Posts Tagged ‘thinking’
Making Meaning
Modeling Questioning – Building Understanding
“Without questions, there is no learning.” – W. Edwards Deming Strolling through a book store examining the covers of picture books gives me great pleasure. As a visual learner – the pictures do paint thousands of words – and they also spark a little self-talk. Would this be a good fit book for my kindergartners? Can…
Read MoreWired for Curiosity
“Being curious is an essential part of human consciousness, a joyful feature of a life well lived. But as recent research evidence shows, fostering curiosity holds a power that goes beyond merely feeling good. In fact, curiosity may be critical to student success in school.” – Wendy L. Ostroff Children are hard wired to…
Read MoreIn the Woods
From the desk of Alice… When I was a child, I played outside any chance I could. These were the days before home computers and 500 TV channels, so playing outside was actually more fun than being inside on most days. There were some woods behind our house that my sister and friends and I…
Read MoreLaying the Foundation for Critical Thinking in Math
“Environments rich in mathematical opportunities for children are essential if we want our children to develop a thorough understanding of mathematics.” -Laney Sammons Evidence has shown that our nation has been struggling with mathematical literacy. We have many children who just don’t “get it” and it is time to make a change in the instructional…
Read MoreBagging It
“Into the brown paper bag of my heart, he slipped a smile.” – David James Duncan Ready to slip a smile on the faces of your students during these last few days of school? Try constructing paper bag challenges. Exciting engineering projects can be created with simple materials like tape, paper, and string placed inside…
Read MoreMoving Our Thinking Along
Sometimes it’s called the Socratic Method. Sometimes it’s called Higher Order Thinking Skills. And sometimes it’s called Thinking. Regardless of the name it requires the ability to analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and create in order to make logical and rational decisions. The question is how do we help them achieve this level of thought. How…
Read MoreNurturing the "Cognitive Enterprise" of Reading
Reading has been called a “cognitive enterprise” and it happens as a result of the connection between the reader and the text. – What do I visualize? What connections can I make? Does this make sense? – Successful readers monitor their reading, use strategies for understanding, and evaluate their efforts. To comprehend a text, a reader…
Read MoreLet's Think About It
How many times a day do you think about how you process information? If you’re like the majority of people, the answer is rarely. However, every time we make a decision or learn new information we are thinking about our own thinking. This is known as metacognition, and metacognitive strategies are what we use to…
Read MoreMay the Force Be With You
Star Wars fans know Yoda, the legendary Jedi Master – small in size but wise and powerful. He trained his Jedi students to think – “Mind what you have learned – save you it can.” The ability to think critically is a powerful skill. It is the force that allows us to actively analyze, synthesize,…
Read More