BubbleUp Classroom
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials

Goodbye New Year's Resolution; Hello Teaching Intention

12/26/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
Happy Almost New Year! This week we are reposting a timely blog post from last year: Forget the New Year's Resolution; Try a Teaching Intention. I believe that if you are looking to inspire your teaching practice that this is a helpful approach. This year my intention is to teach each and every second with empathy. Life is so complicated; and every interaction with kids and our community counts. I want each child to know that I see them as an individual, with their own story and their own set of circumstances.

So what will be your teaching intention for 2018? Read the post, share, and let us know what your teacher intention is. We'd love to hear from you!

Forget the New Year's Resolution; Try a Teaching Intention
​​I don't follow New Year's resolutions. I always make them. They usually involve un-original ideas like eating healthy or working out and then about three days in I am scarfing down chocolate left around my school (no thanks to those who feel it is their duty to leave chocolate in cute little bowls near Gretchen's desk) and skipping my workout.
Why set a teaching intention?
Having one word to guide you can help you when it comes to decision making. We teachers are all so busy that it can be hard to prioritize. We can get lost in the maze of new tech, professional development, data, and emails. If you set an intention for your teaching practice you can say yes to the stuff that supports it and try not to get distracted by the stuff that doesn't. Actors refer to this idea as a throughline. What is it that the character really wants? We can treat our teaching lives the same way - what do we really want to get out of teaching and how?
​
​I sometimes feel that I am trying to integrate too many new ideas at once and as a result, I don't do them as effectively as I would like. An intention can keep you grounded. Moreover, we all know that teaching requires us to put so many other people first -- our students, their parents, that sometimes we lose sight of ourselves. A teaching intention is a perfect way to stay true to ourselves so that we can continue to grow professionally. This can prevent us from burn out -- one of the greatest obstacles teachers face. By setting an intention that is true to you, you are helping to ensure that you stay fresh and energized, and that's good not only for you but for every child that walks into your classroom.
Keep it positive
As Gretchen Rubin explained in the podcast, these intentions are far more likely to be successful if they are positive. No one wants to focus on something negative like "Calm down" or "Stop stressing"  Even if your idea is to calm down, say it in a way that affirms you rather than chides your inner-teacher. So perhaps, reframing calm down to "calm" or even better, to "tranquility" makes a difference in our desire to fulfill this intention. Bottom line, you want to pick a teaching intention that builds you up.
Ideas for teaching intentions
The possibilities are endless when it comes to teaching intentions -- things that pop into my mind are collaboration, technology, flexibility, student centered, literacy, coding, blogging, service, advocacy and growth-mindset. For example, if I chose collaboration, I could take that to mean setting up a classroom that promotes collaboration through seating and designing lessons that ensure student collaboration. At the same time, maybe collaboration means committing to working closely on a weekly basis with certain teachers inside my building or online to share ideas and practices. Collaboration could mean commiting to participating in educator Twitter chats or attending a few conferences to meet new people and colloborate with them by sharing ideas. Chances are that once you set an intention you'll find new ways to follow it.
Intentions have to be true to you
No one can choose your teaching intention for you. It has to be your own or it won't mean anything. Teachers already have too many top down mandates. We are told what to teach and often how to teach it. Intentions have to be different. They have to be organic and they have to be something that makes you feel better about your work. If you don't like your intention, you won't stick with it. ​
My Intention and my start date
I think starting back after Winter Break is the perfect time for a new teaching intention. My intention is "student centered." I've already set up a room that promotes collaboration through flexible seating, but I want to continue to work to make sure that when my students are with me, they they are the ones who are primarily doing the thinking, working, talking, and collborating. It's about them, not me. I am there to facilitate THEIR learning rather than acting as though they are an audience for MY teaching. I can't wait to see where this intention takes us. Also, because I am a visual learner, I am going to post a few reminders in my room to keep things student centered. 
​
Share it far and wide
Lastly, I hope you will share your intention with others. I plan on telling my students about my intention and encouraging them to set an intention for the rest of the school year. I think it is so important for our students and colleagues to see us acknowledging that we are all works in progress - striving to continue to grow and learn, even in adulthood. ​
Happy New Year to all our readers and if you have a teaching intention, please share it. We'd love to hear from you! 
​
Corey 

You might also like:

  • Back to School, Back to Reality (August 5, 2017)
  • BubbleUp Take5: Gratitude (November 15, 2016)
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Who We Are

    Picture
    Corey Thornblad
    Teacher 
    Picture
    Picture
    Gretchen Hazlin
    ​Librarian
    Picture

    Picture

    Join our list!



    Archives

    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016

    Categories

    All
    Adminstrators
    Back To School
    Balance
    Best Practices
    Books
    Brain Breaks
    BreakoutEDU
    #bubbleupthx
    Cell Phones
    Classroom Design
    Classroom Management
    Coding
    Collaboration
    Community
    CREATE
    Critical Thinking
    Design Thinking
    Discipline
    Discussion
    Edcamp
    Field Trips
    Flexible Seating
    Flipped Classroom
    Genrefication
    Gifts
    Grading
    Gratitude
    Growth Mindset
    History
    Homework
    How-to
    Images
    Interview
    Kindness
    Leadership
    Librarians
    Library
    Literacy
    Makerspace
    Math
    Mental Health
    Middle School
    Mindfulness
    New Librarians
    New Teachers
    Orientation
    Parenting
    Pbl
    Physical Space
    Pln
    Podcasts
    Poetry
    Primary Sources
    Problem Solving
    Professional Development
    Project Based Learning
    Questioning
    READ
    Reflection
    Relationships
    Research
    Rubrics
    Simulation
    Sketchnotes
    Stations
    Student Centered Learning
    Student-centered Learning
    Study Skills
    Summer
    Take10
    Take5
    Teacher Appreciation Week
    Technology
    Teens
    Testing
    Twitter
    WRITE

    RSS Feed


Proudly powered by Weebly
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Presentations >
      • Empower17
      • Thesis ALIVE!
  • READ
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Reading an Artifact
    • Reading an Image
    • Emoji Notes
    • Sketchnotes
    • Sharing Books with Kids
  • WRITE
    • Thesis & Essay Writing >
      • Thesis Writing Workshop
      • Fairy Tale Grab Bags
      • Essay Roadmap
      • Essay Outline Generator
      • Other Thesis Ideas
    • What's the Scoop? >
      • Landmark Supreme Court Cases
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • CREATE
    • Think, Build, Tweet
    • Sketchnotes
    • Ordinary Objects
    • Think Outside the Box
    • Poetry Beyond English Class
  • WORK WITH US
    • Testimonials