Personalized Learning and Instruction: 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.