That 'thinking' stuff

"My students are too young/too low/too busy. There is no way they can do this 'thinking' stuff"

In my class we have a rule when faced with a problem - RTQ x 2 (Read the Question Twice). So go on, read that above statement again.

Now, cut off the first part of that statement and focus on the second part.

"There is no way they can do this 'thinking' stuff"

Taken in isolation, that statement is a little bit ridiculous. Unless you're teaching a class of rocks, every single one of them is doing this 'thinking' stuff every minute of every day. ( Although, I'm sure your rock class might be doing it too - maybe you have the G&T rocks).

I'm the first to admit that when I came in contact with Visible Thinking, I saw the Thinking Routines as an activity that I could easily slide into my program, and then VOILA my students would be visible thinkers. I think this is an experience that is commonly shared by those first bitten by the VT bug. It's new, it's exciting, and we think it will be a bandaid that will cover all the 'thinking stuff' in our classroom.

If there's one thing (or one seashell) that I took away from Project Zero Classroom, it's that there is absolutely no point 'doing' Thinking Routines and then saying "Look! My student's thinking is visible, now let's move on." The process of Making Thinking Visible in learning is not something that  can be easily changed overnight, or just done once then moved on from. 

Making Thinking Visible in your classroom requires a mindset shift from you too.

Lev Vygotsky, advocate for constructivist-based pedagogy, is often quoted as saying:

 "Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them". 

In other words, the intellectual world we model for our students is what shapes their own perceptions of the value of thinking. If you don't value deep thinking, then your students won't either!

So, how do we start showing students that developing more than a surface understanding of concepts is vital to nurturing intellectual development? By creating a Culture of Thinking in our classrooms.

A concept coined by Ron Ritchhart, key researcher of the Making Thinking Visible project at Project Zero (Click here to learn more about Ron and MTV), a Culture of Thinking is a place where thinking is visible, valued and actively promoted for all members.

Let's break that down further.

In order to create a Culture of Thinking - an environment where children understand the importance of deep understanding and intellectual fluency, we need to consider the three concepts in isolation.

Thinking is Visible - Assessing understanding of abstract concepts, or things that can't be measured through a test score is tricky. So how the %$!* do we assess thinking? By making thinking visible, the process of developing understanding is made accessible to both teacher and students, as well as parties outside the classroom. Teachers are able to garner the thinking process students are undergoing (which is great for formative assessment!) and students are able to reflect on their process of understanding.  Most importantly, all parties get insight into how the learning is occurring.

Thinking is Valued - Why do your students not put up their hands when you know they have a pretty good idea of the  answer? Well, number one, you might be asking the wrong kind of question, but, in addition, is students do not feel their thinking is valued, they aren't going to put their necks out to risk humiliation. A Culture of Thinking in a classroom values the process and effort of developing understanding, and encourages students to share their thinking practices with others, even if their thinking is not yet fully developed. It encourages students to share their steps towards developing a full understanding, and encourages the idea that mistakes are just stepping stones in thinking.

Thinking is Actively Promoted - There is no such thing as no time for thinking. Every interaction, every discussion, every question is an opportunity to promote and encourage  students to share their thinking. Talking about thinking, sharing thinking, reflecting on thinking - we encourage this naturally through our teaching, but we need to do it consciously and purposefully and, more importantly, we need to make it visible to our students.

I know right. It makes a lot of sense. It's ok. Take a second to push those brains back inside your skull and regroup. I know I needed too when the VT bus first hit me. Head on collision. Brains everywhere.

So the next big question is how. How do we create a Culture of Thinking in our learning environments? (whether it be classrooms, schools, districts, homes or other educational settings) Lucky, Ron hasn't left us in the lurch. He and his partner in crime Mark Church have teamed up to give us a whole lot of resources to help us make thinking visible, which I'll run through over my next few posts.

Now, as all great members of my class do, RTQ x 2. Go back and read that again so you can start thinking about your thinking, and how valued, visible and actively promoted thinking is in your learning environment. 

As always, feel free to comment, email me (missswain24@gmail.com) or tweet me (@bswain1) with questions, queries or comments. :)