Debbie Miller’s Teaching with Intention: Chapter 5

I can honestly say, I LOVE this book… With that being said, Chapter 5 was my favorite!!! Why, you might ask?!?! Well, this chapter was so concrete & visual for me I made so many connections.

This chapter was all about maximizing learning with designed lessons that are purposeful, interactive, engaging & using real-world applications. This happens of course, after you have established your beliefs & aligned your practices.

In this chapter Debbie Miller spent a few days working in a 2nd Grade classroom with students that were studying non-fiction in reading, writing & science. The teacher was having trouble with students remembering & explaining the information they were reading.

Debbie dove right into this classroom picking up on the shark study going on. She had an engaging mini-lesson that allowed students to feel comfortable admitting that they forgot about what they read sometimes. Debbie then went right into a mini-lesson that was about “files in our brain” which explained to students that our brain basically files away information for us to get to when needed. She made the connection between computer files & mental files. How we can add & delete to both.

So here’s what she did, she created a very large file folder out of poster board & laminated it. She gathered a bunch of sticky notes in separate colors. One color of sticky notes were for recording things we think we know. Another color of sticky notes were for recording new learning. A third color of sticky notes to record things students learn together when they buddy read after the lesson. There were 5 baskets placed around the room with shark books that students could easily read and a few harder texts for students to try & work their way through together.

Debbie’s file folder (anchor chart) was hung on the board & divided into 2 sections. The top section was titled, “Our schema- what we think we know” & the bottom section was titled “New Learning” then at the bottom right there was a square for misconceptions. Debbie did a little vocabulary lesson on the word misconceptions.

Then Debbie & the students created their first set of sticky notes with things they think they know about sharks. Using black sharpies students & Debbie shared shark facts & information. Recordings were placed & reviewed on the file folder anchor chart. Debbie then did a read-aloud of a new shark book to students. Scaffolding through the read-aloud students discussed new learning’s of sharks & added them on a different colored sticky note. As new learning’s went up on the anchor chart students also worked with Debbie to find any misconceptions they previously had. When the sticky note was moved into the misconception box, students then mentally deleted them from the file in their brain. Students were then asked to get with their partner to pick a shark book to read together & discuss. After every few pages students were asked to stop & record on another color sticky note any new learning’s they had together to add to the anchor chart. After buddy reading, students then came back to their meeting area to review their updated anchor chart. This is when the misconceptions part of the lesson came back into place with students realizing once again anything that was wrong & needed to be deleted mentally.

This was such a fabulous walk-through of mini-lessons occurring over a 2 day period in this 2nd Grade classroom. I loved it all!!! This is having a purpose & a belief! This is showing that through your practice! The kids were able to grasp the concept of a mental file & use it properly. After 2 days together students were able to re-deliver & discuss the shark texts they were reading with their teacher. It was such a warming feeling to read about this type of instruction that everyone wants daily.

I love the reality pieces in this chapter that show practices in place!!!