Intentional Teaching

What is Intentional Teaching: 

By definition, to be intentional means to act purposefully with a goal in mind and to have a plan for accomplishing it. 

Intentional teaching means that Educators act with specific goals in mind for the children in their care and set up the environment accordingly. Intentional teachers have a vast understanding of child development. They must also have a wide range of instructional strategies and know which strategies work best to teach which academic or developmental concept.

Children learn best through child-guided activities, where the children are free to explore and manipulate materials and acquire skills through their own experiences. It is also vital that a fair amount of adult-guided experiences are necessary. In adult-guided experiences, Educators set up experiences where they present information, model skills, and guide the learning toward a specific academic goal. We strive to achieve a good balance between these two types of learning.

Intentional Teaching Tips:

• Understand the developmental abilities of the age group you are with (make sure you have realistic expectations).
• Design your environment in such a way as to encourage curiosity including a large range of natural products. 
• Plan some goals you would like the children in your group to achieve before they move to the next room.
• Incorporate these goals into your curriculum gently guiding the children and flow on from their interest.

Meeting Quality Area 3 Physical Environment:

Quality Area 3

3.1.3 Facilities are designed or adapted to ensure access and participation by every child in the service and to allow flexible use, and interaction between indoor and outdoor space. 

Suggestion: Take photos of all the resources/equipment you have for your outside space, laminate them and then create a ‘child directed outside program’ at child height.  If you use a felt board and attach velcro dots to your photos the children have a visual to choose which items they would like to have outside that day.  The photos assist with language barriers of younger children and ensure the children are crating the outdoor space they want to play in.

Suggestion: Create free flowing indoor and outdoor environments by having activities set up on verandah with an Educator outside and other inside so that children have more space to move, create and learn.  This is an important aspect of the NQS as Officers want to see how easy it is for children to move between in and outdoor playspaces.

So much beauty can be found in nature.  Take the children for a walk outside and ask some questions:

“What shapes can you find?”

“What colours can you see?”

“What trees can you name?”

“What does that feel like?”

Each child’s current knowledge, ideas, culture, abilities and interests are the foundation of the program

Quality Area 1.1.2 

Each child’s current knowledge, ideas, culture, abilities and interests are the foundation of the program.

It is important when developing your curriculum that you consider how this is going to happen.  How are you going to ensure EVERY child has been represented within the daily program?  Are their ideas, interests, verbal and non-verbal cues actually being used and extended?

Tip: Make sure your Educators are part of the curriculum development process.  Hold Educator meetings that only focus on your curriculum development.  Try different methods until all Educators are confident and happy with outcome.  Create a small page which is included in your daily program which ensures every child’s voice is heard, this will ensure you are covering the element as long as you extend from here! 

Example Below

Quality Area 1.1.2 Each child’s current knowledge, ideas, culture, abilities and interests are the foundation of the program.

Throughout each day the children are asked what they would like to do and this is recorded below.  Please see the curriculum board/folder for extensions on these activities.  For our younger ones who communicate through gestures, sounds and body language we note below the activities/resources they are currently enjoying or some information from Families regarding needs and interests.

Date:_________________________________________ 

Room:____________________________________________

www.scresources.com.au

Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and use intentional teaching to scaffold and extend each child’s learning.

Quality Area 1

1.2.2 Educators respond to children’s ideas and play and use intentional teaching to scaffold and extend each child’s learning. 

Suggestion: Make a poster with the definition of intentional teaching on it and some examples of how to extend activities further within each age group.  This can be placed near your programming area so that both Educators and Parent can see it and understand it a little better.

Help the children feel as though they belong – do they have a pet? Would they would like to bring a photo in and display in a frame?  Use this pic to start a story: one day I went walking……..