During the past few weeks, I have presented to many educators of various grade levels. One of my messages to all groups regardless of the topic was the importance of intentionality.
This is the perfect time of year to consider the reasons we do what we do. If we can’t articulate our reasons, perhaps we should reconsider the practice.
How might you make your practices more intentional and more effective for learning? Could you embed an oral language task to strengthen an already effective activity? How can you integrate writing as a form of thinking into your lessons in the content areas? How might you bring your science vocabulary into your language arts class? How will you ensure that morphology finds its way into your teaching of all subject areas?
The more intentional you are the better. And take the time to share your reasoning behind your routines and activities with your students. They are more likely to buy in and comply when they understand how it will help them learn!