Time to Think

If we want to push students beyond merely procedural tasks and rote learning, we need to give them enough time to think. I know I sometimes feel that I’m not earning my keep if I’m not actively engaged with each student each lesson – but some of them prefer to be left alone to do the mental heavy lifting.

Why do we feel the need to schedule the lesson for the whole class to the minute? How do we best allow students to move on to heavier cognitive work? What environmental stimuli could facilitate their thought? 

Just because a student doesn’t look like they’re doing much, doesn’t mean they’re not thinking hard. Here are Raj and Sheldon to demonstrate.

Something I want to focus on in my classroom over the coming year is facilitating better student thought and improving my own questioning: making thinking visible without unnecessarily interrupting a student’s train of thought.

Making Thinking Visible resources:

• http://pzweb.harvard.edu/vt/ for routines and descriptions
• Ron Ritchhart’s Cultures of Thinking resources
• Making Thinking Visible Socrative resources & ideas
• Thinking Classroom Resource Guide (Kentucky Association of School Administrators)

……….o0O0o……….

↬ Dr Inger Mewburn (@thesiswhisperer) for reminding me of the Big Bang Theory clip in her Thesis Whisperer blog.