TO UNDERSTAND

Saturday morning I decided to empty and organize the infamous BAG OF WORK that comes and goes with me to and from work. I divided the information into 6 stacks, literacy, math, technology, RTI, leadership and books to read. In each stack I then sorted the information into “information to be shared” and “information to file.” It is always amazing to me how much there is to read and learn and how little time we have. In my book pile I picked the book To Understand by Ellin Keene. It was recommended in one of the comments from a teacher. All I can say is that this book is one that all teachers K-12 could relate to and learn from. Ellin’s book asks us as teachers to focus on four key questions in teaching our students: 1. What does it mean to understand? 2. How do we define and teach toward high expectations and high levels of understanding? 3. What matters most in literacy learning? And 4. In what ways can we live our adult lives as intellectually curious models for our students and our colleagues? WOW! Her book addresses these questions and does make you think. So as you begin your week of teaching ask yourself when you are planning your lessons…what does it mean to understand and how am I going to bring this to my students? I need to keep reading but if anyone is presently reading this book please share your reflections