PZC: Day 3

with Ron Ritchhart

THINKING ROUTINES.  This is the buzz-word today as I attended Ron Ritchhart's session on "Thinking Routines: Establishing Patterns of Thinking in the Classroom."  (He is the principal investigator of the Cultures of Thinking project).  Before the session, I assumed I was attending something about graphic organizers since the description mentioned about 'making thinking visible' and as a teacher I'm always in the lookout for new tools and strategies that I can use and implement in my classroom.  What I didn't realize is that what they meant about 'making thinking visible' is making students' thinking visible to 'ME' as the teacher and not just the literal meaning of visibility by having products or visuals.  For example, using the thinking routine, "I used to think...and now I think..." demonstrates how the child's thinking changed and evolved as a result of instruction.  Finally, it was also very powerful to internalize that 'understanding'  bridges the gap between ability and acting.

For our study group, we continue to work on our questions and this time we tried the protocol for considering evidence.  What I found really surprising is how voicing out your concerns and questions, and having collegial conversation and discussion can help bring clarity to my thinking and "unclutter" my mind :)