The Intentional
Teacher
Choosing the Best Strategies to
Support Young Children’s Learning
Morning Objectives
Participants will be able to:
• Define the term Intentional Teacher
• Explain the difference between adultguided & child-guided learning.
• Describe best intentional teaching
practices.
2
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
You’ve just found out that
Oprah Winfrey has selected
your home to be featured
on her show. She’s coming
to dinner tomorrow and it
will be taped for her show.
You have 15 minutes to
plan the menu.
What’s for dinner?
3
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?
You’ve just come home
late from a very long,
hard day at work. Your
kids are at their
grandparents, your
spouse is away on a
business trip and it’s just
you to cook for.
What’s for dinner?
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What was the difference in the
two meal planning activities?
Which meal planning activity was
intentional?
What does it mean to be intentional??
5
What does it mean to be an
Intentional Teacher?
In your table groups, come up with a
working definition of the above term that
you all agree on. Write it on your chart
paper and post it in the room.
6
Components of an Intentional
Teacher.....
• One who acts with specific outcomes or goals in
mind for children’s learning.
• One who integrates and promotes meaningful
learning in both academic & traditional domains .
• One who uses strategies that purposefully
challenges, scaffolds and extends children’s
learning.
• One who understands, both child-guided & adultguided experiences are important in early
childhood settings.
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Content
 Vocabulary
 Concepts
 Skills
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Child–guided
/ Adult-guided
• Proceeds primarily
along the lines of
children’s interests and
actions, with strategic
teacher support.
• Proceeds primarily
along the lines of the
teacher's goal, but is
also shaped by the
children’s active
engagement.
• It is NOT entirely child
controlled with the
teacher being passive.
• It is NOT entirely adult
controlled with the
children being passive.
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Intentional Teaching
• Regardless of the
content evident in the
play, there are times to
choose between adultguided and child-guided
strategies.
10
What do Intentional Teachers Do?
In your table groups, decide which situation
proceeds along the lines of
Supporting Child-Guided Experiences
or
Employing Adult-Guided Experiences
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Check Your Work
The Intentional Teacher
(page 129)
 Can you think of some examples in your own
classrooms of when to support child-guided
experiences?
 Can you think of some examples in your
classrooms of when you can employ adultguided experiences?
12
Content-Dependent
Intentional Teaching
• There is some content
that primarily emerges
from child-guided
experiences and from
adult-guided
experiences.
13
What Do Intentional Teachers Do?
Working in table groups, for each example in
your handout, decide:
• Whether children learn primarily through
child-guided or adult-guided experiences.
• Why learning proceeds in this way.
• What intentional teachers can do to promote
learning these concepts and skills.
14
Answers
A= Adult-guided
C= Child-guided
1
A
9
C
2
C
10
C
3
A
11
A
4
C
12
C
5
A
13
A
6
C
14
C
7
A
15
A
8
C
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New Definition of
Intentional Teaching
• Knowing what situation calls for child-guided
or adult-guided strategies.
• Knowing what content (vocabulary, concepts,
and skills) is learned primarily through childguided or through adult-guided experiences.
• Thoughtfully providing the appropriate
scaffolding that promotes both types of
learning in all situations and content areas.
16
What are “Best Practices” Principles?
• Structuring the Physical
Environment
• Building relationships
with Families
• Scheduling the Program
day
• Assessing children’s
development
• Interacting with children
Considering and using these best practices will
help administrators and teachers create an early
childhood program in which adults and children are
partners in the learning process.
17
What do you Know about Best Practice?
• With your group, move around the room,
recording everything you know about the five
best practices principles on the chart paper.
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Reviewing “Best Practices” Principles
Structuring the physical learning environment:
• Provide a safe & healthy indoor & outdoor
environment.
• Organize the space in interest areas or
centers.
• Supply plentiful and diverse equipment &
materials.
• Display work created by and of interest to
children.
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Reviewing “Best Practices” Principles
Scheduling the program day:
• Establish a consistent yet a flexible daily
routine
• Allow for a variety of types of activities
• Use a variety of groupings (individual, small,
and large group)
• Allow just enough time for each type of
activity
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Reviewing “Best Practices” Principles
Interacting with children:
• Meet basic physical needs.
• Create a warm & caring atmosphere.
• Encourage & support language & communication.
• Encourage initiative.
• Introduce information and model skills.
• Acknowledge children’s activities & accomplishments.
• Support peer interactions.
• Encourage independent problem solving.
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Reviewing “Best Practices” Principles
Building relationships with families
• Exchange information about the curriculum
and how it promotes children’s development.
• Provide information about how to extend
learning at home.
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Reviewing “Best Practices” Principles
Assessing children’s development:
• Use assessment results to plan for individual
children and the whole group as a whole.
• Use assessment results to identify areas for
professional development.
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Putting It All Together
• Best Practices & Intentional Teaching work..
They work in synergy.
Synergy can be defined as the interaction of two
or more agents or forces so that their combined
effect is greater than the sum of their individual
effects.
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Putting It All Together
The mission of the Intentional Teacher
is to ensure that children acquire the
knowledge & skills they need in school and
in life.
To fulfill this mission, intentional teachers
conscientiously address every area of early
learning.
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Thinking about My Practice
Find a partner from another table.
• Talk to each other about one content area
where you will be providing support that is
more adult-guided than you have practiced
before, and your rationale for doing so.
• Discuss one area of Best Practice that you
would like to improve upon.
• Discuss one area of Best Practice where you
feel you are doing well.
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Adult-guided
Applying it to HighScope
Creative
Physical
Creative
Represenation
SocialEmotional
Intellectual
Music & Movement
Initiative, Social Relations
Language & Literacy,
Mathematics and Science
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Child-guided
Implementation Plan
Think about what we discussed this morning.
Record thoughts about each topic in the appropriate
square.
Supporting child-guided
learning experiences
Supporting adult-guided
learning experiences
Implementing best practices
What I can do
to become a more
Intentional Teacher
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