A couple of years ago I was fortunate to visit my dear friend Kristin Ziemke's classroom in Chicago, Illinois. Kristin is an incredible teacher, author, and presenter. She co-authored her first book Connecting Comprehension & Technology which is a must read if you're looking to utilize technology to increase student comprehension.
While in her classroom one thing that continues to resonate with me is the way she had her students engage with the text as they were reading. Leaving thinking tracks was an integral part of her literacy program. It got me thinking, was I doing this well enough? Could this be something I could improved at?
Fast forward a couple years and leaving thinking tracks is an integral part of not only my literacy program, but throughout our day to day activities. My students have been exposed to various ways to leave thinking tracks. They know that learning isn't about memorizing facts but more about connecting and engaging with those facts and making them meaningful to them.
While reading my students often write on a post it note to record words they are having trouble reading. They may write down a connection or question or wonder. They know that good readers don't just figure out what words say, but they actually think about what they are reading and engage with the text. They also know that it doesn't matter what level of text you are reading, everyone can engage with text.
Thinking tracks goes way beyond just when my students are doing the reading. During shared reading we stop and turn and talk often as a way to think about and keep engaged with the text. We do follow up thinking activities such as "think pair share", "I knew this but this is new information", or "I used to think but now I think" . My students are often encouraged to draw what they learned from the story, what their favourite part was, or how they would change the ending. Adding voice to the illustrations helps better explain the thinking behind the drawings.
While watching videos my students leave thinking tracks by taking notes. I want thinking to permeate everything we do in our class so I am doing my best to include thinking activities as often as I can.
Thinking occurs during one on one conference time too. Not only are my students explaining to me what they have worked hard at and are proud of but what they feel they still need to improve. It doesn't matter what we are conferencing about. My students are actively thinking about their work.
What I've found most interesting this year though is that when the key focus is thinking, and pushing thinking, mistakes become far less important. Mistakes are seen more as a place to step forward from, instead of an error that halts learning. For example this past week my students were experimenting with writing math stories. They were given the open ended task of creating a math story with "big" numbers. Big was never officially defined but we have spoken about how playing with numbers to 100 is a part of grade two math. Here are a couple samples from one of my students.
Thinking is occurring throughout the day and it is coming from my students. It is not about me telling them what to think but it's about them being aware of how to think, and what's possible when they engage in what they are doing. This whole notion of students being in control of their learning leads me to a whole other blog post on the power of student voice and choice.
But back to thinking... thinking routines themselves are not new. Making Thinking Visible by Ron Ritchahart, Mark Church, and Karin Morrison is a fabulous book that explores making thinking visible. From the cover of the book it is written,
"Making Thinking Visible offers educators research-based solutions for creating just such cultures of thinking. This innovative book unravels the mysteries of thinking and its connection to understanding and engagement. It then takes readers inside diverse learning environments to show how thinking can be made visible at any grade level and across all subject areas through the use of effective questioning, listening, documentation, and facilitative structures called thinking routines. These routines, designed by researchers at Project Zero at Harvard, scaffold and support one's thinking. By applying these processes, thinking becomes visible as learners' ideas are expressed, discussed, and reflected upon."
No matter what age, all students are capable of thinking and being actively engaged in their learning. For more information on thinking routines check this out Thinking routines.
Are you creating a classroom of thinkers?