Teaching with Intention Book Study: Chapter 2

I am so excited to be linking up again for the second chapter of this book! First, I have a confession to make. I somehow missed the chapter divider on my kindle and accidentally read chapters 1 and 2 at the same time last week :s. As a result, the quote from Debbie that I cited as being from the end of chapter 1 was actually from chapter 2... I know I know, I'm sorry! I'm a newbie, ok?

My second confession is that I've been somewhat putting off this post. Not because I don't want to think about my belief statements--quite the contrary! I've been putting it off because condensing my beliefs abut teaching into a few belief statements sounds very, very difficult to me... and I can't help but think that after only 1 year of teaching, I am not quite yet equipped to make sweeping statements about my beliefs about education.

So here's what I have come up with so far, thinking about my past year as well as my upcoming year of teaching:

I believe that students can only learn when they feel respected, loved, and safe in their classroom, with their peers and their teacher.

I believe that structured, literacy-rich play is an important part of early learning. 

I believe that students should be able to make choices in the content and structure of their learning in order to increase engagement and motivation.

I believe that foreign-language learning should happen in the early childhood classroom, where students are sponges for language. 

I believe that math learning should be hands-on and based on solving real problems. 

I believe that while there is a place for fun and learning through play, students should be taught to seek out that "hard work well done" feeling. I believe the learning IS the fun, and we should respect students enough not to pander. 

I believe that classroom management should be mostly about building community and learning to live in the world. 

Woo! I did it! I'm sure there are more I could add and/or change, but for right now I'm happy  with basic tenets. My goal now is to look back at these basic beliefs as I prepare for my first year teaching Pre-K/K! :)

Now be sure not to miss the chapter 2 posts by the hosts of this book study linky!

  

Ready to teach with intent,

Miss Fliss <3