Deeper Student Learning Occurs When Using Thinking Routines

Author: Sue Feigal-Hitch
District Coordinator of Gifted Services
Eden Prairie Schools, MN

Thinking Routines

We know that just delivering wonderful, interesting information does not increase student thinking.  Higher-order thinking happens when students engage with what they know in such a way as to transform it.  Gaining knowledge is a mental process that is “complex, generative, evidence-seeking and reflective” (How to Design Questions & Tasks to Assess Student Thinking by Susan M. Brookhart, ASCD, 2014.)

So, how do we get students to think deeply?  I recently read the article When Kids Have Structure for Thinking, Better Learning Emerges by Katrina Schwartz.  The author highlights the work of Ron Ritchhart a senior research associate at Project Zero.  He states teachers need to help students “learn how to learn” by using “thinking moves” related to understanding.  The “thinking moves” he feels are important and help make ideas more concrete are:

• Naming: being able to identify the parts and pieces of a thing
• Inquiry: questioning should drive the process throughout
• Looking at different perspectives and viewpoints
• Reasoning with evidence
• Making connections to prior knowledge, across subject areas, even into personal lives
• Uncovering complexity
• Capture the heart and make firm conclusions
• Building explanations, interpretations and theories.

Visible Thinking

Ritchhart studied teachers who were good at making thinking visible and helping their students to deeply understand the material.  “They had routines and structures that scaffolded and supported student thinking”.   Project Zero has developed “thinking routines” that all teachers can use to guide students’ thinking using specific templates and structures which would lead to greater understanding.  Thinking routines are short mini-strategies to extend and deepen students’ thinking.  Teachers K-12 can use these strategies in their daily lessons.  Demonstrating and applying thinking routines daily in a structured way builds students’ capacity to use start using these thinking protocols independently.  To learn more about Thinking Routines follow the link below.  The left menu bar has six sections:  Visible Thinking in Action; Getting Started; Thinking Routines; Thinking Ideals; School Wide Culture of Thinking; Additional Resources.

http://www.visiblethinkingpz.org/VisibleThinking_html_files/VisibleThinking1.html

Thinking Maps

Thinking Maps are an excellent “thinking routine” to spark deeper learning.  A number of the Eden Prairie staff participated in Thinking Maps training in the past and continue to use Thinking Maps in their classrooms.  I found it to be extremely helpful when all of the teachers at a grade level used the same Thinking Map for compare & contrast thinking.  All of the students understood the same thinking routine, used the same language to describe their thinking, and did not need to guess at what different teachers might be asking for when using compare & contrast thinking…they all knew to use the Double Bubble Map.  Thinking Maps are a starting point to engage the learners in easily expressing their thinking and then using the map to move deeper into their learning.  Once students learn the thinking maps they transition to using the maps to learn.  One fourth grade student combined several Thinking Maps into her own “complex map” as she described it.  The beauty was that she was making her own thinking & processing visible.  The rest of the class could easily follow along and engage in a dialog about her ideas and thinking which brought forth a rich discussion.  Visit the Thinking Maps website and read the latest blog from Thinking Maps on high quality questions and accountable talk.  Using Thinking Maps to Support High Quality Questions and Deepen Accountable Talk

                            

Reflection Questions:

• Over the summer, reflect on your instructional practices and determine how to implement Thinking Routines in your classroom.
• In what lessons can the students make their thinking more visible?
• If you used Thinking Maps in the past, dust them off and use them again.  
• If you are new to Thinking Maps, contact Sue Feigal-Hitch for ideas on how to get started.

More Resources on Increasing Student Thinking and Teacher for Understanding:

Project Zero

Visible Thinking

Thinking Maps

10 Ideas to Start Building a Culture of Thinking at Your School
Six Key Principles
Questions for Tuning Up a Lesson Plan
Student Survey “In This Class”
Tools for Thinking at Project Zero
Visible Thinking Routines for Blogging

Make Time To Teach Students Life Skills With Mobile Technology

Author: Cory Klinge
Instructional Excellence Coordinator
Eden Prairie Schools, MN

Coming of age in an era where you carry a personal assistant named Siri, Cortana, or OK Google is not familiar for most adult educators, however providing space and time for ourselves and our learners to explore the capabilities of such AI is crucial to their capacity to function in an ever-changing digital world. It is also crucial to provide our learners with an opportunity to explore digital tools for organization, navigation, money management, communication, and more. A recent study by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills as quoted in Stephen Covey's book "The Leader In Me" found in a survey of parents around the world that computer and technology skills were second only to reading comprehension in desired areas of focus for K-12 schools. Are we making time for teaching "life skills" with technology? What follows is a call to action for how to "sandbox" and engage your learners in collaboratively exploring and building capacity on tools that should make their lives easier.

Tools for Organization

Are we teaching kids how to access and use their digital calendars? If not, find out from your district what digital calendar tools are available to your learners. If you have student iPads, there is a built in iOs calendar app. If you have Chromebooks, it's a Google Calendar. If your students are on PCs, it's and Outlook calendar. Then, explore how to add events to the calendar and teach your learners about what to put on calendars. For example, you might teach them to make a project into an event that spans a period of days instead of listing only on the date that it's assigned and/or due. Then, consider how the platform that your learners are using is supported by its AI. So, for example: your learners can use Siri to set a reminder to take a note home for parents to sign, or to set a recurring event for every week of the school year. See the lists at the bottom of this post for command prompts for the 3 major platform Artificial Intelligences.

Furthermore, are we teaching our learners how to write digital lists for themselves in order to get work done? I have had great success personally with apps like Google Keep and Wunderlist (collaborative list and note taking tools) and if I were still in the classroom I might facilitate a personalized learning environment with a tool like Asana or Trello (Project Management Tools) or for younger learners with Google Drive and Google Suite apps Docs and Sheets. On a related note, do our learners know how to organize cloud based storage spaces like Drive, iCloud, and One Drive? Do they know how to share documents and collaborate on them from different locations? Do they know how to comment and chat from within the application in order to move work along?  How about using this curriculum to help teach these skills on Google?

Tools for Navigation, Location, and More

Are we teaching our learners to use maps applications to help them find important locations and areas of interest? iOs has a maps application that has vastly improved in the last couple of years, and Google has Google Maps. Even Microsoft has entered the Maps game with Bing maps. Some suggested skills that you might explore would be how to find routes to important places like home, grandparent's houses, school, areas of interest, etc. How long will it take you to get there in a car, on a bike, walking, etc. Are there multiple ways to get to where you want to go?

Other skills that you might consider exploring would be finding interesting locations "near you" like movie theaters, restaurants, nature centers, etc. Consider including AI into this lesson too by using the links at the end of this article.

Communication

Are we teaching kids how to use voice to text to complete assignments, to send emails, or to send texts? Do our learners know how to hop on a quick video call with a classmate to discuss a project? We need to get ahead of these platforms and provide scaffolding for how these tools can be used in a productive way. For the purposes of this post though, I would urge you to consider 1-2 tools that you could teach your learners to use that would help them digitally communicate outside of school for at least one project a year. Performing work from multiple locations is no longer an optional skill in today's world. It's crucial. Again, ask yourself and your learners: "how can AI help us with communication" and then explore the topic. As with all areas discussed in the post, educate yourself first on the topic. Start with the links at the end of this post and build your skill set from there.

The Ultimate Assistant

Finally, if you and your learners get stuck, don't forget to teach them to use Google and YouTube to search for solutions. If you take away nothing else from this post, please consider teaching your learners to use these two tools properly to teach themselves about any topic. That's a lifelong learning skill that will keep on giving forever!

Here are some guides to the organizational capabilities of Siri, Cortana, and OK Google. 

List of All of Siri's Commands (MacBook/iPad/iPhone)

List of Cortana Commands (Windows 10/Windows Phone/Tablets/XBOX1)

List of OK Google Commands (Chromebooks, Chromeboxes, Android Phones)

How to Create a Welcoming Library

If you were anything like me growing up, your preferred activity was reading. Reading upside down on your bed, legs dangling over the side; reading beneath that tall oak tree in your neighbor's yard with peppered sunshine spots on your pages; reading under the blankets at night when everyone thinks you're asleep; reading while the teacher's talking by hiding the book under your desk; and of course, reading in the cozy, sink-your-body-in library chairs.

Perhaps that is why I've always been fond of libraries - it was a source of comfort, peace, enchantment, and adventures when I was little (and it still is today!). A day to the library with my mother and siblings was considered a treat, and I couldn't wait to immerse myself behind the rows of shelves, searching for the next book that would become my new best friend. The smell of the pages, the crinkles in the overly worn and loved books, the creaking sound of brand new books' bindings, and the beautiful jacket covers could entertain me for hours.

Besides the books themselves, it was the atmosphere of the library that kept drawing us back. In the front entrance of our public library there was a large Victorian dollhouse with many, many rooms. We couldn't wait to see it, for each time the furniture swapped, the dresses on the dolls were changed, and depending on the season there were pumpkins on the front porch or a barbeque party in the front lawn. There were couches, chairs, benches, footrests, pillows, and even blankets in different sections of the library. It was our home away from home, especially on rainy days, and the dream of becoming a librarian was stamped on my brain from early on.

Each library is different, especially now with the ever-changing role of the library itself. However, different or not, a welcoming environment is something every library should have. Children (and adults!) should think of the school library (and public library) as a safe, comforting, and warm place to be, whether they're diving into homework, escaping reality in their favorite book, or becoming a creator at a Makerspace. If you're the lucky person that gets to be the guardian of a library and you don't find your library environment a welcoming place to be, chances are a lot of other people don't either. If you feel like you're stuck in a rut and want to bring some life and warmth into your library, try these few tips:

Add Warmth

• If you enjoy snuggling on a couch with a cozy throw and pillow, think about adding some of these accessories to different spots in your library. We added this idea to our middle school and right away we saw students snuggling with a pillow, immersed in Divergent. You're never too old to be comfortable.
• Reading lamps aren't just for reading. We know that bright, florescent lighting isn't the greatest source of light when it comes to cozy reading, so if you have some space on tables or sturdy bookcases, add some reading lamps to emit a warm glow. During the winter months we added battery-operated candles on windowsills and random bookcases - it didn't give off much light but it was a nice accessory when looking out to the grey skies and harsh snow.

Add Color

• A bright, colorful sign actually saying "Welcome to the Library!" can make a big difference, especially if there's no evidence of a welcome at all. It's easy to make a simple bunting banner using free resources online or stencils and triangle-shaped paper (make sure to laminate so you can reuse). If you're not someone who likes to create, Etsy has a lot of banners you can choose from (here and here just to get you started).
• With so many people offering their artistic services online, there's no need to only have posters on your walls that are bland, vendor-oriented, or from decades ago. Try looking for literature quotes, character decals/posters, and new and classic literature decals. Here are some ideas to get you started: here, here, and here.
• If you don't have the budget to purchase new, bright, colorful furniture, try implementing the use of beanbag chairs in little nooks. Depending on your school, you can find great deals on Craigslist, garage sales, or still spend less than $50 for a new one at Walmart.
• Put books on display! Display your new books front and center with bright, attention-getting signs! Or pull books from the shelves that don't get checked out often and display them - getting those abandoned books on display is a little trick to get them back into students' hands. 

Add Music

• Yes, libraries can have music playing. In fact, I would go so far as to say they should have music playing. One of the first things we did when I worked directly in the middle school was turn on some music. It was so quiet, uncomfortable, and slightly awkward. Even we didn't like having so much silence. Now when the students come in to read, chat, study, or whatever, they can do so while listening to Bach, Hans Zimmer, Aaron Zigman, even instrumental songs from Disney or Pixar movies. (When the kids get excited about hearing a song from How to Train Your Dragon while they're reading, how can you think music doesn't belong in a library?) Teachers have told us what a difference it makes in their students' behaviors and how much they love the calming atmosphere the music brings. Win, win. (Search "Classical Radio" in Pandora if you need help getting started.)

Add Movement

• This is probably the one idea not everyone can add to their library. We were lucky enough to have a TV in our library that originally was used for book trailers that the students could watch and listen to. However, we noticed that because we don't have set times for classrooms to be in our library and the students come in sporadically (mostly during advisory or quick lunch periods), the book trailers were not being watched or enjoyed. After a few months of the TV being ignored we decided to use it to enhance our welcoming space. In the winter months a warm fireplace - complete with crackling fire sounds and shifting logs - might be playing, or to escape the cold, a warm beach scene with crashing waves and swaying palm trees might be needed. Meadows with rustling grass and birds chirping, colorful fish tanks, babbling brooks, campfires by the lake, sunsets and sunrises, rain pitter-pattering in the rain forest, or even videos of Hubble's telescopic images of space are all things people might see when visiting the library. (Search "relaxing nature videos" in Youtube if you need help getting started.)

Above all else, it's down to you to bring the welcoming atmosphere to your library. Be excited to see students or staff when they visit your library. Introduce them to new books or just your all-time favorite books (most of my regular visitors know my favorite book is Pride & Prejudice). Ask them what they thought of their latest check-out. Ask them what types of books they'd like to see more of in your library. Smile. Be kind. And remember how lucky you are that you're the guardian of such a magical place.

If you have any ideas on how to make a library space more welcoming, send me an email - nicole_tran@edenp.org - or leave a comment below!

Have a wonderful day,

Nikki Tran
District-Wide Media Specialist
Eden Prairie Schools

The Balancing Act – Data Literacy and Assessment

In the classroom data is gathered all the time. Every day teachers are assessing based on student performance: how students do on assignments, quizzes or tests; how well they work with others; are they demonstrating acceptable social skills; and the list goes on. Teachers are constantly evaluating whether each student meets the learning target or not.

A balanced assessment system collects a body of evidence which includes the day-to-day gathering of data, but also collecting more formal types of assessment data through standardized assessments. As school systems, we tend to be really good at gathering data but, what to do with all that data? This is where we must be data-literate, which means the ability to consume for knowledge, think critically about and deliver informed instruction based on data.

A first step in becoming data literate is to understand the purpose of assessments:

1. Screening – to identify students that may need additional support.
2. Progress monitoring – to monitor the impact of interventions.
3. Diagnostic – to identify specific skills, curriculum, instructional or environmental needs.
4. Summative – to determine the success of instruction and/or intervention.

All of these assessments can provide information for individual students, groups of students and/or systems such as programing. Sometimes one tool can serve multiple purposes such as screening and progress monitoring as well as to evaluate system outcomes.

A balanced assessment system depends on determining what we want and/or need to know. Then choosing the right type of assessment measure to gather the data, creating a balanced assessment system.

“Data Literacy: Overview” Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement, University of Minnesota (2017)