Jennifer Kearns-Fox, Mary Lu Love, and Lisa
Van Thiel
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Intentional teaching
OWL strategies
Using assessment data to
drive instruction
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Link OWL goals to strategies and
instructional formats
Apply intentional instruction to improve
student outcomes
 List
the knowledge,
skills, and attitudes of
an intentional teacher.
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The “Intentional” Teacher aims at clearly
defined learning objectives for children,
employs instructional strategies likely to help
children achieve the objectives, and
continually assesses progress and adjusts the
strategies based on that assessment.”
Ann Epstein 2007
The Intentional Teacher
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High expectations
Planning and management
Learning-oriented classroom
Engaging activities
Thoughtful questioning
Feedback
Classroom quality
Emotional
climate
Classroom
organization
Instructional
support
28
Domain Average
CLASS Averages Across All Teachers
Maximum
28
24
21
20
21
16.57
16
13.95
12
6.93
8
4
0
Overall Emotional Support
Overall Classroom Organization
Overall Instructional Support
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Focuses on what the teacher does either
during the lesson or in providing activities,
centers, and materials to maximize students’
engagement and ability to learn. The manner
in which the teacher facilitates activities so
that students have opportunities to
experience, perceive, explore, and utilize
materials should be considered.
 Adapted from CLASS manual Pre-K (2009)
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Learning increases when teachers focus their
questions on content
Higher-level questions produce more
learning
Advanced organizers help students learn new
content and reinforce vocabulary
More learning occurs when presented
informally several times through multiple
experiences
Increasing wait time fosters more student
discourse and child to child interactions.
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Provide the BIG PICTURE
Use multiple modalities
Generate discourse including more
conversation among children
Use questions
◦ To focus learning
◦ To introduce new content
◦ To prompt higher-order thinking
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Provide wait time
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Effective facilitation through
hands-on opportunities and
questions
Fire drill
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Focuses on the teacher’s use of instructional
discussions and activities to promote
students’ higher-order thinking skills and
cognition and the teacher’s focus on
understanding rather than rote learning.
CLASS Manual Pre-K (2009)
Children’s concept development benefits
from:
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Direct experiences and rich language
Clear connections between and among concepts
Explanatory talk and frequent adult/child
conversations
Modeling and eliciting
Encouraging children to express their
explanations, observations, and predictions
Collaborative discussion
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Ask why and how questions
Engage children in predictions and
experimentation
Encourage students to generate ideas for
dramatic play, writing narratives, and
constructing artwork
Build on students’ prior knowledge
Go deep into curriculum (four-week units)
Connect concepts across content areas
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Predicting and Experimenting with Eggs
Buying Shoes
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Multiple story readings
Morning meeting
Center time
Small group
Let’s Find Out About It/Let’s Talk About It
Snack and meals/Outdoors
Songs, Word and Letter Play
Pull out the sheet labeled Identification of
Intentional Teaching in OWL Lessons.
1. Break into groups by number.
2. Select a recorder and reporter.
3. Individually read the lesson.
4. As a group, discuss and answer the
question.
 List
the knowledge, skills,
and attitudes of an
intentional teacher.