MAKING THINKING VISIBLE Feb 6, 2012 Partnership for Professional Practice
PURPOSES: Continue to study how to design and implement Conceptual Units Introduce Thinking Routines used implement conceptual units Provide a picture of classrooms being taught conceptually Provide work time to develop Concept-based units
AGENDA: Article: Teaching for Meaning: McTighe & Wiggins-- The 4Cs Routine Making Thinking Visible: PowerPoint DVD clips of Routines Classroom Examples: Video Clips Unit Development
WHAT KIND OF THINKING DO YOU VALUE AND WANT TO PROMOTE IN YOUR CLASSROOM?
EXERCISE: Brainstorm the actions that students in your class spend most of their time doing. What actions account for 75% of what students do in your class on a regular basis?
EXERCISE: Brainstorm the actions that are most authentic to the discipline of reading and writing, that is, those things that real readers and writers actually do as they go about their work.
EXERCISE: Brainstorm the actions you remember doing yourself from a time when you were actively engaged in developing some new understanding of something within the discipline of reading and writing.
THINKING MOVES INTEGRAL TO UNDERSTANDING Observing closely and describing what’s there Building explanation and interpretation Reasoning with evidence Making connections Considering different viewpoints and perspectives Capturing the heart and forming conclusions
THINKING MOVES INTEGRAL TO UNDERSTANDING Wondering and asking questions Uncovering complexity and going below the surface of things
ADDITIONAL TYPES OF THINKING Identifying patterns and making generalizations Generating possibilities and alternatives Evaluating evidence, arguments, and actions Formulating plans and monitoring actions Identifying claims, assumptions, and bias Clarifying priorities, conditions, and what is known
THREE WAYS OF LOOKING AT THINKING ROUTINES As Tools As Structures As Patterns of Behavior
HOW CAN WE MAKE THINKING VISIBLE?
QUESTIONING - As teachers, questions should: - Model our interest in ideas being explored - Help students to construct understanding - Facilitate the illumination of students’ own thinking to themselves
MODELING AN INTEREST IN IDEAS By asking authentic questions creates a classroom culture that is intellectually engaging. Teachers are seen as learners and foster a community of inquiry Authentic questions help promote class inquiry and discovery, framing learning as a complex, multifaceted, communal activity as opposed to a process of simply accumulating information.
CONSTRUCTING UNDERSTANDING Questions that help advance understanding Can help the teacher to not only promote higher order thinking but can provide some guideposts for the lesson itself Points students towards uncovering fundamental ideas and principles that aid understanding
FACILITATING AND CLARIFYING THINKING “What makes you say that?” Facilitates and clarifies the learners own thinking Switch the paradigm of teaching by telling Change the traditional sequence of questioning of: question, respond, evaluate
DOCUMENTING More than a recording or representation of students thinking Is focused on the learning process itself Practice of observing, recording, interpreting, and sharing, in order to deepen learning. Must serve to advance learning not merely record it Provides a stage from which both teachers and students may observe the learning process
HOW THE ROUTINES ARE ORGANIZED Routines for Introducing and exploring ideas See-Think-Wonder Zoom In Think-Puzzle-Explore Chalk Talk Bridge Compass Points The Explanation Game
HOW THE ROUTINES ARE ORGANIZED Routines for Synthesizing and Organizing ideas CSI: Color, Symbol, Image Generate- Sort- Connect- Elaborate Concept Maps Connect- Extend- Challenge The 4 C’s The Micro Lab Protocol I Used to Think…...Now I Think…..
HOW THE ROUTINES ARE ORGANIZED Routines for Digging Deeper into Ideas What Makes You Say That Circle of Viewpoints Step Inside Red Light, Yellow Light Claim, Support, Question Tug-of-War Sentence-Phrase-Word