Hello there friends of mine!! This girl was doing a HAPPY dance this afternoon when the mail came with my Teaching With Intentions book JUST IN TIME to link up with the ONE and ONLY Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard! Y’all. Greg is such a BRILLIANT educator, and his ‘staches are SO lucky to have him, but moreso, he is an AWESOME person. He’s HELPFUL, he’s gracious, he’s POSITIVE, and he is OH so real and authentic. I have learned SO much from him in the last year or so, so do yourself a favor and a) make sure you’re following him and b) join the fun with our Teaching With Intentions linky party EACH WEDNESDAY!! I’m THRILLED to be hosting Chapter 4 in a few weeks, but today, I’m excited to be kicking off chapter 1 with Greg and his co-hosts of week 1, Jessica from Mrs. Plemons’ Kindergarten, Stephany at Primary Possibilities, and Keri from the Enchanted Kinder Garden.
SOOOO without further ado, I want to take a few minutes to share my overall highlights and “ah ha!” moments from Chapter 1:Your Ideal Classroom.
As I read through Chapter 1 – there were several times that I stopped and “YES”ed outloud. This DREAM of a classroom that was described in chapter 1 simply made me smile.
Kids were learning.
Kids were excited about learning.
Kids were FOCUSED on their learning.
Kids were in CHARGE of their learning.
Kids were helping each other excel in their own learning.
and the teacher? The teacher was watching, guiding, redirecting, and challenging the kids’ learning.
It just made me smile. on repeat. I LOVED this classroom.
One of the key quotes that I’m taking away from chapter 1 is that Debbie Miller, the author of this book as well as a visitor in this dream classroom, said,
“It was really hard to leave.”
How about that. She didn’t want to leave that 3rd grade classroom. By the end of each year, I strive to have made THAT type of learning environment for my kiddos. To make learning SO much fun that they never. wanted. to leave. And come the last day of school when I saw tears and heard the annual begs (from students and parents) to PLEASEEEEEEEE MOVE TO 3rd GRADE!!! I was happy to feel like I had done just that.
Chapter 1 is filled with examples of what THAT type of learning environment looks like, to help all of us guide our classrooms into that direction, too. {if we haven’t already gotten there already!!}
Jessica, Stephany and Keri came up with a few key questions to guide our thinking as we read chapter one, so I would like to share a few of my thoughts on each with you now!
My ideal classroom is colorful, inviting, calm, task oriented, organized, and structured.
I want it to LOOK the part…..
But it also needs to SOUND the part!! It is VERY important to me that things are in a place and that our day has structure and routine to it. Do I stop and veer off course for a teachable moment or two? ALWAYS. But do I have a plan and or a lesson sequence that I try to stick to throughout each part of my day? I sure do. We’re planners. That’s what we do as teachers. And the MORE I have planned for a lesson or a day, the BETTER IT GOES!! I love this quote below…
I feel like if you’re planned, your kids stick with you! And if you’re organized and planned, you’re MAXIMIZING learning time!! When you know your lesson, your lesson flows, and that “flow of learning” like Debbie mentions is CONSTANT and happens ALL DAY LONG! LOVE!
Organization is my THING! 🙂 I always have everything for the day at my fingertips which allows for me to keep my focus, time, and energy on TEACHING and on creating that learning filled classroom environment that we all strive for!! I feel like if YOU’RE organized, that helps your kiddos to stay organized, setting them up for success as a student as they grow older and become more and more independent!!
As Debbie also mentioned, an ideal classroom also has “independent” learners. They are learning INDEPENDENTLY from a specific lesson from you! I LOVE that. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE teaching and LOVE being in front of the classroom filling their little brains with as much as I can, but when that learning extends well beyond the lesson and well beyond the time that my voice turns off? LOVE!! love. love. love.
A few ways that help me stay organized, therefore helping to maximize learning time include:
My Erin Condren Teacher Planner
save $10 on one of your own by using my referral link here:
My planner helps me to keep track of what is coming up in my day, therefore minimizing down time and time off task – allowing my students learning to be an endless flow all day!
TO make sure that I am prepared AHEAD of time before the kiddos get there, my LIFESAVER of an organizational tool is my Weekly Planning Checklist… There’s no WAY that I forget to plan, copy, prepare, or create ANYTHING for the upcoming week when I’m using this simple checklist!!
And THENNNN after I plan it all out, it MUST go in and STAY in its place. All copies for the week go in my labeled daily copy folders which are in the drawers, and the other baskets around my daily drawers are where ALL OTHER PAPERS GO! Repeat after me. I will not put papers on my desk. I will not put papers on my desk. 🙂 This makes EVERYTHING so much easier to fine, eliminates your stress {ha} throughout the teaching day, and allows you MORE time to TEACH!! LOVE!!
Hands down. I must let the kids be MORE in charge.
Spoiler alert. I’m a control freak. I’m a HUGE control freak when it comes to my KIDS and my classroom.
However, Debbie mentions how important it is to let them BE IN CHARGE. Don’t get me wrong…my kids have a TON of responsibility in our classroom. The jobs that I have given up control over doing myself have been ALLLLLL theirs this year {at the price of 2 missing calendar numbers} and it truly has helped 1) make less work for me to do and 2) allow the kids to have SO much more ownership in our classroom, therefore to have SO much more ownership of their learning!! They feel EMPOWERED the more independent responsibility that I give them and they LOVE that.
I am definitely better at it now – letting them be in charge – letting them touch my stapler – letting them change the calendar{gasp?!?} – but it’s not easy nor dare I say NATURAL for me to do. #sorrynotsorry. I’m working on it.
HOWEVER I know that they DO have ownership of their learning. That they KNOW how much of their learning is dependent on THEM. I LOVE walking around during stations, read to someone, etc and just LISTENING! I LOVE to hear their ideas bouncing off of each other. Often, I’ll stop the class to SHARE what I hear, and they LOVE that and feel so so proud.
So if you’re a control freak like me… keep letting go :). It’s all good. The kids have got this. {right?!}
Ok so I LOVED the part where Debbie thought “Where’s the teacher?” I tell my kiddos ALL YEAR LONG, you TRULY know the expectations, the rules, and how to indpendently run this classroom yourself when you make the same choices about how to do those things WHEN AN ADULT ISN’T LOOKING! So I LOVED that, above ALL things… the kiddos were doing CRAZY amounts of learning and having AWESOME amounts of focused conversation when their teacher wasn’t reminding nor telling them to!! LOVE that. And DEFINITELY something I want to continue to strive to have happen in my classroom each and every year!
Ok so now that you’ve heard my 2 cents about Chapter 1…. I’d love to hear what YOU think!! What parts of my review… or of my friends’ reviews below …. made you go YES!!! or made you go, like I did “oh crap, I have to work on that” I would LOVE to hear!! Link up OR leave your thoughts in the comments below and check back next Wednesday for Chapter 2!!! 🙂
Great post my friend! I just received my book in the mail today too…in fact just a few hours ago so THIS chapter one post is on my to do list tonight!
I just ordered my copy! I used to be an Instructional Coach and had access to tons of PD. Now, I'm back in the classroom and love finding PD on my own. (Our township believes in rotating coaches in and out of the classroom…good practice – I think.) I cannot wait to join in… Thank you!
Mrs.B's Classroom Adventures
I am just like you in the fact that organization is such a big key for me. I must clear my desk before leaving at the end of the day. It keeps me sane and starts me on the right foot the next day.
I am going to have to get alerts every time you post something on organization! I am going to have to get the daily drawers and baskets and try your no paper hits the desk (or in my case table, cabinet, windowsill…).
Stephany
I love this!! I never would have guessed that you like control!! 😉 I am sure that your kiddos enjoyed every moment of the power you gave them in your classroom! How amazing that they were able to work, learn, and take ownership of their learning! I agree, I love the feeling of having someone walk into my classroom, and not being able to find the teacher becauseI am not standing in the front of the room talking at my students, but instead I am in one of their desks, or besides them lying on the floor reading with them!! You can do it my friend, I promise!! Can't wait to see what you throw at us for chapter 4!!
Mrs. 3rd Grade
Oh how your plans, planners, checklists and organization make me happy! I am such a checklist kinda girl. I even had a morning checklist and end of day checklist for myself so I'd remember to do all those little things everyday like change classroom jobs, check homework off, send notes home etc. Being able to check them off just makes me one happy teacher 🙂 I'm so glad you got your book in time to link up this week and can't wait to check out your thoughts each week 🙂
Mrs. Plemons' Kindergarten
Your pats on the back on my blog make. my. heart. happy. 🙂 JUST LIKE YOU! Thanks for your support, girl! Hopping over to read yours next!! 🙂
I LOVE that idea of the rotating coaches thing!! I LOVE that!! Hope you have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing you join in our linky!!