Differentiated Instruction~ My research this summer focused on differentiated instruction, specifically during Center Time. I have always believed that children learn in different ways and in different modalities, however, it can sometimes be difficult to meet the countless needs in a classroom. This year I am going to continue to differentiate my instruction as to meet the various needs of my students. I plan to differentiate most of my instruction during Center Time so I can meet with small groups to further meet individual student needs.
Center Time~ This is a time of our day that I think is vitally important. With increasing time spent on assessing and preparing students to take mandated tests, I think that center time often gets overlooked. Center time is a remarkable opportunity for children to collaborate, learn from one another, become independent learners, make choices to guide their learning, learn responsibility and to take control of their learning. Furthermore, Center Time offers children opportunities of active engagement, communication with others and hands-on learning. While the rest of my class in participating in Center Time, it allows me to meet with small groups so I can further differentiate student learning while meeting state and grade-level standards.
Essential Questions/Backwards Design~ This is somewhat of a new approach to planning for me. During the last couple of weeks I have been working hard on creating units based on Backwards Design. I have been busy creating essential questions that encompass the “big ideas” that I want my students to walk away from a unit with. I am still in the process of tweaking them to make them more kid-friendly for my students and this will be a practice that I will continue to focus on during my teaching career.
Play Time~ This is a topic that seems to be controversial lately in education. I have learned that it is extremely important to include various forms of play in school. It gives children the opportunity to learn and be themselves. Play helps children simulate real-life experiences in a child centered way while providing a line of communication with peers. Friendships form when children communicate with each other. Integrating play helps children make connections with one another.
Question 2/Week 2 (blog entry for ETL week 2): How have you planned to overtly “teach” with these “non-negotiables” in mind? What impact will these “non-negotiables” have on you as a teacher? …on your students? …on their learning? …on your classroom? …on our school and/or colleagues? Explain.
I plan to be very explicit in planning my lessons with my “non-negotiables” in mind. I will be intentional in building in the time into our daily schedule to practice my “non-negotiables” and will pay attention to how it is affecting my students.
Myself~ For me, I think that by pursuing these “non-negotiables” I will become a more confident and empowered teacher. In addition, I will be providing my students with the tools that they need to become lifelong learners by not disregarding my plan to incorporate my “non-negotiables”.
Students~ For my students, I think that they will learn to appreciate being a part of our classroom community and will enjoy coming to school each day. I think that one of the most important jobs that a Kindergarten teacher has is to instill a love of learning in students, after all, this is just the beginning of their education and if I can help them like school, they will become more successful.
Colleagues~ I think that I could become a leader amongst my colleagues. Currently, most teachers in my grade-level do not place a high emphasis on “choice time” or “play” in their classroom; this could change if they see the impact that it will have on relationships in our classroom. Also, almost my whole team has been trained in RC, so I think that they will be very helpful in answering any questions that I may have while implementing the approach into my classroom.
Question 3/Week 3 (blog entry for ETL week 3): What questions do you still have? What are you anticipating as roadblocks? How will you mediate these roadblocks? What successes do you anticipate? Why?
This year I am going back to teaching All-Day/Everyday Kindergarten and am excited to have the luxury of time on my side. I am thrilled to get to know my students really well and not to have to manage two classess of Kindergarteners. As of right now, I don’t feel like I have a lot of roadblocks, however it all depends on the make-up of my class. There could potentially be some behavior problems that will offset my plans a bit, but that just might take a little extra time and effort to work through those! I anticipate an exceptional year ahead with a lot of fun and learning...just so, so, so excited!!!
