VISIBLE THINKING

Every committed educator wants better learning and more thoughtful students. Visible Thinking is a way of helping to achieve that without a separate thinking skills' course or fixed lessons. Visible Thinking is a broad and flexible framework for enriching classroom learning in the content areas and fostering students' intellectual development at the same time. Here are some of its key goals: Deeper understanding of content Greater motivation for learning Development of learners' thinking and learning abilities. Learning is a consequence of thinking. Students' understanding of content, and even their memory for content, increases when they think through and withthe concepts and information they study. Team members often share and build on one another's knowledge. Notational systems, specialized vocabulary, and various technological and other tools also free up memory for more complex assignments. Good thinking has to do not only with the matter of being a skill, but also with a matter of dispositions, open mindedness, curiosity, attention to evidence etc, (Perkins & Ritchhart, 2004 Perkins, Tishman, Ritchhart, Donis, & Andrade, 2000). In visible thinking students are aware of their own thoughts and their thought processes as well as those of the individuals with whom they are working In order the achieve the objective of making students more thoughtful visible thinking has many resources and practices, teachers can perform with their students some thinking routines, these routines are performed in order to make the visible thinking process much easier. We can define these thinking routines as simple protocols or exploring ideas using common topics. Teachers use any topic they can come up with. Visible Thinking includes attention to four big categories of thinking Understanding, Truth, Fairness, and Creativity Characteristics of this thinking routine is: Is goal oriented in that it targets specific types of thinking Gets used over and over again in the classroom Consists of only a few steps Is easy to learn and teach

Is easy to support when students are engaged in the routine Can be used across a variety of context Can be used by the group or by the individual

Routines are really just patterns of action that can be integrated and used in a variety of contexts. You might even use more than one routine in teaching a single lesson. You shouldn't think about the routine as taking time away from anything else you are doing, they should actually enhance what you are trying to do in the classroom. The profile of a routine includes: A concise characterization, beginning with a table that summarizes the steps of the routine and going on to describe the purpose of the routine, when it might be used, and how to get started. When possible, this appears on a single page for easy printing and taking to class. Often, a Picture of Practice illustrating the routine in action. These generally include text and photos of student work. In a few cases there are videos in the video collection for Making Thinking Visible. Often, a brief Connections and Extensions section comments on how to stretch the routine. Understanding Routines Connect Extend Challenge Explanation Game Headlines Question Starts Think Pair Share Think Puzzle Explore What makes you say that? Truth Routines Creativity Routines Creative Hunt Creative Questions Does it fit? Options Diamond Options Explosion Step Inside: Perceive, Know Care About.

Fairness Routines

Claim Support Question Circle of Viewpoints Hot Spots Here Now There Then Stop Look Listen Maki king it fair: Now Then True for Who? Later Tug for truth Reporters Notebook Red Light, Yellow Light Tug of War Fairness Routines The effects of Making Thinking Visible We have seen positive changes in school culture and student learning. implementing the Visible Thinking approach. Classroom activities become more learning oriented