Monday, September 28, 2015
Vicky McLain's August Blog Post #2: Teach With a Sense of Urgency
This chapter reminds me of the book "Teach Like Your Hair's On Fire" since the focus is on teaching what is most important with a restrained sense of urgency. Routman encourages us to think deeply about what we believe about teaching, the essentials of literacy, and things we do to ensure successful readers. As Routman walks us through the Optimal Learning model (inside front cover), she also reminds us to take our time to understand these principles first. Once we understand, we can apply them. When we have clarity of our vision we can enjoy teaching and students will enjoy learning. The atmosphere for learning must be optimal. Elements of joy, respect, engagement, success, and encouragement need to be present for learning to take place. The organization of the learning structure takes more time on the front end but the benefits of engaged learners is a great pay off! Routman encourages us to maintain high expectations and model effectively. The optimal learning model is a handy tool to help us with transference of dependent to independent learners.
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I've never heard of that book but I would love to read that and another book, Teach Like a Pirate. It all makes me think of the essence of teaching--no programs, no hang ups, just being in the moment and making the most of it. What a zone to be in with our students! That is the environment where everyone can truly be a joyful learner. I do go back to the Optimal Learning model often because I think it can be a very valuable reminder for us in our instruction because it reminds us of our roles in this yet guides us through the gradual release in creating independent, capable learners.
ReplyDeleteI love your connection to other texts that encourage us to teach with urgency--like Katrina, my first thought was "Teach Like a Pirate." I haven't read it yet, but I hear it's great! I can tell the Optimal Learning Model was a big take-away from this chapter. What ideas did you get about applying this in your own classroom?
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