Reflect after reading Chapters 8-11:
As you begin to imagine a full lesson in a thinking classroom, what practices will support student autonomy and ownership? How will you know if the practices are working?
Consider the following questions:
- What is resonating with you from the reading?
- What caused you to pause and think during this section?
Respond and Interact
After reading these chapters, please post your response to one {or more} of the prompts above. Read our colleagues' reflections. Feel free to respond to someone by sharing a comment, insight or interesting possibility.
First thing that resonated w/me was.." Each of you has the autonomy over whether, and how, you implement the the thinking classroom practices." Yay, autonomy over autonomy, haha. I do think all of the practices are really dependent on each other. The pace itself even gets students independent...they know where to go and what to do. I know these practices are working because I see students noticing the changes I've made such as how I just answer with questions, or ask them to think about what they already know. That in itself nurtures autonomy. I like the fact that students are starting to look at their math, then look at other work and say, "Ohhhhh- I did this instead of that." It's pretty cool. One thing I really have a hard time with is seeing students not make the connections/applications between one day to the next. For instance, we are working on subtracting fractions from a whole number. We had about three lessons where students used a number line to subtract. They all do fairly well w/me leading a small group, but then on the cool down the next morning about 70% of them made the error of subtracting the numerator from the whole number as a whole number. I reviewed the strategy and we worked together, but all I could think about was mimicking! Did I break up the flow of the task by waiting working on it the next day or did I give them something that was too challenging. Oh, now I wonder if I had students write a note to their forgetful self, they would have done better. I can also imagine the graphic organizer being a great ways to get students thinking!
ReplyDeleteI also appreciated the modes of engagement figure. I could have used it last week for the 30% of students who completed the task successfully. This seems like a neat concept to share with students. Then they would be able to understand that there is always an opportunity think deeper.
“The stronger the structure, the lesser the need for the students to be independent”. I struggle with this quote because I’ve always valued the structure I have within our classroom. But maybe predictability is taking away independence… it’s definitely got me thinking!
ReplyDeleteRecently, my class has worked on ways to take ownership over their learning. For example, sometimes during math lessons, I leave it up to student choice - working on another practice problem with a partner, starting their cool-down, working in a small group with me. This has given more choice to students, and I found that students are truly selecting the option that is best for them and their learning. This seems similar to what Liljedahl is referring to in Chapter 8. I appreciated the comment about being “deliberately less helpful”. I’ve noticed that once students see that they can gain insight for their peers and we intentionally mobilize the knowledge, class community becomes that much stronger! “Everyone has something to offer.”
“If we increase the challenge of a task before a student has had the chance to fully grow their ability…” then we cause frustration. This is what I’m currently experiencing in Unit 3. Some of my students are not ready for “new learning” or a challenge yet, but due to pacing, we must keep going. When I slowed us down and took a break to hone in on our skills and strategies, I saw tremendous benefits. However, I constantly feel the pressure to move on, even though I know some of my students will enter frustration. It’s a tough balance to keep!
“…whereas a hint that increases ability continues to be useful even as students move on to the next task.” Due to what we’ve learned so far, I’ve tried to be more intentional in my responses to students. I appreciated this comment because I’ve focused in on the hints I give and try to point students toward remembering a strategy than giving away too much! I keep telling myself, “Let the students do the thinking!” Additionally, I connected with justifying being a fantastic engagement and extension strategy! In our classroom, we constantly play the tune “I like to PROVE IT, PROVE IT!” We’ve also created the motto, “teach, not tell!” These simple reminders have helped propel our understanding even more. I love the modes of engagement graphic on page 159 my goal is to implement those various extensions to propel learning and engagement.
In terms of consolidation, I’ve looked for opportunities for students to create a representation for gallery walks. I hadn’t thought of having other students explain the thinking of their peers, but I understand the value it brings to reinforcing maximum engagement.
In the next unit, I am going to commit to some form of note-taking due WIN time. I think this could help transfer day-to-day learning and be seen as a useful tool. We do notes for ELA (8-boxes), so to try it out for math with the same format, could be valuable. I’m thinking a mix of pre-labeled cells and blank cells can allow for student autonomy. I’m excited to try it out and will definitely use the phrase “Notes to Our Future Forgetful Selves”.
I absolutely LOVE the, "I like to PROVE IT, PROVE IT!" tune. Going to remember this...so great!
DeleteTaylor, thanks for sharing. Your ideas helped me think through so many things- The song idea sounds so fun! I bet students really get a kick out of that one! The notetaking w/familiar graphic organizers seems really feasible too. I've never really did anything beyond informal gallery walks. I liked how the act of consolidation kind of organizes and synthesizes ideas in a authentic way for students. It's really neat and I think it would be more impactful vs. my usual gallery walks.
DeleteOne of the highlights in this section for me for me was near the end of Chapter 8, "Rather than being the source of knowledge in the room, teachers were working to mobilize the knowledge already in the room." It's hard for us not to respond to every single question that gets fired our way...we need to be intentional about encouraging students to seek to find answers to their questions from other groups/work in the room.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated how the teacher moves that help facilitate autonomy included questions like, "Why don't you look at how that group organized their data?" or "What's next?" "Why don't you ask -- group? They seem to be working on a different task."
I completely agree with you. It's so hard to not just want to answer and help since that is what the students are seeking. Redirecting them to ask a peer or to try and come up with the answer on their own is something that I need to be more intentional with as well.
DeleteWhat made me stop and think is moving away from labeling homework as "practice" and instead calling it "check your understanding". This shifts the focus from rote repetition to self-assessment, which in turn empowers students to take charge of their own learning, which is always the goal. This change emphasizes reflection, which could help students to gauge their comprehension rather than simply completing tasks for the sake of completion. I really liked this idea. Another factor that stood out to me is allowing students to work in groups if they choose. Groups of their own making. This is a very big struggle in my classroom as I have lots of chatty, distractable students and I tend to shy away from self-grouping. But I like how this idea can depart from traditional homework models and promote autonomy, and a more student-centered learning environment. I really want to see my students involved in assessing and directing their own learning process.
ReplyDeleteSo much in these chapters made me stop and think...where to start....one of the very first quotes that hit me was "rather than teachers being the source of knowledge in the room-mobilize the knowledge already in the room". As much as I try to do this I honestly fall back into the traps often of thinking 'okay now I need to make sure everyone understands, so they need to hear me explain it'! I know this is wrong but it's where I revert!
ReplyDeleteI also have been really thinking about how to shift the modes of engagement to maintain flow like suggested. I absolutely loved the suggestion for when a group says they're done to ask them if they would bet $100 that their answer is correct and then just walk away. I used this and it was amazing!! The kids were so determined to 'prove' to me they were correct. It really showed me in action them moving from doing the task to justifying!
Lastly, I found the notetaking chapter just really insightful. I am guilty of the old note taking strategies listed and simply because that's what I had done in school and so I just did it too! I love the idea of asking students of my age (4th graders) to write something down so that in 3 weeks they will remember what they learned today! I'm excited to give this a try!
Wow there is so much to pause and think about in these chapters. I can say I took significant pause with the phrase "be less helpful". EEK! This is hard. I definitely have students who are working through these challenging ideas but getting them to engage with each other meaningfully still proves to be challenging.
ReplyDeleteWhen I consider model passive interactions by helping groups see what others are doing, I wonder how. In 3rd grade we can build this but they are just coming into the idea that the can affect each other and their actions are important for the class. They know they can make each other laugh but not a lot of them want to risk learning together. Also, it seems there is a lot of shut down, when certain students talk. The others think they have it so why do I have to listen, similar to what students do with the teacher. I guess I need to work on personal responsibility.
This leads into the next chapter where the book encourages learning in groups to build and maintain flow. If everyone in the group has a job then they are each growing and learning in some capacity. I tried this in my class and it worked at various levels around the room. However, for the groups that worked through a task on the vertical service, I was very please with the results. It is definitely worth trying again.
Also, I think I am letting too much student presenting take up valuable work time. Having 1 is nice because so many do like to share ideas, but it can drag on when students don't know how to present. An interesting idea idea to limit that.
So much to take into the classroom and try.