Intentional Teaching
From February 2011 to February 2012 the study group focused on the idea of becoming more intentional teachers. The book the group chose to study was The Art of Awareness. The following shows what looked at and studied during our monthly meetings.
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November 2011November's meeting was held at West Carrollton's Walter Shade ECC. The topic of the meeting was "How do you promote creative expression through writing in your classroom?". One teacher shared that she uses the children's memories to spark topics for writing. For example, discussing a recent storm or field-trip could prompt the children to draw and write about their experience.
Conscious Discipline was also brought up at the meeting. Some teachers shared their experiences with the techniques that they implement in their classrooms. Learn more about Conscious Discipline at http://consciousdiscipline.com/about/conscious_discipline.asp. |
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October 2011Chapter 7, Observing How Children Seek Power, Drama, and Adventure.October's meeting focused on chapter 7 of the textbook Art of Awareness: How Observation can Transform Your Teaching.
The meeting started with an open discussion of the journal assignment from last month's meeting. The assignment was to observe something from nature (the same object) for fifteen minutes a day for one week. Then, write a list of the specific details noticed each day. Following the journal discussion, teachers were asked to share a memory from their childhood drama. After sharing, group members debated how children could be encouraged to participate in dramas in developmentally appropriate ways. |
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September 2011 at Sinclair CollegeThe BPLC is now Step-up to Quality approved! Members of the group are asked to journal their thoughts from the readings to share at the next meeting. This months journal activity comes from page 57 in the book. At the September meeting the group focused on seeing from "another perspective for a day". We pulled a plastic animal from the bag and were asked to write a small narrative or story from the perspective of that animal. When done with children, this activity helps spark interest and bring up questions about bugs or animals. |
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August 2011Wegerzyn Gardenshttp://www.metroparks.org/Parks/WegerzynGarden/Home.aspx
The Bombeck study group visited Wegerzyn Gardens to experience the multi-sensory activities and adventures that they provide to their guests. |
July 2011July's meeting focused on the senses. Chapter 4, titled Observing How Children Use Their Senses in the book The Art of Awareness, prompted most of the
discussion during the meeting. "Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles and the years we have lived. The odors of fresh fruits waft me to my southern home, to my childhood frolics in the peach orchard. Other odors, instantaneous and fleeting, cause my heart to dilate joyously or contract with remembered grief. Even as I think of smells, my nose is full of scents that start awake sweet memories of summers gone and ripening fields far away" - Helen Keller The group reflected on their own classroom practices and how they could encourage creativity in their students with out losing control of the whole room. The group facilitators introduced an activity that required the use of senses and encouraged creativity. Using only four common classroom ingredients, group members made Gak (http://www.stevespanglerscience.com/experiment/00000039). After the Gak was made a list of sensory words was collected to describe what people were smelling, feeling, seeing and hearing from the Gak. |
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June 2011On June 14th a meeting was held at the Miami Valley Family Care Center. We discussed observation and intentionality in our observations. The insight that I feel most of us gained is that, if we as early childhood professionals, can turn off our "adult brains" and just listen we will discover things about children, things the children know, and things children want to know much more effectively.
We used an exercise from our text, "The Art of Awareness" to creatively represent a favorite childhood memory. We discussed our drawings and most of us drew something OUTSIDE! What an "A-HA" moment! This led to discussions of incorporating experiences outside and how to better utilize and manipulate outdoor space for learning experiences and learning opportunities. |