Again- excuse the lack of proper writing- this learning and thinking was so exciting….. a babble of wonders!!
Today we have (Finally??) been joined by the one and only Nicole Davies and her colleague Shauna Lang (who I can’t believe is Brian Lang’s little sister!!!!) from Havergal College, Canada. Welcome Nic and Shauna- glad you finally joined us!!! ☺
Ok- here we go with Ron Ritchart “The Difference it makes: how VT shapes teaching and learning”.
Changes we have noticed from culture of thinking:
• Students’ conceptions of thinking
• Students’ perceptions of their classroom
• Teacher change
• Classroom shifts
Students’ conceptions of thinking
Looking at student conceptual maps of “thinking”. What did they show??
4 major categories of responses:
• Associative- comments that were assoc with thinking, but not descriptive of the actual act of thinking
• Emotional – an affective connection to thinking
• Strategic – comments about a specific action one takes when engaging in thinking. What specific strategies can I use to help me build understanding?
• Meta – reveal greater awareness of the nature of thinking. Focused on the nature of understanding and conceptualizations of building knowledge.
Overall:
Students develop from emotional to strategic around grades 5-6. Huge jump in each category between pre and post test. Shows that teachers need to embed VT in everyday teaching. Big jump between surface and DEEP learning.
Until you can name a process, you can’t direct it. Therefore a student who can articulate a thinking strategy (don’t get caught up in something irrelevant), can direct their thinking and achieve DEEP learning.
Students’ perceptions of classrooms (- through student surveys)
• Teacher goals for mastery of learning (eg. My teacher wants us to understand work, not just memorize it)
• Teacher goals for performance (my teacher lets us know who has the highest grade
• Learning as collaboration (my teacher encourages us to share ideas and opinions)
• A community of learners (my teacher tries to help when I am struggling)
• Academic efficacy (I am certain I can make a positive contribution to this class)
• A press for thinking (teacher presses me to think- what makes you say that?)
Teacher Change
3 connections:
• Teachers sense a greater connection to other teachers increases as they move from soft to hard collegiality. Hard collegiality challenges teachers to become lifelong learners. Soft- makes it safe to go to work everyday. Which one will improve your daily practice???
• Teachers sense of connection to themselves increases as confidence in their own teaching and their efficacy is enhanced. “Professional Voice”
• Teachers sense of connection to their students increases as they come to know them as learners and thinkers.
• Leads to re-energizing of teachers!!!
How do classrooms change when teachers create a culture of thinking?
• More voices are heard of students who would not otherwise speak (confidence). Has leveled the playing field.
• More questions get asked and the class discussions become richer and go deeper
• Students own ideas and questions become more integrated into the curriculum
• ESL and IS students become more active participants (thinking requires a lot of language, but the VT routines allow them to think in their own language)
• Students become more engaged as learners in the classroom VS. workers in the classroom
WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE WHEN YOU TRY TO MAKE THINKING VISIBLE?
Check out L.A.S.T protocol on VT website. For looking at student work with a team.
WHEN THE EDGES SOFTEN (Mark Church)
Revisiting Thinking Routines
Color, Symbol, Image: A routine for distilling the essence of a topic
Eg. One student went with a sound instead of a symbol. Wrong? No- softening the edges of the thinking routine.
Where thinking routines are used powerfully:
• Teachers use routines flexibly in new and novel situations. They own not only the steps, but it’s position, timing and leveraging.
• Students feel their thinking really matters. Teachers really are interested in what students are thinking and there is significant content worth thinking within.
• Thinking routines both create thinking and they reveal thinking. The thinking that gets both created and revealed actually carry us into new, further deeper territory.
What can you identify as markers of Initial, Developing and Strong use of routines??
Initial Developing Strong
Teacher • Systematic
• Structured
• Rigid
• safe • learning
• modifying
• reflecting • natural
• softer edges
• modify
• risk-taking
• flow
Student • safe responses
• familiar ideas
• few connections • recognize own thinking
• “Shifting!”
• Developing confidence • Natural
• Risk-taking
• Self-motivated
• Deep connections
• Outside the box thinking
Entries (RSS)