Intro / Ch. 1
- What brought you to this book study and what do you hope to accomplish as a result of participating?
- How do we balance content with thinking skills?
- What barriers prevent us from creating cultures of thinking?
Thursday, June 16, 2016
Intro/Ch. 1 Prompts
Choose ONE of the following prompts from the introduction/Chapter 1 or respond to a topic from these chapters in your own way-
Intro / Ch. 1
Intro / Ch. 1
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I am joining this book club so that I can have a solid grasp on something new for next year. I know they are going to give us new curriculum and procedures at our beginning of the year PD, and trying to figure that out at the last minute is always unnerving. I figure if I read this book well before the beginning of the school year, I can have time to think about what I'm going to do long before I'm back in the classroom. Also, it's much easier to find time during the summer to get in 6 hours, as opposed to trying to juggle it in during the school year. (More to come later...I answered the first part and now I have to go be a mom until naptime.)
ReplyDeleteTo balance content with thinking skills, you first need to immerse the students in cultures of thinking. They need to participate in the different routines in many different settings to first learn how to work in a group setting, and how to take turns. (Making Meaning one good way to help the younger children learn this.) After the students understand the expectations within the classroom, then you can start using the Cultures of Thinking routines in the curriculum. As I noticed when we did the routines last year, the more we used it, the more familiar the children became, and, as time went on, there were less questions about how to do it, and more time spent discussing and comparing responses.
ReplyDeleteI think that the biggest barriers than exist when it comes to creating cultures of thinking, are time constraints, time needed for assessments and other things that come up that we *need* to get done, and just the fact that children don't come in ready to work in groups. Some children come to school and have not been exposed to other groups of children. Some come to school not knowing how to take turns. It takes a long time to create a society within the classroom that gives the children a sense of belonging to a "family" where everyone is important and everyone works together. If this kind of community sense can be achieved, I think that using cultures of thinking routines could be plugged in petty quickly afterward, with fantastic results.
Very true... through this process a lot of the "heavy lifting" of getting students used to the "routines" part of this process will fall to the lower el. Hopefully, over time, the time aspect of preparing students to become a part of our greater culture will lessen. Thanks for participating and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeletePart of what brought me to this book study and the work I've already put into learning about CoT can be summed up with a passage on pg 5. "It feels good to be a member of a culture of thinking. It produces energy. It builds community. It allows us to reach our potential. This is something as educators we need to remember. A CoT is not about a particular set of practices or a general expectation that people should be involved in thinking. A CoT produces the feelings, energy, and even joy that can propel learning forward and motivate us to do what at times can be hard and challenging mental work." I'm hoping as a school we can build on each other's energy and excitement as we move through this learning experience together. My hope is that as a school community we can help each other push our level of "real learning" in our classrooms as stated on pages 34-35, "Real learning is advanced through the creation of powerful opportunities for mental engagement accompanied by the discerning eye and targeted feedback of someone more expert than oneself."
ReplyDeleteI love the "discerning eye and targeted feedback" part... it reinforces how critical the TEACHER remains. Thanks for participating and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeleteWhat brought me to this book study is the desire to learn more about Cultures of Thinking, particularly after hearing how it has transformed "The story of education" at the school where my friend teaches in Troy. So much of the introduction and what was addressed in Chapter 1 rings true for me as far as my story of education. I always enjoyed school but for many, it felt like school was not for them because it felt "boring", "competitive", "mostly about memorizing facts", etc. I don't want to get trapped into such a focus on only teaching the curriculum and covering grade level standards that I forget to see the students as individuals. I really like what was said on page 33, "Listening means taking a vigorous and genuine interest in the other. When we do that, we send students the message that their thinking and ideas matter, that they are part of the conversation and integral to the learning." As I gain understanding of how to create cultures of thinking, my hope is to truly transform my teaching to make learning visible in most aspects of the classroom from each subject area to even behavioral expectations, especially as first graders learn how to cooperate and co-exist in a classroom.
ReplyDeleteYou already do a great job of seeing each student as an individual and forming positive relationships... but it is definitely important to remember and foster that goal. Thanks for participating in the book study and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeleteThe reason I decided to join this book study is to gain a better understanding of Creating a Culture of Thinking and to learn some tips to help my students become more independent learners. According to Chapter 1, more focus needs to be spent on "creativity, imagination, discovery and project-based learning". I am hoping that through this book study, I will be able to incorporate more of these opportunities for my students. I also want to see how this book relates to our school goal of using visible thinking routines into our daily activities. Through this book study, I hope to learn some new ways to engage all learners. Since the survey in this book mentioned that "bored"was at the top of many student's lists of words that relate to school, I hope to find new ways to eliminate this word from their vocabulary. As an educator, I also feel that there is too much emphasis on testing. "A testing culture is being created, rather than a learning culture". This is a very sad statement that oftentimes holds true. Classroom engagement is also decreasing and I am hoping that through this book study, I will learn some techniques and ideas to actively engage all of my students and learn more in depth about the 8 cultural forces.
ReplyDeleteYou are right that much of what we are reading in this book lies in direct conflict with the testing culture our society (and state government) has placed upon us... Thanks for participating in the book study and I hope you are having a great summer!
Delete*Quality education is about enabling students to become thinkers and learners.
ReplyDeleteRon Ritchhart mentions a key idea from the book Intellectual Character that tells us that a quality education is about much more than scores on tests; it is about who students become as thinkers and learners as a result of their time in schools. I truly agree with this statement, however, we do not walk that talk. We say that we want learners and thinkers and doers but we are going toward spending more and more time on testing and less and less time on classroom activities that generate thinkers, team players and group learners. This book I hope will help our classroom become a group of thinkers, team players, and active learners.
*Positive mindset and expecting students be part of a community and a common purpose should be what we want for our students.
I truly do believe that if we have a sense of community and purpose, we will have the engagement through challenging other peoples' thoughts and this will help us as a class be more engaged.
I read the book "Mindset" and it really is about having a growth mindset and how this is critical to success. Ritchhart mentions that when both teachers and students have the expectation, or mindset that one gets smarter through one's efforts, then challenge and mistakes can be embraced as learning opportunities. As a teacher this is always a focus as we all know that the model of open and fill the students brain is not reality. A frustration of mine is when students are passively obtaining information or basically waiting for that completed study guide. They can't apply what they have learned but they can regurgitate the information for a test and to obtain that "A" grade.
*Testing is an issue when it takes away from the more necessary skills in such as problem solving, collaboration.
Even though Ritchhart admits that time is the number one constraint, he believes that you go slow to go fast. I think that the visible thinking routines, really do slow us down to really digest or think and assimilate what you are learning and or doing.
I really enjoyed reading Matt Damon's thoughts about his greatest attributes are not able to be tested and Vygotsky's famous quote "Children grow into the intellectual life of those around them." Yes, we want and expect our children to be literate and be able to overcome issues but it has been creativity and out of the box thinking that has made America the land where dreams can come true.
*Our current story seems to be testing and we need to focus more on deeper thinking and creative thinking.
With applying visible thinking routines, I hope that we will be able to make our story creative thinkers once again. I found it interesting that the AP classes did not prepare students for college as they expected it to. Instead the teachers are forced to teach to the test and not go into deeper understanding on the topics. Again seeing what a time constraint can do as well as a "testing" mentality.
The Torrance Creativity test demonstrated that we have had a huge decline in scores since the 1990's and with American elementary schools having the highest decline.( I found it alarming, but I did see it coming). I am not sure that it is totally due to their time in school. I personally believe that video games and lack of "Free" time play a part in this as well.
The American story has to go back a little bit to free time for the children. We have become so competitive and parents (I was guilty of this as well) keep their children busy with little or no down time. As a teacher I need to get the students in my class to perform at the next level for that child and allow for creativity as well as thinking time.
*My personal goal will be assignments that require application of content and creativity in problem solving.
A goal this next year for me is to have a real focus on applying what the children have learned and have assignments that really do require deep thinking and where they have to dig in.
You make some great points and I like your personal goal for this coming year... thanks for participating in the book study and I hope your summer is going well!
DeleteSorry that was so long - I had a lot to say from that section. It would be a good book to discuss in person. The asterisks are the main points.
ReplyDelete• What barriers prevent us from creating cultures of thinking?
ReplyDeleteThe ultimate barrier that is preventing me from creating a culture of thinking is me. It is easy to get caught up in focusing on making sure each kid reaches a certain level or a certain score when I plan and teach. I really appreciated how the authors took time to explain the old and current stories. As stated in the book, “We tend to perpetuate and reinforce the status quo because it is the only story we know.”
I really identified with some of the feelings and ideas expressed, especially with the notion of competition. I remember when I was in school it wasn't always easy to be the “best” and feeling a sense of competition when I struggled with something. I often didn’t raise my hand out of fear of not having the right or best answer. I knew I wasn’t always the highest achieving student, and didn’t want my peers to know too! I have often seen students who have similar fears of how they will be perceived by their peers. It seems with a strong culture of thinking, all students’ ideas are valued, not just the first eager hands that go up when a question is asked. I hope to change my “new story” to ensure all my students are aware their thinking is valuable, even if they aren’t at the “top of the class.”
Last year, I did a few VT routines. They activities were fun and something the class was excited about. This year, I want to keep working at creating a classroom culture of thinking, not just completing VT routines. I hope this year to give students the encouragement and time to be engaged active thinkers.
You goal for this year mirrors mine for the entire building... a transition into focusing on more of the cultural forces while still increasing and normalizing the use of thinking routines. I hope you are having a great summer and thanks for participating!
DeleteWhat brought me to this book study? Let's be serious everyone...the PD hours. :)
ReplyDeleteHonestly, what brought me to this books study? I want to continue to transform my classroom into a community where thinking is valued, visible and part of our daily routines. My goal for this year is to focus on setting a tone that encourages excitement and motivation for learning within and among the students.
I always thought that balancing content with thinking skills was out of my control because there is always curriculum that needs to be taught and assessments that need to be given. However, I question how successful this approach has been. The idea that resonated with me in chapter one was when we make thinking visible, we can see what students understand and how they understand it. This knowledge will then provide us with the information we need to move their learning to the next level. Duh...that makes so much sense.
Chapter 4 on "Time" also speaks to this balance between content/curriculum and true in-depth thinking. Thanks for participating and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeleteI wanted to do this book study because I wanted to get a better grasp as to how to truly create a culture that values, encourages, and pushes student thinking every time they enter my classroom. Last year I became more comfortable incorporating thinking routines into my lessons, and this year I wanted to take it a step further but I wasn't sure where to begin. I hoped the book study would help me to focus on one or two cultural forces to really focus on throughout the year.
ReplyDeleteI think one of our greatest barriers in creating a Culture of Thinking is the "tendency to see the barriers, constraints, and structures around us as impenetrable" (pg. 30). It seems as though whenever something new is introduced, my first thought goes to, 'When do we have time for that?' Or 'That sounds great, but..." While reading chapter one, I made a conscious effort to change my line of thinking to instead ask "What if?"
Cultures of Thinking is not a program being introduced, it's a cultural shift that will ultimately help to overcome all the barriers and constraints that are placed upon us. Rushing through lesson after lesson to finish the curriculum does nothing more than allow us to say we got it done. Our goal as educators is much more than that. What's the point of finishing a unit if the students don't truly understand the material? Chapter one helped me to re-prioritize the true goals of education and make sure that is my focus on a daily basis. By creating a Culture of Thinking, students will become eager and active learners and the test scores, etc... will fall into place. Test scores will not be going away anytime soon, but they will become the outcome of quality teaching and learning, not the focus of it.
..not to mention when that focus truly shifts, kids will enjoy school more and some students who struggle with behaviors, motivation, etc. may be inspired to buy in... Thanks for participating and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeleteThe reasons I am excited about this book club is to take my understanding of CoT to the next level. I feel like I've tried many of the routines and have begun to use more "we" communication in the classroom, but I kind of want to know "now what?"
ReplyDeleteIn Chapter 1, I like where they are talking about the first models kids have. "A parent's values and dispositions are regularly on display and his or her behaviors are the ones a child will first imitate. Schools are designed as places of learning and so send important messages about what learning is, how it happens, and what kinds of learning are of value." That was really eye opening because I feel like I sometimes am guilty of spoon-feeding my students. I need to make time to let them make mistakes and to be more patient with my response time. One goal I have the first week of school is to try the first bullet point in the section called "Uncovering the story of your school or classroom." Students are asked to come up with 25 adjectives to describe how they feel in school. I am interested to see what kinds of words 5th graders will come up with. Fingers crossed!
Thanks for participating and I hope you are having a great summer!
DeleteI decided to participate in the book study for a few reasons. Like others, I am all about getting PD hours completed, especially in the summer! I feel like summer is the best time to really reflect on my teaching and look for ways to improve things for the upcoming year. Besides the PD hours, I am looking forward to better understanding the Cultures of Thinking and its component Visible Thinking. It seems that other buildings in Rochester have been incorporating these cultures and routines for awhile now, but I never really got the chance to sit down and read the how and why behind this movement. Once I better understand the how and why, I think I will feel more confident and ready to begin implementing some of the ideas presented in the books.
ReplyDeleteAfter participating in this book study, my hope is that, not only will I better understand the Cultures of Thinking, but that I will also walk away with some concrete steps that I can take to bring about a new "culture" in the media center. Perhaps I can even do some things at the start of the year with regards to the environment of the media center and how I structure my classes. One section of Chapter 1, that really got me thinking was on pg. 30 when Ron challenges educators to think in terms of "What if?" instead of "Yeah, but." I think as a "special" class I have a bit more flexibility than classroom teachers to think outside the box and structure my teaching differently. It will be interesting to think about what things I can do differently to bring about a new "story of school" in the media center.
Thanks for participating!
ReplyDeleteI think that the reason I have joined this book study is stated very well on page 5. "Once you have a sense of purpose and commitment to both the task and the group, you will also have engagement." One of my pet peeves has been that we have all participate in many book clubs during our teaching careers, and for me the clubs have had no follow through. We have read the books simply to get credit for "completing them" not because we have felt commitment to the topic. Creating a culture of thinking in our classroom is not something new that we have to try and fit it, but a shift in our thinking which will allow us to get together will our colleagues and have meaningful discussions on how to draw the deepest thinking from our students. This should make everyone's classroom lives a bit easier.
ReplyDeleteWhat led me to this book study, besides the easy and beneficial hours, was that I want to take the next step in visible thinking. I am familiar with many activities, but I want visible thinking to naturally occur in my classroom, not just happen with specific planned activities. I want to create an environment where this thinking/learning is continuously happening.
ReplyDeleteThe barriers that have prevented this from happening are specific curriculum we have to get through in a certain amount of time, all of the testing we have to continuously give, and time constraints. I will now make an effort to ask myself each day what the most important thing my students will benefit from learning and understanding that day, and what parts can wait. This will help to avoid "cramming" everything in, and not truly learning and grasping.
What brought you to this book study and what do you hope to accomplish as a result of participating?
ReplyDeleteI decided to participate in this book study because I wanted to learn more about the Cultures of Thinking. I participated in last year’s book study and implemented various different visible thinking routines throughout the year and had great success! After trying different routines just a few times, I was amazed at how my students were able to think deeper about a topic or idea. I noticed that my students even carried that over to their independent work and conversations with classmates as well. Consequently, after reading the introduction and chapter one, I felt that by participating in this book study, it would help me focus on creating an even more balanced classroom that extends my students thinking even further. In order to do that the importance of community is crucial. On page 31 it states, “our schools, classrooms, and organizations become places in which a group’s collective as well as individuals’ thinking is valued, visible, and actively promoted as part of the regular, day-to-day experience of all group members.” I believe that this is a crucial component that I will promote in my classroom throughout this year to further extend my students’ learning. By creating a sense of community as well as promoting making our thinking visible, it will further help students to arrive at deeper understandings of what they are learning.
There are many reasons I am participating in this book club. I am participating in this book club because I am looking forward to sharing new ideas and gaining new ideas from others. When reading and learning about how creating a culture of thinking within the classroom can truly benefit students, I can not help but want to be a part of the learning adventure. Helping my students become purposeful thinkers is something that gets me really excited. After learning that Cultures of Thinking is a philosophy, I can connect to Ron Ritchhart when he states, (2015) “What we see as most important to develop is not a discrete collection of knowledge but rather a set of broad characteristics that motivate learning and lead to the generation of useable knowledge” (p.19). I am looking forward to learning more about how to help students become purposeful thinkers and how to help students use the knowledge they have. I am participating in this book study better my teaching and to create a curious, thoughtful environment of learners.
ReplyDeleteThrough this book study, I hope to learn new ideas and techniques that I can use in the classroom to make my teaching more effective and the students more successful. Some of the ideas in the first chapter caught my interest, like "What if schools were less about preparing kids for test and more about preparing them for a lifetime of learning?" and I look forward to learning about what I can do to encourage students to be excited to learn rather than just something they have to do because there is an upcoming test.
ReplyDelete