Study Group Update

Wow!  I can't believe it's already 2011!  Ricci and I have been very busy with using "Thinking Routines" and sharing what we learned from the Project Zero Institute to our colleagues.  We were able to organize a study group that meets every month to discuss the importance of making 'Thinking' front and center in our classroom.  We have also been sharing a thinking routine each month and sharing ideas on how the teachers have used them, how they adapted them for their student population and specific subject area/activity.  So far, teachers have noted some changes in their student's thinking and thinking disposition. Teachers have also reported how useful the thinking routines are for getting deeper in a topic and revealing information about their student's previous experiences.  For more information about the specific thinking routines we have already tried.  Visit our school's Study Group website here: Project Zero Study Group.

As for me, I have been busy reading and getting immersed in the whole concept of 'Teaching for Understanding.'  I have been reading "The Thinking Classroom" by Shari Tishman, David Perkins and Eileen Jay and getting some really good insight on how to move forward and create a culture of thinking not only in my classroom but also the whole school.  :)

Thinking Keys: Shaving Cream

Today, I experimented using the Thinking Keys with one of the most basic materials we use in Pre-K: shaving cream.  I thought I would use the Thinking Keys to introduce it.  In my experience teaching, shaving cream has always been a hit with the children.  They just love exploring it, feeling the texture, and drawing and writing on it.  For this activity, I divided the children in groups of 4-5 since having 20 children playing with shaving cream at the same time was just not feasible.

I started with the FORM key and the question: What is it like? The children were very excited touching it and exploring it that the vocabulary that came with it was just great! They said it was white, soft, sticky, stinky, smells good, smooth, fluffy and gooey.   Since I teach in an inclusive classroom with children with special needs and their typically developing peers, this activity lent itself to building their vocabulary.

The second was FUNCTION and the question: How does it work?  The discussion got more exciting as the children started thinking about what it is for.  They said that they use it to wash their hands, one said he saw his dad use it on his face, and another said it is what his mom uses to clean the carpet.

The third and fourth keys were the CONNECTION and REFLECTION key.  Here my students were really able to connect to their background knowledge and experiences as they thought about how it is like something they have seen before and I followed their connections with the question: How do you know to really get deeper into the reasoning behind their answer.  A lot of them associated it with ice cream and icing but they also said you can't eat it because it smells bad.  Some said it looks like snow but it can't be snow since snow does not have a smell and it was not cold like snow.  Another child responded that it looked and smelled like soap or hand wash that they have at home.

Using the Thinking Keys definitely added the thinking dimension to this activity.  Unlike before, conversations around this activity only revolved around what they are making or drawing on it.  This time aside from playing and exploring such a fun material as shaving cream, the students were able to use and build their vocabulary, connect to their background experiences and practice reasoning skills in providing evidence for their claims.  Hurray for the Thinking Keys!!!

Visible Thinking

I just finished watching the Visible Thinking DVD and was blown away by how rich and deep the discussions and conversations among the students were as well as the level of understanding they were able to demonstrate.  Watching how the different thinking routines work from children in Kindergarten to students in Grade 6 was really remarkable!  It was also great to see examples of how teachers were also able to facilitate discussions and provide feedback.

I’m always blown away by how much such a simple question as “What makes you say that?” or “Why do you think that is?” shows profound evidence of how students ‘think’ through connections they make and their reflections based on their own experiences.  Reflecting on my own practice, I was always more concerned with if a child is able to give me the ‘right’ answer or what I ‘think’ is the right answer and did not put much thought as to how that understanding came to be.  Now I know to be more cognizant of the fact that I need to incorporate more of these questions to make my students’ learning more visible to ME.  (After reading what I wrote, I can’t believe I’ve used the thinking routine: I used to think…Now I think… once again)

I also noticed a common thread among the thinking routines that is crucial in making learning meaningful and lasting for the students, and this is that these routines do not end with the students acquiring the basic knowledge or achieving a skill or goal of an activity but it takes their learning ‘beyond’ what they know and extends it so the students pursue new questions and directions.  This in turn makes learning very personal and therefore making students fully vested in delving deeper in the topic and their own learning.   For more information about Visible Thinking, visit: http://pzweb.harvard.edu/vt/

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 :)