Maria Ferlaino – “Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action” By Debbie Miller

The book I chose to reflect upon and review is called, “Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action.” The author, Debbie Miller, taught primary grades for thirty years. Throughout the book, she outlines and shares the process of her own beliefs and the many ways they are beneficial to children. Along with her own experiences and beliefs, she sheds light on the many ways new teachers can practice effective teaching skills. The reason I chose to read this book was completely because a former co-worker, who graduated from the Faculty of Education two years ago, highly recommended this book to me. After telling him that I wanted to pursue a career in early years teaching, he handed me “Teaching with Intention.” I grew interested in the idea behind “beliefs” as well, since I feel as though we are constantly being introduced to various teaching practices and theories. I am so glad that I finally took the time to read it and given the opportunity to share the thoughts I have compiled with my peers.

Teaching with Intention is separated into 2 parts. In the first part, “Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices,” Miller shares her own personal experiences and beliefs about teaching. The second part, “Taking Action,” describes what it looks like when her beliefs are aligned. (Miller, 2008, p. 4) Each chapter includes statements that revolve around what occurs within the classrooms she has had personal experience in. Some chapters include a section titled, “Something to Try,” which allows the reader to think about what they personally believe in teaching and learning. I would like to take the time to highlight the aspects Miller has presented throughout her 8 chapters. Below I have listed the titles of each chapter. This will allow you to get a feel for the contents she presents throughout her book. Overall, the many contents she highlights really allow new teachers to think about their own teaching philosophy and activate their beliefs in the classroom.

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•         Chapter 1 – Picture Perfect: How Does Your Ideal Classroom Look, Sound, and Feel?
•         Chapter 2 – Defining Beliefs and Aligning Practices
•         Chapter 3 – Environment, Environment, Environment
•         Chapter 4 – Creating Classroom Cultures That Support and Promote Student Thinking
•         Chapter 5 – Swimming with Sharks: Teaching for Understanding and Engagement
•         Chapter 6 – Lesson Design: Creating Lessons Based on Principles and Practices You Believe 
•         Chapter 7 – Assessment, Reflections, and Next Steps
•         Chapter 8 – The Thoughtful Use of Time

I would like to take the time to highlight various resources and strategies in a few of my favourite chapters that I found to be particularly useful and valuable to share. 

("Consider these questions" p. 31)

As most of us have had the opportunity visit a few classroom spaces during practicum and coursework, I thought it would be beneficial to share the contents embedded within Chapter 3, “Environment, Environment, Environment.” This chapter focuses on ways to make a classroom environment effective and authentic to meet the needs of the students, along with the teacher. In this chapter Miller shares her experience visiting a first year teacher named Katy. Katy explains what is going on throughout her classroom and what is preventing her from teaching what she believes in, which is the lack of support that comes from the classroom environment. Below is a list of questions and statements Katy’s students brought up when she asked the students what was bugging them most about the classroom. (Miller, 2008, p. 27) Miller suggests that the first step to a situation like this one is to completely remove the clutter before re-arranging items to create a literate, comfortable environment. Afterwards, it is important to create a classroom that reflects our beliefs. She states that these classroom spaces need to “invite curiosity, exploration, collaboration, and conversation.” (Miller, 2008, p. 30) One way to begin is to consider the questions Miller states in the above picture I have provided. (Miller, 2008, p. 31) Throughout the rest of the chapter Miller discusses ways in which you can design and arrange your classroom. She emphasizes the idea of making a classroom purposeful and “organic.” She states that the best of classrooms “reflect the hearts and souls of those who inhabit them.” (Miller, 2008, p. 42) An interesting idea I took from this chapter is allowing the students to design their own classroom floor plan. I think this idea definitely represents Miller’s statement above and gives a new meaning to the definition of a classroom.

(Students' list of what bothers them about the classroom space, p. 27)

(Lesson Design, p. 85)

Another section I found to be extremely valuable was Chapter 6, “Lesson Design: Creating Lessons Based on Principles and Practices You Believe In.” I found this chapter particularly informative partly due to the fact that I am constantly designing lesson plans, but in some circumstances, they are built upon a design that I need to follow rather than making it my own. Miller shares a design concept that allows your beliefs to be implemented within the planning of a lesson. She believes that it is important to explain the lesson’s focus and why it is important to learn rather than just instruct and conclude. She states that, “when we are thoughtful in our planning, we lend purpose, focus, and direction to our teaching.” (Miller, 2008, p. 85) This allows the students learning to be steered in the right direction as well. She also provides the proper use of language to use when lessons do not go as planned and students just do not seem to get it. Of course, this is bound to happen on a regular basis! As teachers, we need to show our students that we do everything we possibly can to teach them well and take their thoughts into consideration.

The last chapter I would like to focus on is Chapter 8: “The Thoughtful Use of Time.” After being exposed to the curriculum for various subject areas, I could not help but think, “how am I ever going to cover all of these outcomes during one year of school?” The thought of it makes me shudder and feel incredibly overwhelmed! Miller’s thoughts on time revolve around three words: “Keep it simple.” Rather than spending endless amounts of time on a specific lesson, create lessons that are thoughtful that will create sincere engagement within the classroom. When students are given more time to focus, they discover who they are and the many ways they can go about figuring things out. Rather than rushing through lessons to confirm that you have successfully covered the material, teach deeply and effectively without a timer going off in your head. This chapter really allowed me to think twice about teaching in the future as time management is a constant worry of mine. I would like to start working on eliminating the “what ifs” that consistently pop up in my head, and focus on Miller’s words that emphasize quality rather than quantity.

(Lesson Design Tool, p. 139)

I would highly recommend this book to new teachers and teachers that have had years of experience. For new teachers, Miller acts as a mentor enabling the readers to really understand the strategies she introduces through her personal experiences. For other teachers, this book serves as an excellent refresher on ways to effectively manage and create a classroom. Throughout her thoughts and experiences, they will be challenged to reflect on the ways they teach and question their own beliefs of teaching. Along with the strategies I mentioned in the specific chapter I chose to discuss above, it is noteworthy to mention that Miller provides an outline of a lesson design tool in the appendix on page 139. These are a great way to reflect upon and gather your thoughts that involve activities you implement within the class. Along with outlines, Miller provides examples of students’ work and images of classroom spaces that connect with strategies she discusses throughout the chapters.

I very much enjoyed reading “Teaching with Intention,” as I gained insight on a variety of teaching aspects I never would have considered. It allowed me to stop and think about myself as a teacher and what I personally believe in. This book is organized in a neat manner, as Miller tells her experiences through a story making it exciting to read and hard to put down! Through her use of humour, and realistic examples, she captures the attention of the reader enabling them to immediately connect to their own experiences as teachers or developing teachers. I personally enjoyed how Miller geared the contents of the book towards new teachers and teachers with years of experience. I feel as though many contents of the book connect with the strategies and concepts we have learned throughout this course. For example, going into detail of creating a unique, effective classroom environment. We had the opportunity to create our ideal, perfect classrooms through an excellent activity our peers designed for us to take part in. I realized it takes quite a bit of thought to build a classroom that meets the needs of the students and one that promotes exploration. I also realized that the arrangement of a classroom space and the materials that are included have the potential to go a long way for the students and the teacher. Along with effective classroom spaces, Miller’s thoughts, experiences and words of advice allowed me to focus on my beliefs as a teacher and meeting the needs of each and every one of my students. During class, we discussed ways to create a positive classroom culture where all students are valued. Miller talks about the benefits of one-on-one time with students in order to gain information about their thoughts and personal interests. I believe this is an excellent way to make sure all students are valued. She also mentions that knowing a little about their interests can help towards creating a thoughtful, effective lesson plan.   

Overall, I believe Miller’s experiences, strategies, beliefs and tools support the theory outlined in this course. She reminds us that teaching revolves around both the students and the teacher and the idea that our beliefs grow as we reflect upon our experiences in the classroom.

Miller, Debbie. (2008). Teaching with Intention: Defining Beliefs, Aligning Practice, Taking Action. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse Publishers.