1. Making Thinking Visible
Building the Future for Our Students
Bay City Public Schools
February 4, 2013
Making Thinking Visible

2. What do we want the children we teach to be like when they are adults?

3. The Residuals of Education
Curious
Skeptical
Open-Minded
Imaginative
Strategic
Metacognitive
Reflective
Truth Seekers
Inquisitive
Responsible
Independent
Listeners
Adventurous
Inventive
Original
Creative
Flexible
Questioning
Risk-Takers
Mindful
Considerate
Full of Wonder
Compassionate
Balanced

4. So…How do schools help get them there?

5. Enculturation
Children grow into the intellectual life around them.

6. The Story of Learning
Is a process of gradually internalizing the messages & value that we repeatedly experience through our interaction with the social environment.
This internalization takes time as we identify the messages and values that are consistent and recurring in our environment

7. The Old Story... What is the story of learning you
were “told” when you were in
school? What did you learn
about learning? How it
happens? Its purpose and
value?

8. A Story of Work…
The goal of school is the completion of work done for someone else.
The larger purpose behind activities isn’t always clear. Thus, assignments become ends in themselves.
Grades are the pay off/outcome for work.
Doing school work is seen as students’ job.
Good students do the work they are assigned without question.

9. A Story of Alienation… School isn’t about me, my life, my culture.
School isn’t about learning, it’s about having the answers.
Some people are just smart and know how to do it, others (like me) can never get it.
Rewards go to those who can guess what the teacher wants.
You study by memorizing.
Smart means being fast with the answer.

10. A New Story…
What is the story of learning we truly want to tell and make a reality for our students?

11. A New Story
What messages about learning are the students in this classroom receiving?
Think-Pair-Share

12. The Beginning of a New Story…
Learning is a consequence of thinking.
Learning and thinking are as much a collective enterprise as they are an individual endeavor.
Learning involves uncovering complexity and delving deeply.
Learning is often provisional and frequently changes with time.
Learning is an active process and involves getting personally involved.
Questions not only drive learning but also are outcomes of learning.

13. The Beginning of a New Story

14. Gallery Walk
Think/Puzzle/Explore
Talk to the practitioners

15. Begin With the End in Mind
Creating a culture of thinking in the classroom can help educators prepare today’s thinkers for tomorrow by promoting:
Thinking and learning
Awareness of our growing and changing society
Respect for others

16. Creating a Culture of Thinking
What do we mean by a culture of thinking?
Why is a culture of thinking important to a learning community: teachers, students, and parents?
How is a culture of thinking developed?
Think-Pair-Share

17. Defining a Culture of Thinking
A culture of thinking exists in a classroom when the cultural forces of that classroom are directed toward and aligned with the support of good thinking.

18. Cultural Forces According to Ron Ritchhart, there are 8
cultural forces that define our classrooms.
Time
Opportunities
Routines and Structures
Language
Modeling
Interactions and Relationships
Physical Environments
Expectations

19. Thinking is…

20. Communicating Expectations for Thinking
We need to examine the messages we send about thinking through the cultural forces and explicitly set and agenda of understanding by telling students what it is we want them to understand versus merely know about.

21. Creating Opportunities for Thinking
To promote good thinking and deep understanding, we must create a ladder of understanding performances on which students can stand as they strive to ascend to the next level of performance.

22. Teachers’ Words and Actions
What do your students hear you saying over and over?
What is the mantra in the classroom?
What questions, expressions, and reactions are your words and actions promoting?
Think-Pair-Share

23. Routines A few steps Easy to learn and remember Get used over and over
Useful across many contexts
Public and private practices
Activate and help direct thinking

24. Types of Routines
Housekeeping Routines: rules for living and working together – lining up, putting things away, transitions and movement
Management Routines: procedures for getting ready to learn – clapping rhythms, structures for working in groups
Discourse Routines: procedures for talking and communicating – raising hands, guidelines for listening
Learning Routines: how we learn new things – textbook use, using journals, posing questions to explore

25. What is a thinking routine?
Is goal oriented in that it targets specific types of thinking
Gets used over and over again in the classroom
Consists of only a few steps
Is easy to teach and learn
Is easy to support when students are engaged in the routine
Can be used across a variety of context
Can be used by the group or by the individual

26. Mining in Michigan Cookie Mining in Michigan
See/Think/Wonder
The History of Copper Mining in Michigan
Headlines
The Future of Copper Mining in Michigan?
Tug of War

27. Cookie Mining in Michigan
See/Think/Wonder
Look at your cookie (no eating it yet!)
What do you see?
Record your observations with words and pictures.
What do you think?
What are you wondering?

28. The History of Copper Mining in Michigan
Headlines
Create a HEADLINE that captures the essence of the article.

29. The Future of Copper Mining in Michigan?
Tug of War
Should mining companies pursue mining opportunities in the Upper Peninsula?

30. Thinking Routines Resources
Visible Thinking Ron Ritchhart