The Intentional Teacher + PLN (Entry 1)

    From this week's reading, the concept of the intentional teacher is something that I have come across before in a prior college course. There is not a one-way approach to becoming this type of teacher. However, I feel that there are certain characteristics and practices that one must have and implement in order to reach this status. The most notable one is that of being intentional. Slavin (2020) notes that "...teachers need to be intentional: purposeful, thoughtful, and flexible, without ever losing sight of their goals for every child." For each and every lesson, there must come a plentiful amount of preparation for not only the content but how to communicate the content to each and every child. When teachers are intentional with their preparation and delivery, students will be able to learn and retain material undisputedly.

    How is this concept significant to my classroom? It embodies everything that I strive to be as an educator. I want to be confident, the utmost prepared for my daily lessons, and intentional with all that I execute in my classroom. For I know, each and every student within my classroom learns in different ways and at different paces. For example, I am currently in an inclusion Kindergarten classroom. The majority of my class falls under the special education umbrella and has IEPs among other support services. I have students who are high-performing, students who are average-performing compared to their peers, and students who are low-performing. For this, I utilize small groups quite often to differentiate the delivery of my content for students. As Slavin (2020) states, "An intentional teacher uses a wide variety of instructional methods, experiences, assignments, and materials to be sure that children are achieving all sorts of cognitive objectives...." Therefore, I, as their teacher, must be equipped to the best of my ability with knowledge and skills that will help me meet them where they are. I have to be intentional for my students to succeed.

    To become a better teacher with the knowledge I have gained, I feel as though I need to be more consistent about reflecting upon what I am executing within my classroom. Since I do have a wide variety of ability levels within my classroom, I need to be more specific about what is working and what is not working so well for each student. It can be overwhelming sometimes trying to decipher what is best for each of my students when they are each struggling with separate concepts. So, I need to be more intentional about what they each need to learn the material to progress onto the next related element of the standard. Again, I must meet my students where they are and be as prepared as I can be going into each and every lesson. This will allow for me to reach the outcomes that I am working towards with each child. Ultimately, not only will this assist me in helping my students meet their goals, but it will also help me develop more into becoming an intentional teacher. Above all, I believe that I can affect real change in my students' lives both in and out of the classroom.

    On a separate but related note, I have truthfully never really considered and realized my professional learning network (PLN) until the discussion post for this week. I knew that I had several different resources that greatly supported and impacted my learning environment. However, I never knew them to be called a PLN. My PLN is one of variety and has significantly shaped me into the educator I am today. It consists of three main categories: colleagues/family, readings, and social media. Personally, I am curious to know which of my categories tends to out weigh the rest with impacting my learning environment. To address this, I will dig deeper into where I get the majority of my information and guidance from. This may help me either narrow down my PLN or expand it and see which is benefiting me the most. 

References

Slavin, R.E. (2020). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice (13th ed.). Pearson Education.