Fall Reading - Teaching with Intention

This summer, I read and reflected in my own personal book study. I really enjoyed that process and it helped me think about and apply what I was reading. I thought that I would continue that process this fall with another book.

I asked for suggestions from my Twitter friends. I received a couple of suggestions and decided that this time I would read the book Teaching with Intention by Debbie Miller. When I read the introduction, I knew this would be a good fit for where I am now in my thinking.

Debbie Miller writes: "I'm convinced that success in the classroom depends less on which beliefs we hold and more on simply having a set of beliefs that guides us in our day-to-day work with children. Once we know who we are and what we're about in the classroom, we become intentional in our teaching; we do what we do on purpose, with good reason." (Teaching with Intention, p. 4)

This book seems to be a good follow-up to What If Everybody Understood Child Development? and the thinking that Rae Pica generated for me. While I've always wanted to teach with intention, many of my days in the classroom seemed consumed with what I was supposed to do and know what I believed I should do. I was so concerned about what we needed to explore/learn that I didn't always plan how we were going to explore/learn as well as I should.

(And I still always recommend the post that started me thinking about intention a while back, one of my favorite posts from Not Just Cute - Intention Deficit Disorder.)

I'm looking forward to reading and reflecting on this book. Please share your comments and ideas as I go, especially if you've read the book, too.

And feel free to suggest other books I should be reading. I'm keeping a list!